In Paul Tillich’s 1957 work Dynamics of Faith, he mentions that there are six major components of faith. These six components of faith describe the Franciscan perspective of “faith”. According to Tillich, the first component of faith is “the state of being ultimately concerned”. The second component of faith is that it is supposed to be at the center of all of our personal lives and everything that we do throughout our own individual lives. The third component of faith is that we should have an awareness for “infinite” things such as God himself. The fourth component of faith is that we need to understand that faith can act as fear, fascination, or both of these qualities at the same time. The fifth component of faith is that doubt is a major product that will always exist with faith. The last component of faith is that we need a community in order to have a “language of faith”. In Flannery O’Connor’s short story A Good Man is Hard to Find, there are two main characters whose faith should be analyzed: “the grandmother” and “the Misfit”. We can use Paul Tilloch’s six components to analyze their faith. The grandmother seems to have a great understanding of what faith is in five of the The Misfit is not “ultimately concerned” about his faith. The Misfit was confused as to why he was sent to prison and why he was punished in the ways that he was. Since the Misfit doesn’t comprehend the idea acting as the ultimate concern, it is safe to say that he will not be concerned about many other aspects about faith. After looking at the other five parts in Tilloch’s definition of faith, there is only one part that the Misfit understands. This particular part is “part five” which states that with faith comes doubt. The Misfit is actually filled with doubt (such as why he was treated as a criminal in the first place) even though he had very little if not absolutely no faith in God
All in all, there will always be people that will judge every move everyone else does in life just like the grandmother did in the story. As a result, people will just have to learn how to deal with it because if others decide to judge them they are probably doing something right. However, if you decide to judge someone else before you do it turn the critical eye on yourself and judge your personal life and ask yourself how is your life doing?
... reflects the original logos while also maintaining a separate identity, so too must faith be both reflective and inventive. It should strive toward perfection like Reverend Maclean devouring Norman?s papers with a red pen, with the intention of reflecting God?s already established likeness. Yet it must also be careful not to close off unexpected, new avenues, for as Paul demonstrates through his fishing, the most arbitrary human actions can accrue religious resonance. Essentially, human faith faces the ultimate balancing act: it must strive to understand and believe and love all of God and His creation, while at the same time realizing that such complete knowledge is impossible, and that humanity is called to ?love completely without complete understanding? (103).
The book A Prayer for Owen Meany brings forth various themes and questions that can't be answered easily. One of these questions is "Can religious faith exist alongside doubt, or are the two mutually exclusive?" There are several different possible takes on this question may be answered. How a person answers this question is related to their belief in faith.
One example shown in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" involves the grandmother's strong southern heritage. She dresses with the intention that if something should happen and she was found dead on the road, anyone that found her would certainly know she was a lady. She also was always telling stories of southern gentlemen courting her. At the end, the Misfit, whom the grandmother knows is of quality southern blood, shoots her and her family despite her belief in southern hospitality. The grandmother is seen as a woman who believes in God during her encounter with the Misfit, but we see early on in the story that her belief isn’t very strong through all the lying and deceitfulness she continues in. Not until her confrontation with the Misfit, do wee see her become so passionate about her faith.
Religion is a vital theme in many of the works of Flannery O’Connor, but it is mostly displayed in her works, A Good Man is Hard to Find and Revelations. Her stories portray a symbolic vision with the combination of traditional Christian values and the various social scenes of the twentieth century. In both stories, Christian signs were displayed. In both of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories, there are many similarities within the author’s characters and themes. O’Connor’s stories reveal connections to us through her characters. Although many differences are depicted between them, by the end of the story they show many resemblances.
Over the years, many people have analyzed Flannery O'Connor’s story, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” in ways which they focus more on the history of O’Connor or the historical background and time period of the story. Such scholars that have done so include Sara Kelley (2008), James Nacua (2008), and even O’Connor herself (1963) one year before her death. These “authors have focused on her grotesque detail” (Kelley) such as violence her use of violence to depict salvation. Even though Sara and James’ analysis of the story is fairly recent, it closely follows O’Connor’s overall analysis of the story from 1963. No one has ever analyzed the story in any other way, but the “whole of idea of grace and salvation” (Nacua) and how it was depicted in throughout the story. How come no one ever does a psychoanalytical analysis of the story, because killing a whole family and then the old grandma last is just wrong. Someone would have to have some serious mental issues to write about something like that or they may have had a rough past. Either way, it in no way justifies writing about killing an entire family for no reason, whether it is about spirituality or not.
In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor utilizes foreshadowing, characters and symbolism to impart her lesson of mortality and salvation. We observe minor details within the story making the reader continue on to see how the story will end. The knowledge that evil exists in the world, and that stories like this is not unheard of, brings to mind thoughts of my own mortality and salvation. Does this accidental meeting with the grandmother and her family lead to personal and spiritual growth of The Misfit? The ability to recognizing and applying literary tools when reading stories can greatly enhance a reader’s
“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” was written in 1953. The story demonstrates a broken family who can barely tolerate each other, going on a trip to Florida. Coincidentally, The Misfit has escaped from prison and is headed in the same direction as them. The grandmother continually attempts to persuade Bailey, her son, to go to destination that is not on their agenda. The only exception to their deviation of their route leads to The Misfit, who is a symbol of the grandmother’s salvation and the reality of everyone’s death. An individual’s misconstrued truth about their identity can falsify and taint their religion, therefore, leading them to beg for salvation. For example, in “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, the grandmother manipulates everyone, compares the past to the present, and believes so passionately in her “lady hood” that it becomes her religion.
Faith is believed to be one of the most important elements attached to the life of a human being. Faith brings meaning to life. It is the essence that ties a person to life no matter the struggle encountered. Whenever some one looses faith in the people of their society, all he has felt is a religious believe which can be translated into “faith in God(s)';. In the stories “Bontsha the Silent'; and “Gimpel the Fool'; by Isaac Loeb Peretz and Isaac Bashevis Singer respectively, the protagonists are victims of tremendous sufferings, where faith is the only way out. However, the faith focused by both authors differ somewhat. Peretz prioritizes faith in the divine, while Singer elaborates faith in man around their protagonists.
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).
Flannery O’Connor's perception of human nature is imprinted throughout her various works. This view is especially evident in the short stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” She conveys a timeless message through the scope of two ignorant, southern, upper class women. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O’Connor presents readers to a family who is going on a road trip with their selfish grandmother. She is a religious woman who does not follow the set standards that she preaches. Similar characteristics are exposed in “Revelation.” As the self centered Mrs. Turpin sits in the waiting room, she contemplates on her own status with God. Nevertheless, she still commits the sin of judging others. In both of O’Connor’s short stories, these controversial protagonists initially put up a facade in order to alienate themselves from their prospective societies. Although the grandmother and Mrs. Turpin both believe in God, O’Connor utilizes theme to expose that they also convince themselves that they can take on His role by placing judgement on people who, at the most fundamental level, are in the same category as them.
Paul Tillich. “What Faith Is”. The Human Experience: Who Am I?. 8th ed. Winthrop University: Rock Hill SC, 2012. 269-273. Print.
The Misfit; is the epitome of the Godless man in a Godless society. He is a killer who is also raised without spirituality as the old woman's children. He is the representative of evil.
The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, revolves around the relationship in dialogue between the grandmother of the travelling family and The Misfit, the serial killer that oversees the murder of this family. Throughout the process of the grandmother attempting to persuade The Misfit not to dispatch the desperate travelers, both characters turn to religion as a means of justifying the course of their lives. While The Misfit and the grandmother are struggling to make sense of their lives and going through times of tension, they both become frustrated with what they perceive to be religion taking control in their lives. Regarding religion, this story suggests that when times become difficult it is easy for one to lose
Through my study of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and Saint Augustine’s “The Confessions”, I discovered that both text involve a journey of finding real truths before acquiring a faith. This suggests that faith and reason are compatible because one must embark on journey in which they are educated about real truths before they are able to acquire a faith.