A Good Man Is Hard to Find: the Struggle of Acceptance
John Tucker
Dr. Larry
Composition II
30 April 2010
The Struggle of Acceptance
The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” portrays forgiveness and change as a key factors leading to emotional turmoil resulting in the death of the grandmother. Both, forgiveness and change give reasoning for the murder and reasoning to prevent the murder. In both cases Jesus Christ shows His impact on life, peoples beliefs and motives. Death, even though a horrible incident, really gives perspective of how Christ influences the point of views of both the grandmother and The Misfit as points in commitment in Him and living a Christian life come into play.
The Misfit spent his whole life believing in something that was, in my opinion as a believer, wrong. It is very hard to follow something your entire life and accept something entirely opposite in the matter of minutes and ask for forgiveness making it entirely difficult for The Misfit to commit toward what the grandmother was trying to persuade. Living a Christian lifestyle, you must take in consideration that forgiveness takes part in commitment toward Jesus Christ. Commitment is something that you do not rush into, commitment is something that takes time and is something you build. To ask for forgiveness for sin takes courage and the want to turn wrong into right. This point in The Misfit’s life is where the fear of not only commitment but change takes its toll. Changing his perception meant changing his beliefs, and changing his beliefs meant changing his life. The Misfit was not only afraid of change but afraid of the fact that Jesus may have actually arisen from the dead, resulting in his beliefs to be obliterated and his life a terrible mistake. A realization this big forced him to eliminate doubt, in this case the grandmother trying to convince him of being, in her point of view, good. But the grandmother’s words didn’t fade along with her death; O’Conner commented on her own work saying, “…the old lady’s
Dr. Larry
Composition II
30 April 2010
The Struggle of Acceptance
The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” portrays forgiveness and change as a key factors leading to emotional turmoil resulting in the death of the grandmother. Both, forgiveness and change give reasoning for the murder and reasoning to prevent the murder. In both cases Jesus Christ shows His impact on life, peoples beliefs and motives. Death, even though a horrible incident, really gives perspective of how Christ influences the point of views of both the grandmother and The Misfit as points in commitment in Him and living a Christian life come into play.
The Misfit spent his whole life believing in something that was, in my opinion as a believer, wrong. It is very hard to follow something your entire life and accept something entirely opposite in the matter of minutes and ask for forgiveness making it entirely difficult for The Misfit to commit toward what the grandmother was trying to persuade. Living a Christian lifestyle, you must take in consideration that forgiveness takes part in commitment toward Jesus Christ. Commitment is something that you do not rush into, commitment is something that takes time and is something you build. To ask for forgiveness for sin takes courage and the want to turn wrong into right. This point in The Misfit’s life is where the fear of not only commitment but change takes its toll. Changing his perception meant changing his beliefs, and changing his beliefs meant changing his life. The Misfit was not only afraid of change but afraid of the fact that Jesus may have actually arisen from the dead, resulting in his beliefs to be obliterated and his life a terrible mistake. A realization this big forced him to eliminate doubt, in this case the grandmother trying to convince him of being, in her point of view, good. But the grandmother’s words didn’t fade along with her death; O’Conner commented on her own work saying, “…the old lady’s