Imperfection and Faith in A Good Man is Hard to Find and Good Country People

The Grandma tried to keep her family safe by trying to take a different direction other than Florida because of The Misfit, who is criminal who escaped from the Federal Pen. She convinces them to go to East Tennessee instead to visit some of her connections since she grew up there. ---“Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people.”(Par. 2) She wouldn’t feel comfortable by taking her children in that direction since a criminal was on the loose in the area. Also the Grandma mentions to her son that he should take the kids somewhere they haven’t been before since they had already been to Florida. ---"You all ought to take them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be broad.”(Par. 4) I figure that the Grandma was just trying to do a mother’s job to do anything

O’Connor describes the children’s mother in contrast to the grandmother by what they are wearing; thus their clothes represent the age from which they are. The Children’s mother “still had on slacks and still had her head tied up in a green kerchief, but the grandmother had on navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white dot in the print”(O’Connor 118). The children’s mother is representative of the New South in which the Southern Lady is becoming less of a central figure within society. A lady of the old south would never wear slacks and tie her hair up in a kerchief to go out in public. Under an old south mentality these actions would be considered very unlady like. O’Connor illustrates the tension between the old and the new south by the constant struggle between the grandmother, her son, and the daughter-in-law.

O’Connor also explains how the Grandmother dressed for the trip; she wore a navy dress, white gloves, and a formal hat. The reading states “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady.”(O’Connor 496). Not only is this foreshadowing, but the grandmother’s outfit can also be seen as a symbol of her skewed moral code and selfishness. When the grandmother carefully chose the outfit for this trip, she was solely concerned with how she would appear in the event that she died on her trip. She was not at all disturbed by the fact that, in the event that there was an accident, her son and grandchildren would die as well.

   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

In the short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find, written by Flannery O’Connor, the theme that the definition of a ‘good man’ is mysterious and flawed is apparent. The reader must realize that it is difficult to universalize the definition of a good man because every person goes through different experiences. Thus, these experiences affect his or her viewpoint and in turn flaw ones view on a good man. O’Connor conveys this theme through her excellent use of diction, imagery, foreshadowing, and symbolism as well as through a creative use of repetition and an omniscient point of view.

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.

Working Thesis: In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, O’Connor uses the corrupt, manipulative character of the grandmother, as well as the story’s plot and theme in order to emphasize the flaws of the church and the need for grace.

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor uses grotesque and flawed characters to reflect her own faith on the Roman Catholic Church. Set in the rural South during the 1950s, O’Connor takes readers on a journey from a satiric family comedy to a brutal cold blooded murder. An analysis of O’Connor’s use of religious symbolism and foreshadowing through characters and setting will be conducted in order to better understand her views and faith of the Catholic Church. This paper will also argue the belief that religious wisdom is the key for moral guidance.

     You can also tell a lot about the old woman by what she is wearing. In the car, she wears white gloves, a sailor hat, and a navy blue dress. She states that the prominent clothes are worn so that if anything happens, the people that find her body will know that she was a lady (Page 427). I think she wore this outfit so that she could think she was something she was not. It is clearly seen that in her youth, she lived in prosperity. She had everything from youthfulness to money and to love. Now, she almost dreaded life because her beauty and youthfulness were gone. She would talk about her past because it would take her away from the misery of the present.

An ardent Catholic as she was, Flannery O’Connor astonishes and puzzles the readers of her most frequently compiled work, A Good Man Is Hard to Find. It is the violence, carnage, injustice and dark nooks of Christian beliefs of the characters that they consider so interesting yet shocking at the same time. The story abounds in Christian motifs, both easy and complicated to decipher. We do not find it conclusive that the world is governed by inevitable predestination or evil incorporated, though. A deeper meaning needs to be discovered in the text. The most astonishing passages in the story are those when the Grandmother is left face to face with the Misfit and they both discuss serious religious matters. But at the same time it is the

The way the grandmother sneaks the cat into the car and lies about the secret panel brings irony to her beliefs of what it is to be a lady. Her views on the “old south” is established when she calls an African American boy a “cute little pickaninny.” June Star’s remark upon the boy not having britches on leads on to the grandmother’s remark on how he might not be able to afford shows her lack of sympathy towards the less fortunate. This also makes the reader wonder why she even says such a thing in the first place. Instead of reaching out to lend a hand the grandmother ends her statement by simply saying that she would like to “paint a picture” of the scene.

Also, the grandmother seems to care less about poverty and the sufferings of lower class people. For example, when the old women spots a poor Negro child in the street naked without any pants, she says, "Wouldn't that make a picture now?” (A Good Man…). The author connects the grandmother to the real world where a lot of people pay more attention to their outward appearance to impress others than to beautify their inner self first. Also, the family in the story has a car in an era where having a car was perceived as a higher class possession. Although the grandmother shows a prejudice behavior towards the little Negro child with her comments, O’Connor mean to emphasize the class difference that exists in the American society and the negligence and the lack of assistance from higher class to less fortunate class.

During the family trip in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” to Georgia, the grandmother attempts to exude a lady-like facade. The grandmother wears “white cotton gloves...a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets … a

One example of this is shown when the grandmother is trying to convince the Misfit he is actually a good person. She shares with the Misfit that Jesus will save him from the wrong accusation if he only prayed. Another example is shown throughout the whole story of “Good Country People” considering Manley Pointer is trying to sell the women bibles. Also religion is shown when Hulga and Pointer are discussing believes. What is very interesting is that Pointer claimed to be a good Christian man, but is actually a con man and ultimately hurts

After riding along a little further, the family is involved in a car accident. The main reason that the family is involved in the car accident is due to the grandmother. The grandmother remembers a mansion that she visits as a young girl. She is eager to go, because she wants the children to see how she grew up. This further states how the grandmother social class, because she lived in a mansion. During the time of the grandmother’s life, only plantation owners and their family lived in mansions. This also stressed the social class of the grandmother, because you can tell from this that the