...Freeman Hensley English 11/ Fourth Period 05 March 2018 Part 14: Rough Draft #2 In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” she writes, “If you would pray,’ the old lady said, ‘Jesus would help you.’ This particular quote shows how Flannery O’Connor combined two themes into one concept, by taking the theme of God and Religion and Good vs. Evil and adding that into one character’s personality. O’Connor also shows, in this quote, the theme Good vs. Evil for how the grandmother attempted to convert the misfit to her religion instead of going through with his evil scheme. O’Connor’s writing style was very unique and one of a kind. She carefully drew out every character and theme to match perfection. Flannery O’Connor adds a major affect to her writing by using Themes, Literary devices, and a specific style in her fiction. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, she perfectly includes her religion into her writing always making it a key point in her stories. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Red Sammy’s wife said “It isn’t a soul in this green world of God’s that you can trust,”(O’Connor 142). In this...
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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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...Fiction Assignment In A Good Man is Hard to Find, O’Connor displays to us the theme of an unsympathetic character that is surprisingly touched when one of his victims of his senseless crimes tries to convert him and persuade him to not kill her. With O’Connor’s Catholic influenced writing, a closer look through the short story shows the theme of unlikely, undeserving characters finally understanding the error of their ways and knowing that they could change, through the help and belief of religion. At the end of the story we see irony along with a sort of justice to the killing of the grandmother, who led her family down on a trip to their death because she was insistent of reliving and glorifying the former times. We also see the Misfit find out that there is no pleasure in his way of life, which makes him reflect on how different his life could have been. The first example of the Grandmother’s ability to compare and contrast the present time she is in and the ways of the past is in the backseat of the car with her grandchildren. When her grandson says that he wishes to get through their home state, Georgia, quickly, the grandmother admonishes him by telling him that children were more respectful of their states and parents. This seems to have little effect on the two disrespectful children. Further along the vacation, the family goes to The Tower for lunch. The place is run by a man named Red Sammy, whom advertises his restaurant by appealing to people just like the grandmother...
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...and William Faulkner. O’Conner’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” which depicts a southern family’s demise at the hands of a ruthless murderer, and Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” in which a well-to-do woman is discovered to have the rotting corpse of her lover in her bedroom, are two perfect examples of southern gothic stories. While both O’Conner and Faulkner use the southern gothic style, however, they use it to illuminate different aspects of southern culture. The most important and defining aspect of southern gothic writing is the use of macabre, or grotesque, events. Such events are easily identified in both stories. “A Rose for Emily, told through the eyes of an entire southern town, depicts a woman named Emily, who is the last remaining member of a once great family. The town watches as Emily grows more and more estranged as years pass. Eventually, when she dies alone, the town enters the house and is shocked to find the badly decomposed body of her lover, who had been assumed to have left Emily years before, in the bed of an upstairs room. Faulkner ends the story on a decidedly gruesome note, writing “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (p 555). O’Conner’s story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” is equally gruesome. In it, a family’s car careens...
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...Who was Flannery O’Connor? Flannery O’Connor was a female, American writer and an important voice in American literature, who wrote two novels and multiple short stories throughout her lifetime. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People,” Flannery O’Connor showcases a genre of themes throughout her pieces and a style that is interesting and different compared to others. Like most of her short stories, both of these writings are very interesting and narrated in a third person point of view. It is clearly obvious that O’Connor’s influence upon these two short stories illustrates her own version of southern gothic with a twist of religion, much like many of her works. There were many factors to her style of writing but two that she uses were “...distortion and exaggeration…” (Shloss 35). The focus of...
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...A Good Man Is Hard to Find Flannery O’Connor’s short story ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ reveals a harsh, yet realistic view of the world by using three literary elements: foreshadowing, irony, and character. O’Connor begins the story with a mere family vacation. The story seems so simple and innocent, that the deeper meaning is often not recognizable at first. As the story develops the darkness of the plot is revealed to the reader. Overall, the stories three literary elements tie the stories theme together, which is prejudice, religion, and violence. Foreshadowing is an important element that is used several times throughout the story. O’Connor begins the story by foreshadowing the Misfit; a convict who has escaped from the federal penitentiary. It is important that he is mentioned because he eventually ends up murdering the family. The next element of foreshadowing takes place when the family is getting in the car, preparing to head toward their vacation. The grandmother has over dressed herself for the car ride. She is wearing a navy blue, polka dotted dress trimmed with lace and violets. She said that, “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead will know that she was a lady.” This statement clearly foretells that something tragic is going to take place. As the family rides along in the car they pass a cotton field with five or six graves in the middle of it. Once again there is an indication of death approaching the family. After the family’s car accident, a car...
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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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...style uses traits such as grotesquery and ironic events to judge the morals of the American South. Unlike its similar and older genre, Gothic tools are used not only for the sense of anticipation, but also to discover social issues and show the cultural aspect of the American South. One thing that holds dear to the south is religion. Many southerners claim Christianity, which to them makes their morals right. Southern culture has been and remains commonly and publically more conventional the rest of the United States. Due to the huge agricultural role that the south played in the building of Americas economy, the culture continued to be sacred and covered due the immense land ownership during that time. The societies where small, which led to the development of strong relationships through business, community gatherings and church. The south is known for being the most religious section in the United States. According to Adherents.com the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest denomination, claims roughly 16 million members. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reports that “more than eight in ten people in Mississippi (82 percent) say religion is very important in their lives, making the Magnolia State the most religious according to this measure.” Flannery O’Connor created her stories based on the Christ-obsessed South. It seemed as if she was incapable of writing anything that strayed away from the topics of, “Jesus freaks”, egotistical characters, prophets...
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...“Love in L.A” and “A Good Man is Hard to find” are two short stories that forecast the doom of its characters to readers. Love in L.A tells the story of Jake, a young, unemployed, con artist who is in love with himself. A Good Man is hard to find, is the story of a grandmother and her family on the road headed to Florida for a vacation. Both stories have to do with morals and good vs. evil. The common links between the two stories is both of them take place in traveling vehicles. They both touched on ideas of morals. Both stories are different because the main characters had different beliefs. Jake always had ill intentions. He gave false information to Mariana concerning the accident he had with her. Most of his thoughts were about his automobile and women. Jake was pretty much a con artist. Mariana is hardworking, honest and responsible. Mariana was suspicious of Jake’s behavior during the conversation regarding the accident; however, Jake still managed to give her false information. Jake intended on leaving the scene of the accident, but when he saw Mariana and how beautiful she was, his intentions changed. He wanted to know her on a more personal level. Mariana had honest intentions, and had no idea Jake was giving her false information. The grandmother was a judgmental liar. She wanted to go on vacation, but not to Florida because of the Misfits. Bailey, the father, thought he had control of his family, but they actually ran over him. He planned on having the vacation...
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...A good man is hard to find was a very interesting story reading the story made me see how the grandmother and the misfit were alike and different in various ways. Throughout the story, I saw a lot of traits that they had in common like how they a both controlling also how she could have been had religion not been there to help her out in her difficult times. They both have different religious views which cause them to have many problems throughout the story. The misfit and the grandmother are two different people that have different ideas and beliefs in the story one chose a different path from the other. The misfit and his friends spot the accident the grandmother and her family had here we read that the misfit is the oldest person in his gang “He was an older man than the other two. His hair was just starting to turn gray and he wore silver-rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look”. The grandmother thinks he is someone she knew all her life the Misfit in some ways signifies what the grandmother could have been if she did not lose her faith which calmed her negative attitude and it kept her from turning into someone like the misfit which had faith in nothing and had no one to turn too which caused him to turn into a bad man....
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...I think that Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is written partially in order to “convert” people who have not yet fully accepted the Christian faith. O’Conner, herself being a strong believer in Christianity, probably thought that writing this story will help make people who aren’t really living by the Christian rules to seriously consider doing so. Flannery O'Connor was deeply concerned with the values and the direction of the youth at the time. She believed that Christ was no longer enough of a priority to the people of her generation. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is representative of Flannery O'Connor's concern for the priorities and values of the 1940s. An example of this, in "A Good Man is Hard to Find," involves the grandmother's strong, southern heritage. She dresses with the intention that anyone who finds her dead on the road will know she was a lady, and she is always telling stories of southern gentlemen courting her. Then, the Misfit, whom she "knows" is of quality, southern blood, shoots her and her family, despite her belief in southern hospitality. Grandma is a woman who believes in God, but it seems that her belief isn’t really strong up until her confrontation with the Misfit. From what I understand, most of her works follow a similar pattern. The main character(s) are in some kind of trouble and at the end they see “the light” of God’s ways and have their redemption. Christians have often criticized her works for...
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...I think that Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is written partially in order to “convert” people who have not yet fully accepted the Christian faith. O’Conner, herself being a strong believer in Christianity, probably thought that writing this story will help make people who aren’t really living by the Christian rules to seriously consider doing so. Flannery O'Connor was deeply concerned with the values and the direction of the youth at the time. She believed that Christ was no longer enough of a priority to the people of her generation. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is representative of Flannery O'Connor's concern for the priorities and values of the 1940s. An example of this, in "A Good Man is Hard to Find," involves the grandmother's strong, southern heritage. She dresses with the intention that anyone who finds her dead on the road will know she was a lady, and she is always telling stories of southern gentlemen courting her. Then, the Misfit, whom she "knows" is of quality, southern blood, shoots her and her family, despite her belief in southern hospitality. Grandma is a woman who believes in God, but it seems that her belief isn’t really strong up until her confrontation with the Misfit. From what I understand, most of her works follow a similar pattern. The main character(s) are in some kind of trouble and at the end they see “the light” of God’s ways and have their redemption. Christians have often criticized her works for...
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...A Good Man Is Hard to Fine: An Annotated Bibliography HUDDLE,DAVID. “The Singular Voice of Flannery O'Connor”. Flannery O'Connor Review. Vol. 13. 2015. p30-39. Huddle describes O’Connor as one of America’s major writers. She writes about issues within southern culture and has spiritual revelations. He compares O’Connor to The Misfit in the story. O’Connor is an artist, a Catholic and a Southern Woman. She uses her traits to build upon the characters of the story. They refer to the Grandmother as a flawed human being. Religion is very important. When the Grandmother reaches out to the Misfit with her religious comment she startles him and he kills her. Even as a villain after killing the Grandmother he is looking for redemption. Larson, Susan T. “A Good Man Is Hard To Find and Other Short Stories”. Masterplots. 4th Edition. Nov. 2010. p1-2. O’Connor is recognized as a significance American fiction writer. The story A Good Man Is Hard To Find has a mixture of humor, violence and religious themes. The Grandmother and family set off to take a trip to Florida. The Grandmother did not want to go there, she wanted to go to Tennessee. She used the story of the Misfits escape but the trip was still on. While traveling the Grandmother disrupts the cat which then causes an accident. A car stops and when the men get out the Grandmother recognizes him as the Misfit. He orders the men with him to kill the family. The Misfit is with the Grandmother and she is trying to...
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...She Would Have Been a Good Woman Flannery O'Connor's story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" uses irony to depict the concept of good as undefinable. This shows in the line, " "In my time," said the grandmother, folding her thin veiled fingers, "children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else. People did right then. Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!" she said, and pointed to a Negro child standing in the door of a shack." " O'Connor grew up in Georgia, surrounded by Southern Protestants and drew inspiration from the distinct region, thus setting the story in Georgia. (Hayes 2) She grew up in a region that was heavily concerned with social place, during the time the "New South" was coming unraveled...
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...In Flannery O’Connor’s story A Good Man is Hard to Find, a family is visited by a character dubbed “The Misfit,” who is an escaped convict and the main antagonist of the story. He explains to the family, and especially the grandmother, that he cannot remember what he did to belong in prison. Meanwhile, the grandmother tells The Misfit that he just needs to pray to Jesus and he will be holy again. However, the grandmother tries to manipulate the Misfit to get him to do what she wants, and her faith in God is fake. In A Good Man is Hard to Find, there are two misfits in the story, which are The Misfit and the grandmother. Not surprisingly, the main character, The Misfit, does not blend in with society. The Misfit portrays himself as someone that has been mistreated by society through his time in prison. He has examined his faith and doubts God. His views that he does not need God or that Jesus should not have raised the dead differs from a largely Christian southern demographic where he lives. He explains to the grandma that he can’t find good in himself, saying “I ain’t a good man,”(O'Connor 148) whereas most people see themselves as good. However, it is likely that he is a psychopath and a compulsive liar, which explains why he believes himself to be a misfit. Ali Venosa, a neuroscience reporter,...
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