Christian Alonzo
English 1302
Professor Duncan
16 June 2015

Topic Proposal: Religious affairs 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 is Hard to Find”." A Journal of Academic Writing (2013): 10.
Yao explores, summarizes, and annotates the relationships between the Grandmother and the Roman Catholic Faith. She identifies that the grandmother puts herself and her life before that of anyone else’s which directly contradicts Christian beliefs. The grandmother continuously shows her lack of true Christian faith as she attempts to use God to save her life and as soon as she realizes it is not working she reverts to bribing the misfit. “The grandmother is also shown to care more for her life than her family’s wellbeing. Instead of speaking up for her young grandchildren, she begs to The Misfit, “You wouldn't shoot a lady, would you?” (587). Her concern for her family seems to diminish at this critical point. These traits are far from Christian teachings (see Isaiah 1:17, Psalm 82:3, John 15:13). In the desperation of begging for her life, the grandmother even uses God. The grandmother often asks The Misfit to pray (589), and seeing her strategy not working, she offers material goods, money, to save her life. “
Bandy, Stephen C. "“One of my babies”: the misfit and the grandmother “." Studies in Short Fiction 33 (1996).
Bandy compares and analyzes the two main characters of the story, the grandmother and Misfit. Although he is not sure which one is truly more evil they both exhibit sins on a greater scale than the rest of the supporting characters. He believes that the actions of both characters should not be forgiven so easily and that grace cannot be handed so simply especially to a serial killer and a selfish old woman who put herself before her own family. “It has been said that no action is without its redeeming aspect. Could this unspeakable act of selfishness carry within it the seeds of grace, acting, as it were, above the Grandmother? So Flannery O'Connor believed. But what is the precise movement of grace in this scene? It is surely straining the text to propose that the Grandmother has in this moment "seen the light." Are we to regard her as the unwitting agent of divine grace whose selfish intentions are somehow transfigured into a blessing? Such seems to have been O'Connor's opinion: “We are almost persuaded to forget that none of this happens in the story itself. If this can be so, then we can just as easily attribute any interpretation we like to the scene. But in fact he is in no way changed, There is no "later on" in fiction. We do not, and will not, see "created grace" in the spirit of the Misfit.

Doyle, Charles Clay. ""A Good Man Is Hard to Find": The Proverb." Flannery O'Connor Review. Vol. 5. N.p.: Flannery O'Connor Review, 2007. 5-22. Web. 23 June 2015.
Charles analyzes his students work and criticizes why most of his student believe the title of A Good Man Is Hard To Find is a proverb or an “old saying” After carefully examining he realizes that the story is a proverb but still with a ironic twist. Even though the grandmother and the Misfit are seen as evil and sinful she commits the one act of kindness only true Christian Believers are seen doing. Loving the unlovable and seeing the “good” in a man by anyone else would see as pure evil I would suggest that the proverb, as used in the story, must be interpreted with still another ironic twist: By discerning The Misfit’s “goodness,” the grandmother, foolish and desperate as she may appear in worldly terms, rejects the Manichaean notion of “the reality of evil.” Beyond mere forgiveness, she declines to pass judgment on a child of God, who creates only good. Although readers of the story may find it (to use De Caro’s phrasing) “in fact impossible” to do, the grandmother triumphantly accomplishes that rare Christian act of loving the unlovable, accepting The Misfit as a “good man.”
Hendricks, T. W. "Flannery O'Connor's "Spoiled Prophet"." Modern Age. Vol. 51. N.p.: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2009. 202-10. Web. 23 June 2015.
In Hendricks analysis he states the reasons for which the Misfit had his malicious intentions, and tries to justify why the Misfit blames God for his actions and his hatred for him. He states if the punishments handed down from God were appropriate to the crime or sin committed, and why we as humans have to suffer for a single act of disobedience. It just doesn’t seem right to hand down such a great punishment for a single act of defiance. Through the analysis of the story he has come to realize that the Christian faith is a jagged controversial line but a path that leads to a greater outcome for all human souls. From the Christian point of view, what the Misfit is saying about himself is true of all humanity. We are all being punished for Adam’s disobedience—the Misfit is Everyman. Furthermore we are all being punished out of proportion to our crime. Did Adam and Eve deserve to lose Eden for that single act of disobedience? Does every descendant of Adam deserve to suf- fer for it? Even John Milton had trouble with those questions. The grandmother offers the standard Christian reply: those questions are no longer important because Jesus atoned for the sins of Adam and everyone else. Through Him any of us can be saved.