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A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor essay
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor reflection
Theme of A Good Man is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor
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I think that Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is written partially in order to “convert” people who have not yet fully accepted the Christian faith. O’Conner, herself being a strong believer in Christianity, probably thought that writing this story will help make people who aren’t really living by the Christian rules to seriously consider doing so. Flannery O'Connor was deeply concerned with the values and the direction of the youth at the time. She believed that Christ was no longer enough of a priority to the people of her generation. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is representative of Flannery O'Connor's concern for the priorities and values of the 1940s.
An example of this, in "A Good Man is Hard to Find," involves the grandmother's strong, southern heritage. She dresses with the intention that anyone who finds her dead on the road will know she was a lady, and she is always telling stories of southern gentlemen courting her. Then, the Misfit, whom she "knows" is of quality, southern blood, shoots her and her family, despite her belief in southern hospitality. Grandma is a woman who believes in God, but it seems that her belief isn’t really strong up until her confrontation with the Misfit.
From what I understand, most of her works follow a similar pattern. The main character(s) are in some kind of trouble and at the end they see “the light” of God’s ways and have their redemption. Christians have often criticized her works for being immoral but in actuality she uses these extreme situations and portrayals to express the power of God in a positive light. The immoral character of the Misfit is very skillfully portrayed, as is the ‘enlightened’ character of Grandma. Most of the characters in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and, probably her other works, go through some kind of methamorphosis, a change in their views of the world and in their perceptions about life and death. Such character in this particular story is Grandma and, in my opinion, the Misfit. I think that the Misfit is constantly experiencing a deep inner struggle and this is revealed in his conversation with Grandma. Of course, O’Conner’s skillful portrayal of his helps the reader to detect some obscure details of the Misfits behavior, which are key elements in determining the Misfit’s state of mind.
Vincent Van Gogh is one of the world’s greatest and most well-known artists, but when he was alive he considered himself to be a complete failure. It was not until after he died that Van Gogh’s paintings received the recognition they deserved. Today he is thought to be the second best Dutch artist, after Rembrandt. Born in 1853, he was one of the biggest artistic influences of the 19th century. Vincent Van Gogh created a new era of art, he learned to use art to escape his mental illness, and he still continues to inspire artists over 100 years later.
The symbolism in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” truly represents Flanner O’Connor’s writing style and underlying theme. O’Connor exhibits the theme of religion in many of her works as she has written a majority of her stories “in the depth[s] of her Christian faith” (419). Having a strong Catholic background, O’Connor displays aspects of religious symbolism combined with her fascination of “grotesque incidents and characters” (420). In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor embodies the theme of religious symbolism through the setting as well as the main characters of her work, the Grandmother and The Misfit, as a glimpse of hope in a gruesome, sinister story.
Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in the rectory of Zundert in Barbant (Burra). His father was a soft-spoken Dutch clergyman. The only thing Van Gogh got from his father, was the desire to be involved in the family church. Even at an early age, Vincent showed artistic talent but neither he nor his parents imagined that painting would take him where it did later in life. One of his first jobs came at the age of sixteen, as an art dealer’s assistant. He went to work for Goupil and Company, an art gallery where an uncle had been working for some time. Three of his father’s brothers were art dealers, and he was christened after the most distinguished of his uncles, who was manager of the Hague branch of the famous Goupil Galleries (Meier-Graefe). His parents were poor, so his rich uncle offered to take him ...
Just some of the last pleading words of the grandmother in the story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor. In the story, the author uses colloquialism, point-of-view, foreshadowing, and irony, as well as other rhetorical devices, to portray the satire of southern beliefs and religion throughout the entire piece.
The central idea of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'Connor deals with the struggle to change a person in a positive way through religion. A person can be easily changed if grace, properly experienced, changes one's personal qualities (O'Connor qtd. in Hendricks). Attempting to change a person through religion becomes difficult when that individual demands to witness a miracle in order to believe: “if the Misfit had been able to see the miracle of Lazarus for himself, he would have believed that Jesus was the son of God, and he would have been able to live a conventional Christian life” (Hendricks).
“A Good man is hard to find,” is about a family who decide to go on a trip to Florida. The story revolves around a self absorbed grandmother who loves to talk about how everything used to be back in her day and takes the time to dress herself so that “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (358).” She sneaks the family cat with her despite her son’s disapproval of bringing the creature along violating her boundaries to how a lady would act. The family encounters an accident along the way and happens to come across ‘The Misfit,’ a runaway criminal. Using ‘The Misfit’ as a tool, O’ Connor sends a message to her readers of how hypocritical a person can be when it comes to belief.
Smith, Melinda. Segal, Jeanne and Segal, Robert. “Treatment for Bipolar Disorder.” n.p. Oct. 2011. Web. (accessed Oct. 22, 2011).
Descartes was a philosopher who seemed to discard anything which was not absolutely certain and focused on what was known. In Meditation two of Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes is doubtful of everything, as he believes that if there is any doubt for something then it must not exist. With this in mind he begins to doubt his own existence but realizes that he is unable to doubt it. Descartes believes that there is a deceiver that is powerful which deceives him. Thus if something is deceiving him, Descartes believes that he must exist in order to be deceived. As result, in determining what he really is, Descartes comes to the conclusion that he is a thinking thing, and makes the point that being able to have thoughts or to be deceived, requires one to be thinking and if one is thinking then by default you must exist. In this paper I will talk about what Descartes knows he is, the powers he possesses, and the ways he can know.
Flannery O’Connor was born in 1925 into “a prosperous Catholic family in Savannah, Georgia” (404). She wrote her first novel in New York, called “Wise Blood” in 1952. At only the age of 39, she became ill with an immune system disease called lupus and eventually died in 1964. Although she wrote a few novels, Flannery was “best known for her short stories collections”. Her short stories, like James Joyce, is seemed to be characterized in the theme “of gothic, grotesque tales,” but to some readers, she is a Christian writer. One of her short stories that she wrote that falls into the category of a Christian writing is “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”. As a reader, it is told that all humanities have sins but they are allow redemption through Jesus Christ. In other words, “God has the power to allow even bad people to go to heaven, which does by granting them grace” (Sparknotes.com). “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, thus falls into the category theme of Grace, Good and Evil.
Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find is one of the most well-known short stories in American history. A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a disturbing short story that exemplifies grace in extremity as well as the threat of an intruder. The story tells of an elderly grandmother and her family who embark on a road trip to Florida. The grandmother is a stubborn old woman with a low sense of morality. While on the trip, the grandmother convinces her son to take a detour which results in a broken down car and an encounter with a convicted fugitive, The Misfit. Although the grandmother pleads for mercy, The Misfit kills off the rest of her family. Through the grace she finds in her extreme circumstance, the grandmother calls The Misfit her own and implores him to spare her life. The Misfit does not oblige her and states after her death, “She would have been a good woman if it had been someone to shoot her every day of her life.” Through Flannery O’Connor’s disturbing and shocking display of the grandmother’s demise, she gives the reader a sense of the threatening power of an intruder and the idea of extreme situations bringing about a state of grace. The reason for such a powerful work may have resulted from Flannery O’Connor’s religious upbringing as well as the state of the nation at the time.
“Prohibition did not achieve its goals. Instead, it added to the problems it was intended to solve.” On 16th January 1920, one of the most common personal habits and customs of American society came to a halt. The eighteenth amendment was implemented, making all importing, exporting, transporting, selling and manufacturing of intoxicating liquors absolutely prohibited. This law was created in the hope of achieving the reduction of alcohol consumption, which in turn would reduce: crime, poverty, death rates, and improve both the economy, and the quality of life for all Americans. These goals were far from achieved. The prohibition amendment of the 1920's was ineffective because it was unenforceable. Instead, it caused various social problems such as: the explosive growth of organized crime, increased liquor consumption, massive murder rates and corruption among city officials. Prohibition also hurt the economy because the government wasn’t collecting taxes on the multi-billion dollar a year industry.
When considering gender and sex, a layman’s idea of these terms might be very different than a sociologist’s. There is an important distinction: sex, in terms of being “male” or “female,” is purely the physical biological characteristic differences – primarily anatomical differences. (There are also rare cases of “intersexual” individuals as outlined in the Navarro article, “When Gender Isn’t a Given”.) Gender, on the other hand, is an often misconstrued concept that is commonly mistaken as synonymous with sex. A non-sociologist might surmise the following, “men act masculine and women act feminine, therefore, it must follow that gender is inherent to sex,” however, this is not necessarily the case.
Flannery O’ Connor’s story: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the tale of a vacation gone wrong. The tone of this story is set to be one irony. The story is filled with grotesque but meaningful irony. I this analysis I will guide you through the clues provided by the author, which in the end climax to the following lesson: “A Good Man” is not shown good by outward appearance, language, thinking, but by a life full of “good” actions.
...d has a true change of heart. She experiences what Jon Foreman calls “The beautiful letdown.” It’s clear to her in the end that grace is a gift to the undeserving, and it’s by the grace of Christ, not our works that we are saved and finally at peace. Flannery O’ Connor has written a stunning piece of literature. A Good Man is Hard to Find is a modern retelling of Paul of Tarsus. The Grandmother, like Paul is anyone of us, and her beautiful letdown is a moment we all desperately need to experience.
Vincent Van Gogh has constructed many masterpieces and has forever made a difference in the world of art. His incredible works of art, unusual methods of painting, and fatal depression all added to his great legacy. Van Gogh devoted the majority of his adult life to his art career, and has left behind thousands of drawings and paintings which still inspire aspiring artists to this day. He left a mark in the history of art by creating unique styles and adding deep emotion and thought into this field.