A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay
Religiously Confused Mahatma Gandhi once stated, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” The quote is referring that most Christians do not follow the steps of Christ. Most Christians are viewed only as, “Sunday Christians” who follow their own beliefs. Faith is a major attribute to being Christian, and most never realize that it is missing until it is too late. In Flannery O’ Connor’s, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” O’Connor utilizes religious aspects to tie in her views on Christian beliefs and her confusion about her religion in her life through the Grandmother’s eyes. To start, in order for the reader to understand the writing and views of Flannery O’Connor, it is vital to know a history and background on which she came from. O’Connor was born in the early 1920s, in Georgia, which means she is from the south. The author has long and strong roots of Catholicism, in which her stories brew from and create a sense of background of most of her stories. In her family, there was death of a parent that possibly could have destroyed her faith in her religion. When her father died of lupus, one could
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see the anger at a persons belief in God for taking someone away that was so close. A reader could suggest that her father’s death could be the reason behind her stories religious outcries towards Christianity. Living in the south, O’Connor was one of the many women attending college. She attended a school in Georgia for writing, which later proves her sensational views of literature. People remember O’Connor having dark humor, which could be described as many of literature writers in that era. Many literature writers hide real meaning behind their text for a reader to reveal in the end. Unfortunately, O’Connor suffered the same faith as her father throughout her life and later died of Lupus at the age of 39. Moreover, during the period of time that Flannery O’Connor was creating her literature, there were historical backgrounds that possibly could have tied into her writing. As noted, O’Connor is from the south, which at the time could mean numerous events happening. According to Sarah Gordon, her stories “were written in a time of great social time in the South”(Godon). What a reader could find of the historical background is that during that time in the south church and religion was a major factor in southern living. Baptist was and still is one of the leading beliefs down in the south. The strong religious viewing in that time is a fuel to the ideas of O’Connor’s literature and possibly imitating the “false beliefs” of those of that time. To a change a topic, the stories that O’Connor writes all come together to make an everlasting idea of her Catholicism and beliefs in religion. Most of O’Connor’s stories have relevance to some sort of religion to give a background to the real reason of her stories. One could feel as if O’Connor is giving messages to the reader through religious sayings or religious prospects. For example, the characters names are religiously named to coincide with the message that is trying to be given. The irony in the names are hints to the reader of the incorporeal standings. In other words, in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” one of the characters, John Wesley, has religous background to his name. According to Wesley Center Online, “John Wesley was an 18th century Anglican evangelist and founder of the Wesleyan Tradition”(Wesley). That meaning that O’Connor was hinting to the reader of the religious background of her story. O’Connor is getting across. Alternately, contradictions between good versus evil could also portray a character’s perception of heaven and hell to the reader. The reader could propose the idea of a clash of two forces conflicting each other in most of the religiously purposed stories O’Connor writes. Being that religion reflects most of O’Connor’s stories, most of the protagonist rebel against the idea of religious beliefs.
For example, in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” the Misfit refuses to believe in something that has never been there for him. This shows the reader the relevance of religion to the offensive party of the stories. The reader views the protagonist running away from religion more than going towards it. Consequently, the protagonists show their religious feelings through major crisis represented through horrible things. Let alone, ProQuest includes that, “rebelling against belief turns a crisis that reveals to [himself] haughty and willful misconception of reality”(Anon). Which meaning, if there is no belief system then one could have a false belief of reality all together and what it really
means. As in illustration, O’Connors views in, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” all fall into the conflict of false beliefs and a fighting the force of grace. The reader notices a constant viewing of grace towards the end of the short story. O’ Connor is showing the reader the realization of “God’s” mercy and how “God’s” grace can be shown at any time someone has faith. In the grandmother we see grace before her death, it plays a huge role in the story and the meaning of the main problem. Particularly, the reader sees another contradiction with ideas and the belief system. The belief system is somewhat failed to O’Connor so she includes the murder of the grandma when all hope is lost and grace of God is achieved to contradict both sides of the forces. Furthermore, the Misfit is seen as one of the main protagonist in the story, he is pure evil, and has lost all faith in religion. The reader could believe that O’Connor suffered the same faith when her father passed away. To get back on topic, The Misfit could be compared to the bible as somewhat as a “fallen angel” he has lost all faith and chooses not to follow christian ways. A major motif in the story is evil, The Misfit goes through questioning his belief and salvation to better understand the reason why he feels abandoned by his God. Another way the reader views O’Connor utilize religion is the way she uses the Holy Trinity to represent the number of gunshots the Grandmother receives when she is shot by The Misfit. Many religiously faithful christians use the holy trinity to begin a prayer when “speaking” to God. As a reader, it helps one think that possibly The Misfit is speaking to God through the killings he is committing. As a result of the title it also helps the reader understand the real meaning of the entire story. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” could be interpreted as it is hard to find one’s religion. Christ can not be found until one finds grace and faith in the religion and in themselves. O’Connor is trying to attempt on explaining that Christ is the greatest figure of man and it is hard to find him. Considering that The Misfit is evil, the reader understand that his commitment to evil because he can not commit himself to God no matter what anyone tells him. The Misfit has an unclear thought of ever trusting the religion and ways of God. O’Connor includes to possibly to give the reader a thought of individuals’ distrust in God after a while. The author also uses many examples of foreshadowing to help the reader constantly think of the main conflict. One example of foreshadowing is the fact that the Grandmother wears nice clothes because she does not want to be caught in an accident not looking like a lady, that is why she always harasses the wife about not dressing lady like. It could be known that southern ladies see themselves as respectable women and they have to always be on top of their game. O’Connor uses this reference to give the reader a hint that the family may be in accident in the story. Notably, O’Connor uses the Grandmother as one of her liaisons to show the reader the main idea and hidden viewpoints in the story. Grace is a known factor that the Grandmother has to show the reader the realization of her faith. The Grandmother states, “you’re one of my children”(O’Connor) to represent the grace in God she has found. She found the grace before it was to late, which ties into the whole idea of being a Sunday Christian only. The reader begins to understand the Grandmother’s faith is not pure until the point where she is trying convince The Misfit to believe in Christ. Likewise, the fact that the Grandmother calls a stranger that he is a “Good Man” is confusion on the readers part. To infer, a reader can understand that O’Connor is getting across that Christ is in The Misfit that he just needs to find him, the Grandmother has faith in The Misfit. In conclusion, as Gandhi stated Christians tend to lose faith and get off track over time. It takes a crisis for Christians to realize that their faith is gone. Throughout Flannery O’Connor’s words we lean different attributes about her views of religion and people and how sometimes it could take things like death to see the good in a person. In Flannery O’Connor’s, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” a reader could see the use of religion and grace to see the authors beliefs and confusion of the real meaning of faith through character’s life.
Anon., . "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Cambridge: Proquest Information and Learning Com pany, 2002 KnowledgeNotes™ Student Guides. (2002): n.pag. YC.EDU. Web. 5 Mar 2013.
see the anger at a persons belief in God for taking someone away that was so close. A reader could suggest that her father’s death could be the reason behind her stories religious outcries towards Christianity. Living in the south, O’Connor was one of the many women attending college. She attended a school in Georgia for writing, which later proves her sensational views of literature. People remember O’Connor having dark humor, which could be described as many of literature writers in that era. Many literature writers hide real meaning behind their text for a reader to reveal in the end. Unfortunately, O’Connor suffered the same faith as her father throughout her life and later died of Lupus at the age of 39. Moreover, during the period of time that Flannery O’Connor was creating her literature, there were historical backgrounds that possibly could have tied into her writing. As noted, O’Connor is from the south, which at the time could mean numerous events happening. According to Sarah Gordon, her stories “were written in a time of great social time in the South”(Godon). What a reader could find of the historical background is that during that time in the south church and religion was a major factor in southern living. Baptist was and still is one of the leading beliefs down in the south. The strong religious viewing in that time is a fuel to the ideas of O’Connor’s literature and possibly imitating the “false beliefs” of those of that time. To a change a topic, the stories that O’Connor writes all come together to make an everlasting idea of her Catholicism and beliefs in religion. Most of O’Connor’s stories have relevance to some sort of religion to give a background to the real reason of her stories. One could feel as if O’Connor is giving messages to the reader through religious sayings or religious prospects. For example, the characters names are religiously named to coincide with the message that is trying to be given. The irony in the names are hints to the reader of the incorporeal standings. In other words, in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” one of the characters, John Wesley, has religous background to his name. According to Wesley Center Online, “John Wesley was an 18th century Anglican evangelist and founder of the Wesleyan Tradition”(Wesley). That meaning that O’Connor was hinting to the reader of the religious background of her story. O’Connor is getting across. Alternately, contradictions between good versus evil could also portray a character’s perception of heaven and hell to the reader. The reader could propose the idea of a clash of two forces conflicting each other in most of the religiously purposed stories O’Connor writes. Being that religion reflects most of O’Connor’s stories, most of the protagonist rebel against the idea of religious beliefs.
For example, in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” the Misfit refuses to believe in something that has never been there for him. This shows the reader the relevance of religion to the offensive party of the stories. The reader views the protagonist running away from religion more than going towards it. Consequently, the protagonists show their religious feelings through major crisis represented through horrible things. Let alone, ProQuest includes that, “rebelling against belief turns a crisis that reveals to [himself] haughty and willful misconception of reality”(Anon). Which meaning, if there is no belief system then one could have a false belief of reality all together and what it really
means. As in illustration, O’Connors views in, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” all fall into the conflict of false beliefs and a fighting the force of grace. The reader notices a constant viewing of grace towards the end of the short story. O’ Connor is showing the reader the realization of “God’s” mercy and how “God’s” grace can be shown at any time someone has faith. In the grandmother we see grace before her death, it plays a huge role in the story and the meaning of the main problem. Particularly, the reader sees another contradiction with ideas and the belief system. The belief system is somewhat failed to O’Connor so she includes the murder of the grandma when all hope is lost and grace of God is achieved to contradict both sides of the forces. Furthermore, the Misfit is seen as one of the main protagonist in the story, he is pure evil, and has lost all faith in religion. The reader could believe that O’Connor suffered the same faith when her father passed away. To get back on topic, The Misfit could be compared to the bible as somewhat as a “fallen angel” he has lost all faith and chooses not to follow christian ways. A major motif in the story is evil, The Misfit goes through questioning his belief and salvation to better understand the reason why he feels abandoned by his God. Another way the reader views O’Connor utilize religion is the way she uses the Holy Trinity to represent the number of gunshots the Grandmother receives when she is shot by The Misfit. Many religiously faithful christians use the holy trinity to begin a prayer when “speaking” to God. As a reader, it helps one think that possibly The Misfit is speaking to God through the killings he is committing. As a result of the title it also helps the reader understand the real meaning of the entire story. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” could be interpreted as it is hard to find one’s religion. Christ can not be found until one finds grace and faith in the religion and in themselves. O’Connor is trying to attempt on explaining that Christ is the greatest figure of man and it is hard to find him. Considering that The Misfit is evil, the reader understand that his commitment to evil because he can not commit himself to God no matter what anyone tells him. The Misfit has an unclear thought of ever trusting the religion and ways of God. O’Connor includes to possibly to give the reader a thought of individuals’ distrust in God after a while. The author also uses many examples of foreshadowing to help the reader constantly think of the main conflict. One example of foreshadowing is the fact that the Grandmother wears nice clothes because she does not want to be caught in an accident not looking like a lady, that is why she always harasses the wife about not dressing lady like. It could be known that southern ladies see themselves as respectable women and they have to always be on top of their game. O’Connor uses this reference to give the reader a hint that the family may be in accident in the story. Notably, O’Connor uses the Grandmother as one of her liaisons to show the reader the main idea and hidden viewpoints in the story. Grace is a known factor that the Grandmother has to show the reader the realization of her faith. The Grandmother states, “you’re one of my children”(O’Connor) to represent the grace in God she has found. She found the grace before it was to late, which ties into the whole idea of being a Sunday Christian only. The reader begins to understand the Grandmother’s faith is not pure until the point where she is trying convince The Misfit to believe in Christ. Likewise, the fact that the Grandmother calls a stranger that he is a “Good Man” is confusion on the readers part. To infer, a reader can understand that O’Connor is getting across that Christ is in The Misfit that he just needs to find him, the Grandmother has faith in The Misfit. In conclusion, as Gandhi stated Christians tend to lose faith and get off track over time. It takes a crisis for Christians to realize that their faith is gone. Throughout Flannery O’Connor’s words we lean different attributes about her views of religion and people and how sometimes it could take things like death to see the good in a person. In Flannery O’Connor’s, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” a reader could see the use of religion and grace to see the authors beliefs and confusion of the real meaning of faith through character’s life.
Anon., . "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Cambridge: Proquest Information and Learning Com pany, 2002 KnowledgeNotes™ Student Guides. (2002): n.pag. YC.EDU. Web. 5 Mar 2013.