...Cotina Moore English 1302 Essay #1 Southern Gothic Fiction 02 March 2015 “What Is In A Title” A Literary Analysis of Flannery O’ Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” “Good Country People,” and “Everything That Rises Must Converge” “I am not afraid that the book will be controversial, I’m afraid it will not be controversial-Flannery O’Connor Flannery O’Connor is considered one of the best short story authors of the 20th century. Born in Savannah Georgia in 1925, O’Connor was a devout Catholic. Her writings incorporated religious themes and her southern life (Bio). When reading O’Connor’s short stories, it is very surprising and shocking that the stories are often dark and controversial. Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” “Good Country People,” and “Everything That Rises Must Converge” use macabre, grotesque violence, irony, and grace through the depiction of her characters to illustrate that when an individual is faced with “grave” circumstances; those are the moments when grace is realized. Flannery O’Connor incorporates the use of macabre and violence in her short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” masterfully to elicit an unforgettable moment of grace from a character when faced with her “grave” circumstance. The use of grotesque violence is vividly displayed as a southern family is horrendously murdered by an escaped convict, The Misfit and his accomplices. An “eerie” sense of foreshadowing is realized when the protagonist, the grandmother...
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...“A Good Man is Hard to Find” How old does one need to be to die and how old is too old to profess one’s faith and receive salvation? What does it take to have salvation and eternal life and how does one show that in a work of literature? In the process of all of the chronological references and religious symbolism, Flannery O’Connor in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” addresses this and draws a parallel to the modern moral dilemma of what it takes to be saved. Written in 1953 and based upon her Roman Catholicism roots, O’Connor conveys how each family member gracefully accepts the previous generation’s quirkiness and cynicism to maintain family unit. Although the younger generations do not respect older ones as much as their parents, her stories have characters that convey her message of religious distrust through each character’s deceptive actions and secular thoughts. Similarly, most of O’Connor’s stories make reference to the good and bad by such subtleness as creatively naming the kids after an outlaw and a founder of a major religion. By such obscurity, she wants to draw a parallel between the true believer and the hypocrites that appear to be religious in actions (May). Like a mirror’s reflection, O’Connor’s story contains several undertones of grace in how the characters are developed in the story. From the grandmother to the Misfit, there is a “forewarning of mortal death in the story as the family travels on their last trip before meeting the Misfit that carries...
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...Catholic Influence in O’Connor’s Southern Gothic Fiction Flannery O’Connor, author of, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” was born March, 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia to Catholic Regina and Edward O'Connor (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.) Her works were well acknowledged for their Southern Gothic character, particularly the graphic imaging and fatal endings (Galloway). O’Conner’s faith, Catholicism, directed her literature to examine religion and questions of morality. In this work, I will analyze how O’Connor’s fiction reflects Catholic values in the topics of grace, death, and her comments regarding the work, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Throughout this particular work, O’Connor presents the Catholic ideal of grace. This is demonstrated when the grandmother is pleading for the Misfit to spare her life. This reflects the Catholic notion that humans can either embrace or reject the grace of God (Galloway). The situation portrayed is a generalization about human sin in Catholicism. According to the Catholic faith, humans are given a chance to repent and accept...
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...in A good Man Is Hard to find In Flannery O Connors southern gothic short story, “a good man is hard to find” the protagonists that are presented seem to be in a gloomy and fragile relationship in what seems to be your cliché American family. The family as you would expect from O’Connor’s writing is in its own way corrupt and what many catholic enthusiasts would say, need Jesus. The Grandmother being the worst case of them all and in the story shows examples of gluttony and lust, two major sins in the Roman Catholic faith. These sins are the eventual downfall of the entire family. This essay will view the repercussions that occur for lathering in a life of sin and argue that salvation can be disguised in many ways even as malicious at times. It will utilize research directly from the psychoanalytic concept, traumas, and realizations of the few characters who get passed they’re own demons and come to a self-religious realization. Additionally, the essay will pursue the relationships between the grandmother, the misfit, and the son, John Wesley and his Mother and their last minute, virtuous moments right before Gods jurisdiction is handed upon them. John Wesley realizes that his actions anytime before that moment were inexcusable towards his mother, but now it is too late as he is murdered in the woods and the grandmother’s having her salvation just before the Misfit eradicates her as well. Annotated Bibliography Yao, Tianyuan Ben. "A Test of Faith: Analysis on “A Good Man...
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...Good or Bad Hypocrisy is to claim to have certain moral behaviors, but the person speaking of the behaviors does not enforce them on himself. In today’s society, many arrogant individuals feel that making themselves seem better than the rest of the crowd causes people to look up to them. In reality, the crowd actually believes that they are foolish. In the story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the author addresses the consequences of poor judgment and how this leads to the death of the main character. The grandmother attempts to talk her son and his wife into going to Tennessee instead of Florida because a man called the misfit has escaped prison. After they stop at the tower and speak with the owner, Red Sam, the grandmother remembers an old plantation that she would like to see again, and she even exaggerates about the house so her son will stop by. After having an accident on the dirt road leading to the plantation, the grandmother realizes the house is actually in Tennessee. The spoiled old lady waves down a car for help, and the people in the vehicle turn out to be the misfit and his henchmen. She makes a mistake by announcing that she knows who they are. As a result, the misfit and his crew kill her and the rest of the family, leaving her last to die. Through the author’s use of tone, symbolism, and characterization, O’Connor proves that labeling someone as “good” is only true if he has morals and grace, not selfishness and blindness. The grandmother...
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...A Good Man is Hard to Find. The grandmother focuses of showing that she cares nothing about the family by concerning herself with her hat. She builds a setting in her head that if she dies she will look like a lady without any concern for her family's well being. This idea that her hat, which makes her look like a lady in her mind, is more important than her family shows selfishness. Her mistaken ethics are aware from the beginning as the hat is the symbol for this negligence to her family. When they did indeed have a car wreck the grandmother was curled up under the dashboard with her hat still attached to her head. The hat represents that goal of still being a lady no matter the cost. While her grand children are in shock and shaking she is complaining that she thinks she has a hurt organ. The symbol of the brim of her hat smashed as she says “But nobody’s killed” in a frustrated tone shows her reluctance to give up that she was wrong. She will not give up this attempt at being a lady no matter what happens to her or grand children. As she confronts the Misfit her self assurance and idea that she is a lady slowly disintegrates away as she becomes more humble that she will most likely die. The symbolism of these disintegration is when her brim actually falls off of her hat and it realization that she is not a lady by any means. The symbolism of the hat to her concept of doing anything by any means necessary to be a considered a lady by everyone including herself is quite...
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...Flannery O’ Connor displayed messages in her writing about morality, human nature, spiritual apathy in society, the way humans handle grace, and the connections of these things with one another. Even though O’ Connor was essentially religious, she presented her work in a more grotesque way of view to stand out to readers. O’ Connor’s work was “message- oriented”, the same message being repeated in her short stories: “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, and “A Late Encounter With the Enemy.” O’ Connor accomplished a dual type of writing, which consisted on both literary and religious grounds. Avoiding preachiness, O’Connor succeeded in creating an equilibrium between these two elements which separated her and other...
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...Moments of grace happen constantly in daily life and throughout history. Flannery O’Connor’s short story A Good Man is Hard to Find was published in 1955 by Harcourt, Brace, and Company. O’Connor uses a fatal encounter to push the main character towards her moment of grace. More importantly O’Connor’s use of fictional realism makes the character’s demise feel devastating. “Grace” is achieved when a character set’s aside their personal values and becomes overwhelmed by a higher power. This essay analyzes how the Grandmothers character was developed and why her development was crucial to the ending of the short story. A Good Man is Hard to find is about a who went on a road trip to Tennessee. When the family was driving to their destination...
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...In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” two main characters are developed, the grandmother and the Misfit. The two are contrasting characters based on their image of salvation, but they are similar with how they both are ultimately changed by God’s grace. To begin, the grandmother is one very interesting grandmother. She really isn’t the stereotypical grandmother one might depict. For the majority of the story, the grandmother has a hard time encountering God. It is obvious the grandmother believes she is high class and superior. For example, the grandmother pleads for her life to the Misfit with the words, “‘I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people,’” (O’Connor 127). This exclamation from the grandmother shows her hierarchal belief that she is on top of the social class structure. Furthermore, by suggesting the Misfit must come from good people, it implies she thinks she is a good person as well. Because of this mindset and her high self-esteem, the grandmother thinks she will be saved by God. This attitude blocks her from encountering God, because she doesn’t think she needs to do...
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...Ruth Boro Professor Hernandez ENGL 1302-71701 30 Nov. 2016 Literary Analysis of a Good Man is Hard to Find. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a short story written by Flannery O’Connor. The exposition of the story is a family from Atlanta preparing to travel to Florida for three days. The grandmother does not want to go to Florida because there is a criminal, the Misfit, aloose from the Federal Pen heading to Florida and she thinks that it is dangerous to for the family to head to Florida. The Grandmother tries to manipulate the son, Bailey to change the destination, and she prefers Tennes-see because she has connections there. The central purpose of the story is to show the rivalry between good and evil. According to an article by Alex Link,...
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...country and it’s Frank who pays for her needs and her tuition. One day at work Franks boss asks him to send some letters. Frank says yes and now he ventures to find the mailbox at Forty-sixth Street. On his way he helps an old man and he gets invited inside the old mans house for dinner. During the dinner he is getting to know the old man more and more and it ends with Frank reading for the old man and getting a well-paid job. The main theme in this short story is helpfulness. It is about what you give, will be giving back. The reason why this is the main theme is because Frank is a poor, smart and kind kid, who only wants to give his sister a good life. Franks name is Frank Fowler. He has a sister and no parents. Frank lives in New York. He is a Cash-boy at Gilbert & Mack’s and this is here he spends all his hours’ everyday running between the salesmen and the cashier. The boss tells him, that he is a hard working-man and he earns 3 dollars a week, which isn’t much. He spends his money on his sister, Grace, and her tuition, which tells us that he is a caring boy, who only wants to help his sister and others: “Of this sum he inclosed eight dollars to Mr. Pomeroy to pay for four weeks’ board for Grace.” And “I hope you are not much hurt, sir? These sentences explain everything above and it also tells us that Frank has good manners, cares about everyone around him and he knows how to communicate with different people from different social classes. This is also one of the areas...
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...In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to find,” she tells the story of a family going on vacation, making a wrong turn, and consequently being brutally murdered by a Misfit and his crew. But the story also possesses a detailed vision of the grace and ultimate redemption offered to the Misfit. O’Connor shows the Grandmother’s final moment when she extended grace towards the Misfit, however, many people have made arguments to how they think it ends. For example, Stephan C. Bandy responds in “ ‘One Of My Babies’: The Misfit and the Grandmother,” and claims that even if the Misfit had been shown true grace, he would reject it. However, Matthew Fike, in “The Timothy Allusion in ‘A Good Man is Hard To Find’” believes the Misfit was startled because he felt the Holy Spirit, who he had been trying to deny his entire life, and emphasizes the cleaning of his glasses as spiritual...
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...Most readers only see the context, and what is boldly written in black and white. But what is truly needed to be understood to get the full truth of what the story is trying to convey lies beneath the printed ink. Underneath the apparent words, written by Flannery O’Connor, holds a religious allusion. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor is about the grandmother’s journey to her realization about her actions and beliefs, and her receiving her grace and salvation. Even from the very beginning of the story, we as readers find the grandmother quite irritating. Starting with her reading the newspaper about the Misfit being in Florida, she comes off not very sincere and very manipulative to the family to get her way. She states it would bother her conscience if she took her kids out on vacation with a criminal on the loose like the Misfit. Another way that shows the grandmother’s true character is by the way she dresses. She dresses very elaborate...
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...Emily Carlson April 18, 2011 Literature 12 Senior Paper on A Good Man Is Hard to Find Week 29 Day 1 Flannery O’Connor was a Catholic writer who was born in 1925, in Savannah, Georgia, and died in 1964. She was well known for her writings about the darker side of humanity. While O’Connor’s stories were often gritty and disturbing to read, they always embodied aspects of grace. O'Connor often depicted salvation through shocking, and violent experiences of her characters. Flannery O’Connor focuses on man’s fallen nature, but at the same time inspires the reader to consider the moments of grace that are offered to everyone. Some individuals recognize and accept this free gift of grace, while others ignore it. Evidence and analysis of the grace offered to the two main characters will be presented in this study of “A Good Man Is Hard to find”, written in 1953. The story is about an unpleasant family who plans a car trip to Florida from their hometown in Georgia. The reader is introduced to the spiteful and manipulative grandmother, her disconnected son, Bailey, his passive wife and baby, and their two older, hard-to-please children, June Star and John Wesley. The grandmother wants to go to Tennessee instead of Florida, so she tells her family about and escaped convict she read about in the news paper to scare them away from going to Florida. Bailey refuses to switch routes and tells her it is nonsense, and the family settles into the car. While on the trip, the children...
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...Lesson Plan for teaching Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Adriana Obiols Roca ‘16 / Swarthmore College Spring 2014 a project completed for Prof. Peter Schmidt’s English 71D, “The Short Story in the U.S.” Swarthmore College, Fall 2014 Objectives: students will… * Understand the differences between direct and indirect characterization and be able to identify examples of each. * Understand the uses of irony and foreshadowing in the story as well as more generally in literature. * Become acquainted with Flannery O’Connor and her writing style, particularly with her use of the grotesque. * Explore the complexity of the themes present in the story and the characters O’Connor has created, especially the Misfit and the grandmother. * Exercise a variety of critical thinking and analytical skills in order to form ideas and opinions about O’Connor’s story and her writing strategies. * Practice reading comprehension and summarization. * Employ and practice writing skills in an essay assignment. Necessary preparation: The teacher should have familiarized him or herself with Flannery O’Connor’s life and work before the lesson by using the links provided below. It is also important that the teacher review definitions of the terms characterization, irony, and foreshadowing (see below). Students are expected to have read Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” as well as her essay “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in...
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