“A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a story written by Flannery O’Connor, which covers various complicated moral issues and dilemmas. The feat of the book describes a holiday, which was interrupted by unexpected events. On their way to Florida, a family from Atlanta witnesses a murder committed by the criminal named “The Misfit” by the media. The offender executes the whole family and steals their car, clothes, and cat. O’Connor narrates the story from the Grandmother’s point of view.
The story hubs upon two themes, which are individualism and selfishness. These issues were raised because of Grandmother’s persistence in attaining her motives, resulting in a complete family’s demise. O’Connor describes the main character, Grandmother, by role, while names indicate the other characters. Regardless of having no appellation, the Grandmother’s character discloses itself early, as she is preoccupied with occurrences, troubled with decency.
O’Connor uses visual elements to provide readers with additional characteristics of characters and their life paths. He describes the Grandma dressing to confirm the misfortune she went through (O’Connor 4). In addition, it is possible to notice that O’Connor connects smaller details and actions to global ones. Grandmother deliberately fails to inform her son Bailey about the cat, which she smuggles into the car in her basket, despite forbidden to leave the motel room with the cat (O’Connor 34). Later, the entire family’s death was caused because of the cat’s sing following the car accident, which derived into the encounter of the Misfit.
The author shows that the Grandmother overestimated her sense of arrogance and self-importance, not to comment on her dying commemoration, to convey the family’s collapse. Upon waking up from a doze in the car, she asserts to recognize a farmhouse from her youth. Despite being aware that her son Bailey would not be prepared to waste his time eyeing for the ancient dynasty, she insists that she wants to determine whether the tiny identical anchorages in the plantation were still upright. She then enlists her grandchildren’s piercing support and lies that the place is not far from where they are. Flannery shows the climax of narcissistic personalities, which pledge the bereavement of five guiltless people, the worse thing being that the detective of their assassination being their Grandmother.
Different Views on How Religion is Taken in the Book “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Bethea, Arthur F. “O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” The Explicator, vol. 64, no. 4, 2006, pp. 246-249.
Bethea’s approach in O’Connor’s book, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” takes an indication that God’s elegance was moved from God Himself to Grandma, then to Misfit, the criminal. Bethea uses symbols from the Bible throughout the story to position religion. For example, the trinity symbolized by three in Catholicism represents the three-headed Satan (Bethea 246). Spontaneously Misfit is placed with two criminals by Connor, the writer, who could symbolically signify Satan’s other two heads. The apprehension that Misfit shows in the presence of the children is a comparable characteristic that Satan portions.
Walls, Doyle W. “O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” The Explicator, vol. 46, no. 2, 1988, pp. 43-45.
In the article “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Walls represents religion via the mention of the trinity, which means God represents three people in one: The Father, who represents God, Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is also the presence of three values that is salvation, faith, and death. In this story, the Grandmother proclaims herself as a lady, and a believer demonstrates dedication (Walls 43). Misfit is a criminal who ran away from jail and represented death, while Jesus means salvation in the two characters.
Bryant, Hallman B. “Reading The Map in ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find.’” Studies in Short Fiction, vol 18., no. 3, 1981, p.301.
The battle between Grandma and Misfit at the extent of the last act of touching him provides a moment of grace. A moral man who is difficult to treasure has been illusioned with minor Christians not accomplishing the Bible’s obligation. The phrase gone by wind is a verse in the manuscript of psalms that supports that it is only through death that eternal life can be possible (Bryant 301). Grandmother’s focus on confrontation with Misfit shows that she fails to learn quietly, as women are requested to do in the Bible. The Grandma’s final act of praying when a gun is pointed at her poses a question to many since, throughout the story, there is no point where she is presented to be a prayerful woman.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the opposition of others – in this case, presented by the Grandmother product to a general loss of cohesiveness wherein the society embraces no worth. Furthermore, it is realized that minimal variance occurs between The Misfit and Grandmother’s character since they both engage other people around them as hostages preordained to attain their own self-centered needs. The importance of religion is revealed in the essay as many people pretend to be religious but do not follow God’s teaching. At the end of the story, the crises that arise are to awaken the people living in their comfort zone of self-satisfaction to life’s inadequacy.
Works Cited
Bethea, Arthur F.”O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” The Explicator, vol. 64, no. 4, 2006, pp. 246-249.
Bryant, Hallman B. “Reading The Map in ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’.” Studies in Short Fiction, vol 18., no. 3, 1981, p.301.
Flannery O’Connor. A Good Man is Hard to Find. Faber Modern Classics, 2016. (Original work published 1968).
Walls, Doyle W. “O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” The Explicator, vol. 46, no. 2, 1988, pp. 43-45.