A Man Who Was Almost A Good Person

One will come upon a time in their life where they will question if they are naturally a good or bad person. This is normal, for it is all a part of human nature for someone to determine their authentic propensity. The stories “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” by Leslie Marmon Silko, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “A Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright, “Hills Like White Elephants”, and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’ Conner by Ernest Hemingway all include the characters facing situations that question their natural attitude. Though, how someone handles any unexpected occurrence can reveal their true identity of either a positive or negative person. Amongst these
fictions, the authors use irony and traditional, social, and life changing happenings to define the genuine human nature of the main characters.
Passing down to many generations; traditions are meant to be lived no matter what it is and under any circumstance.
If not, one may not be viewed as great as they were before to those they are to carry the tradition with. In Leslie Marmon Silko’s, “A Man to Send Rain Clouds”, Teofilo, a Native American man, is perceived to be buried under native traditions while the priest feels the deceased man should end his life under Roman Catholic traditions. The priest states, “Why didn’t you tell me he was dead? I could have brought the Last Rites anyway” (Silko 25). You would expect the priest to be upset that Teofilo received the Native American tradition first, but the priest accepted the fact in peace. The priest did not turn out to be a bad person; he was just trying to carry out tradition, similar to the civilians of a small village in Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery”. Initially, it is believed that winning the lottery is a good thing, but throughout the story, the reader starts to realize that winning the lottery in this story is nothing to celebrate. “Mr. Graves opened the slip of paper and there was a general sigh through the crowd as he held it up and everyone could see that it was blank” (Jackson 70). Yet, in difference to the priest in “A Man to Send Rain Clouds”, once the villagers stone “winner” Tessie Hutchinson to death, it does make them bad people. Even though they were continuing a tradition, bringing someone to their death is never
right.
Tradition along with social happenings can also define a person’s attitude. Sometimes, society can have an influence on a person’s attitude. In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, the angel ends up escaping the town after being mistreated by society. The partial reason for his struggle is that he looks like anything but an angel. He was dirty and not much of a nice thing to look at whereas an angel is perceived to be beautiful in every way. Yet, the angel’s escape did not justify him as a bad person. He was trying to leave the town for it was never safe for him, “When she watched him pass over the last houses, holding himself up in some way with the risky flapping of a senile vulture” (Marquez 10). The angel’s plan to escape was similar to Dave’s in Richard Wright’s, “Almost a Man”. After shooting a mule with the gun he begged and pleaded his mother for, Dave is confronted by the townspeople. He then flees town after his efforts in lying did not work out, “Ahead the long rails were glinting in the moonlight, stretching away, away to somewhere, somewhere where he could be a man” (Wright 210). In difference to the angel, Dave leaving does make him a bad person because he didn’t own up to his mistake.
Tradition and social happenings do not work alone when determining someone’s attitude.
How someone acts when they are facing a life changing situation also contributes to their nature as well. Ernest Hemingway’s, “Hills like White Elephants”, deals with a man and woman conversing about aborting their unborn child. The man is talking the woman into it secretly wanting her to say yes but does not want to look bad. To further enforce his suggestion, he ensures her that everything will go back to normal by stating, “We’ll be fine afterwards. Just like we were before” (Hemingway 48). But, their choice on whether or not to have an abortion does not make them bad people. Just like the grandma’s choice to let her family go to Florida with a misfit on the loose does not make her a bad person in Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, but it is how she carries herself is what makes her a bad person. She sees herself as a classy, uppity woman yet in contrast, she is malice. When confronted by the misfit, she tries to spare her life, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?”(O’Conner 85), disregarding the rest of the
family.
The way a person handles a situation can determine their natural attitude. In “A Man to Send Rain Clouds”, the priest is not a bad person for he handled the situation correctly. But in “The Lottery”, the villagers are bad people because they carried on a tradition they knew was bad. In “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings”, the angel fleeing the town was justified because he was not treated right nor safe there, in opposition, Dave’s escape in “Almost a Man” was seen as cowardly because he lied and ran away from his mistake rather than admitting to it. This makes Dave a bad person and the angel a good person. Lastly, the man and woman in “Hills like White Elephants” are not bad people because they are considering abortion, yet, in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” the grandma is a bad person because she was more willing to save herself and leave her family for dead. All of these fictions give good insight into the human condition of questioning if they are naturally a good or bad person. They also show how any situation can determine it.