Mary Hopewell
Professor Goddard
ENC 1102
July 14, 2015

Mary Flannery 0’Conner was born in 1925 in Savannah, Georgia to Regina Cline and Edward O’Connor. She was raised on a background of strong Catholic beliefs. O’Connor was educated at Georgia State College for Women (GSCW) and State University of Iowa. While at GSCW, she was an editor for the college literary magazine and an unofficial cartoonist on campus. She studied journalism at Iowa State University but quickly turned to creative writing. She is known for her short stories and two novels. In her southern style of writing in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People”, O’Connor uses prophet like characters to distinguish good versus evil.
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, …show more content…
Manley Pointer is described as a tall, gaunt hatless youth carrying a large black suitcase wearing a bright blue suit with yellow socks (Flannery O’Connor 438). He approaches the home of Mrs. Hopewell in an attempt to try and sell her a Bible. Even though Mrs. Hopewell does not want to buy a Bible, she invites the boy into her home. He takes a browse around the home and notices there are no Bibles in visible sight. He tries to stress the importance of having a Bible in the home but it goes against the religious views of Mrs. Hopewell’s daughter Joy as her beliefs are atheist. After he has been refused multiple times about his Bible, he tells Mrs. Hopewell that the money he is trying to raise from selling the Bibles is because he does not want to go to college but to spread the word of God. Manley Pointer opens up about having a heart condition which is in common with Joy as she has a heart condition too. He found something in common with them to try and have a way in as his character is sneaky. Pointer tried to guilt trip Mrs. Hopewell by telling her about his childhood and other thing he has come in contact with. Upon him leaving he stopped and talked to Joy. Joy was to meet him then next day at the gate for them to spend some time together. They meet up and take off for a picnic where she is about to learn the true side of Manley Pointer. He …show more content…
She picks characters and describe them to a point where of question that they really are who they say. There are a lot of religious references also related to good versus evil. The Misfit was a killer who did not understand why he was incarcerated but refused to pray and have belief. On the other hand Pointer was trying to sell the Bible and acted religious to get to women and steal from them as he did with Joy. Flannery O’Connor’s stories have a sense of darkness with a tie a religious to them relating back to the way she was brought up in a home with strong Catholic