Grandma Vs Misfit

In the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” O’Conner, tries to make us understand the meaning of grace. The Misfit and the Grandma are the two main characters that show us what grace is and how it can be applied to a person’s everyday life. In Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the Grandma tries to save her family by convincing them to visit a place she recommends to keep them away from the Misfit, whom with they later come in contact. Neither the Grandma nor the Misfit deserves grace but it is given to them anyway.

   Good and bad. Right and wrong. Guilty and Innocent. These are just a few of the many themes that surround everyone's life. Everyone has their own opinion about certain issues, and they depend on their values, judgment, and beliefs to see them through their difficulties. Flannery O'Connor was quoted as saying "I see from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. This means the meaning of life is centered in our Redemption by Christ and that what I see in the world I see in relation to that" (Contemporary Authors 402). These themes are present in O'Connor's story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." The story is about a grandmother, a "good" woman who goes on

Thesis Statement: In Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the grandmother's journey from being controlling and selfish to graceful symbolizes a Christian's journey toward salvation.

Grandma is a comedy-drama film that follows the life of Elle, a lesbian poet, who was married for 38 years, but then became a widow. Elle’s granddaughter, Sage, comes to her asking for $630 for an abortion as she is broke, although Elle doesn’t have any money either. Sage was too afraid to tell her judgemental mother about her situation, in which resorted to her having to ask her Grandma. Elle had a short-term girlfriend, Olivia, of 5 months, but ended things with her very abruptly. Even though Elle doesn’t have the money for Sage, she is determined to go out and get it. The movie is split up into 6 chapters, set over the course of one day, as Sage had booked the abortion for that evening. Elle and Sage go and get money of as many people as Elle could think of, but by the end of their journey, they still don’t have enough and end up having to tell Sage’s mother. Sage’s mother is angry and disappointed as they had expected but she gives the money and they go to the clinic, Sage gets the abortion and Sage and her mother have an argument but are happier afterwards. Elle goes to resolve things with Olivia, and the end on better terms. This film shows themes of LGBT+ acceptance and the importance of family. There are also major contrasts between characters which are vital to the film.

I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!” (O’Connor 355). She is pleading the Misfit for her life only by saying the word lady repeatedly and offering him the money. She is also praising the Misfit by calling him a good man and trying to save her life. She was also careless about her family. When her family is taken down into the woods, she continues to talk to Misfit. She ignores the sound of when her son and rest of the family were being shot. She is apparently oblivious to many things. She was ignoring everything but the Misfit. “The shirt came flying at him and landed on his shoulders and he put it on. The grandmother couldn’t name what the shirt reminded her of” (O’Connor 354). The grandmother doesn’t even realize that shirt was her son Baileys. She had no interest in knowing where that shirt came from and what happened to my family. For the concern of her life only, she tries to persuade the Misfit the same way she tried with her family. “I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people!” (O’Connor 352). She is trying to manipulate the Misfit and hopes that he will bear her. She is thinking about no one else but the sake for herself. However she fails once again to influence the Misfit.

Writer Flannery O’Connor is known for her very few, yet very famous Southern Gothic works of literature. A key component O’Connor uses in her stories are “moments of grace”. O’Connor describes these as situations, usually violent, which “return [her] characters to reality and prepare them” to reach a peak of religious enlightenment. Her work which most prominently features a “moment of grace” is her 1955 short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”. Once the family has all been shot by the criminals except for the grandmother At the point in the story where all the family has been shot and killed except for the grandmother, we are presented with the grandmother’s “moment of grace”. Whilst the Misfit is discussing being unsure about Jesus raising

In Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find, she addresses how much GOD loves HIS children. O’Connor was a devout Roman Catholic, and her beliefs show through her writings. In a Good Man is Hard to Find, she illustrates her beliefs through a family trip ending in tragedy but also a humbling realization that everyone is equivalent. O’Connor illustrates that no matter how horrible a person is in his or her life, GOD will always love them.

“Hiriam and Bobby Lee returned from the woods and stood over the ditch, looking down at the grandmother who half sat and half lay on a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky” (O’Connor 377). The moment of grace is a significant occurrence in the short story, in the Catholic terminology, the moment of grace is a special gift from God, in which God suddenly fills her with almost supernatural love and understanding. “The Misfit” murders the grandmother, she has already redeemed herself, she has accepted the fact that she is going to die therefore she dies with a smile on her face, peacefully. “Redemption is possible only through an extreme act, an act of absolute, irrevocable

Throughout the whole story, the grandmother defines what “good” is using the Old South. A moral code is a "set of beliefs and behaviors that people abide by to live what they consider to be reasonable, fulfilling lives" (Williams). The grandmother’s moral code proves to be inconsistent and inadequate in defining the characteristics that she believes make people “good.” These codes affect the grandmother’s amis behavior, perceptions, and actions.

You could see this title as a very ironic one as Red Sammy an average guy said it and then The Misfit a murderer and criminal said it as well showing that everyone wants to consider their selves the good, the wronged and mistreated. Grandma agreed to this very statement even though this is mainly her ironic flaw in the story. She claims to be a good judge of character but Grandma only judges based on wealth and others outward appearances. She thinks she is a good person and a good christian woman but she never showed love or compassion to any others in the story. It isn't until the end of the story that she realizes that a good man has been hard to find because she always failed to recognize the good in

Society’s standards are what everyone wants to fit into it is the norms that are used as a guide to living life. The grandmother and the misfit in O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” follow the way of social values, thoughts, and way society sees one another closely in 1953. Both the grandmother and the misfit are different in many ways, but have one common value of society’s views are important to them. The way society views and judges people causes both the misfit and the grandmother to act differently, but subtly makes them more alike than either of them could notice. The shared value of society’s point of view of a human being can explain both characters’ views, behaviors, and actions because of how heavily it weighed on the

The irony in the story is shown when the grandmother, who thinks she is a good Christian, in reality is just as evil as the Misfit.

This story identified hidden emotions that give the reader imagination that keeps you on edge wondering what will happen next. I think this story is more about the grandmother than the Misfit. The grandmother talks about all the problems and uses a religious connection to God to express her thoughts in a spiritual way to connect characters. The author used a family vacation in a Southern town to show emotions and attitudes between families, friends and strangers. In this story the grandmother is rude and very religious and other use humor in talking about racism. The Misfits are polite individuals when they talk, but their social status is very rude. In the beginning they say yes ma’am, no ma’am and that seem to show respect. The Misfits is like evil snakes that will bite anyone who cross their path. The grandmother is an old woman who has a huge amount of pride that keeps coming up during the whole trip. I think this story

In the last moment of her life, she changes her perspective to be a good woman and appeals to the Misfit that he cannot kill her. As the grandmother says, “You shouldn’t call yourself the Misfit because I know you’re a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell.” (p.14). This is one situation that she acts selfishly to get her own benefit that she will not be killed.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" is an extremely powerful commentary that elucidates Flannery O'Connor's opinions about religion and society. Like the majority of her other works, " A Good Man is Hard to Find" has attracted many "interpretations based on Christian dogma" (Bandy 1). These Christian explications are justified because Miss O'Connor is notorious for expressing Catholic doctrines through her fiction. Once she even remarked "I see from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy" (Kropf 1). This longstanding reputation compels every critic of O'Connor to expose the religious convictions encrypted within her stories. The grandmother's final gesture towards the Misfit is not a