Shattered Superiority in the Face of Danger

A superiority complex is an attitude of superiority that often conceals actual feelings of inferiority and failure. The majority of people who suffer from a superiority complex feel inadequate somewhere deep inside themselves and as a result, treat others as lesser. They consider themselves to be superior to those surrounding them and are often condescending, quick to judge, and observant of the flaws of others. Yet they somehow manage to always overlook their own imperfections. Both Connie, a teenage girl with an inclination towards independence who is enamored with herself, and Grandmother, a self proclaimed lady who is stuck in the past and has no qualms about manipulating others in order to obtain what she desires, have superiority complexes that do not shatter until they are in the face of peril. They each have their respective sudden realizations only moments before they are violently ripped out of their worlds, Grandmother through death, and Connie through abduction. As a result they never get the opportunity to utilize this newfound self awareness. Connie from Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" and Grandmother from Flannery O'Conner's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" are both flawed characters who believe themselves to be superior to others until they reach an epiphany that arrives too late.

Connie, who is incredibly shallow, regards others as beneath her; however, in reality she strives for the attention of strangers because she feels insufficient. Connie feels bad about herself because she feels that her "mother [keeps] picking on her." She makes up for this insecurity by fabricating a false sense of superiority. She is so desperate to eradicate these flaws in herself, which she ref...

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... immediately before it is too late to make any difference in the outcome of their undesirable situation.

It is commonly expressed that bullies are cruel to others because they feel lesser. This belief is linked to the idea of the superiority complex. Similar to Connie, a bully is quick to notice the flaws of others, and, comparable to Grandmother, is readily willing to exploit them. In general, people with superiority complexes do not go out of their way to treat other people kindly, or may even appear to be spiteful, because the majority of the time they are utterly absorbed with themselves. As a result, they will ultimately suffer the consequences, either on a large scale like Connie and Grandmother, or on a smaller scale, like loss of friends or the eventual realization of the flaws that they had previously deemed inexistent.

Works Cited

Short Stories book