A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor

The story A Good Man is Hard to Find raises a point on violence and grace, which is emphasized in these three points: the grandmother calls the Misfit her son, where he represents her grace, also the story raises a argument that there is no pleasure on earth, and finally the grandmother accepts her grace but sometimes grace doesn’t respond nicely. The relationship between the Misfit and the grandmother is rather complicated because it is not exactly clear what he is to her. The grandmother mentions this, "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!"(O’Conner, 10). This is the one time she says who the Misfit is to her but it doesn’t really make sense because wouldn’t a person know immediately if a person is there child or not. Also the Misfit says, “She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said…” (O’Conner, 10). A man wouldn’t call his mother that so the Misfit must be more than a child to the grandmother.
In this novel the main idea is violence and grace, so when the grandmother calls the Misfit her child she is calling him her grace.
The grandmother does this, “She reached out and touched him on the shoulder.”(O’Conner, 10). In the previous paragraph it is made clear the Misfit is not her child so she is not just reaching out for the Misfit but for her grace. Even the Misfit says, “She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”(O’Conner, 10). He is mentioning that the woman became good at the end of her life and the Misfit shooting her helped her accept
grace. The author raises the idea that sometimes the only way for people who have lost their way to accept the grace of God is through violence. The grandmother is example of a person who has lost her way, “Did you read about that criminal, The Misfit, that's escaped?" asked the grandmother.”(O’Conner, 4), “People are certainly not nice like they used to be," said the grandmother.”(O’Conner, 3). The grandmother is not looking toward heavenly things instead she is distracted by earthly chaos which means she is straying away from God. Violence changes the grandmother, “"Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!" She reached out and touched him on the shoulder.”(O’Conner, 10). Violence pushes a person to be in the present which the grandmother was at because she accept God’s grace, and corrected her path to God. The Misfit says that there is no pleasure and this is interesting because even God says there is no pleasure on earth. The Misfit says, “No pleasure but meanness,"(O’Conner, 10). In saying this the Misfit has the ideology that the world is cruel and is not satisfying. In Proverbs chapter twenty-one verse seventeen it says, “Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man…” (ESV). Seeking pleasure on earth is meaningless as a person will not gain anything but in God satisfaction is found but the Misfit doesn’t seem to understand this. He refuses to accept Jesus because of what he believes that Christ did. The Misfit says, "I wasn't there so I can't say He didn't," The Misfit said. "I wisht I had of been there," he said, hitting the ground with his fist. "It ain't right I wasn't there because if I had of been there I would of known. Listen lady," he said in a high voice, "if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn't be like I am now."(O’Conner, 10) Being there might have changed things but the Misfit doesn’t acknowledge that there was quite few eyewitnesses which doesn’t require him to be there but the Misfit is stuck on this idea that he has to be there to believe. The Misfits main reason for his belief, "Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead," The Misfit continued, "and He shouldn't have done it. He shown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it's nothing for you to do but thow away everything and follow Him, and if He didn't, then it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can by killing somebody…”(O’Conner, 10). This quote shows what the Misfit really thinks about Jesus and what he really thinks about Jesus but the grandmother believes in the Messiah. The grandmother on the other hand believes in Jesus. She says, "Jesus!" the old lady cried. "You've got good blood! I know you wouldn't shoot a lady! I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady…” (O’Conner, 10). The grandmother in this instance is calling upon the Lord to help her and that is why she believes him because he helps in difficult situations. She mentions this, “She wanted to tell him that he must pray. She opened and closed her mouth several times before anything came out. Finally she found herself saying, "Jesus. Jesus," (O’Conner, 10). The grandmother is trying to focus on God here because she hopes he will help her but in the end she still dies. Although grace is accepted, the Misfit shoots her to prove that grace is not easily given and that the grandmother became good at the end. The Misfit does this, “The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest.”(O’Conner). The Misfit is bent to his ideologies and thoughts that he refuses to simply accept her so he shoots her to show that grace was accepted. The Misfit says, “She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."(O’Conner, 10). At the end the author proves the idea that violence can bring people to their moment of grace. The Misfit mentions something that says a lot about the way people live their life in the twenty-frst century. He says, “…if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."(O’Conner, 10) Sometimes humans need a push to come to God and to improve themselves. He also mentions, “"Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!"(O’Conner, 10) The grandmother in the end has chosen to accept grace but it wasn’t without a little push and a lot of people in the twenty-first century need a shove. In conclusion, although the story doesn’t follow a common story timeline where the good guy comes back, it is worth mentioning that the author had interesting ideas: there is no pleasure on earth but in God himself, how violence can drive someone to accept the grace of God, and how grace does not easily accept a person.