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Flannery O’Connor has long been criticized for her blatant incorporation of religious symbols into sinister, dark stories. In the short story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” the dark and apathetic Misfit is said to portray, in an allegorical sense, a Christ-like figure. However, through the interpretation of the inversions of divine characteristics, his repulsion of Christ’s very existence, and the denial of any powers beyond the observable realm, we find that the Misfit is actually representative of the Anti-Christ.

Throughout history, one of the most prominent facets of any society is religion. It influences every aspect of civilization, from culture to government and from social rules to music. Literature, too, cannot escape the grasp religion holds on society. Works like Paradise Lost and The Divine Comedy show the awesome power religion inspires within people; contrastively, works like Huckleberry Finn and The Visit show the rampant cynicism religion inspires within people. Written by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt, The Visit is filled with religious symbols and references to Christianity. Instead of honoring the religion, though, the references only ridicules it.

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.

In her short story, Good Country People, Flannery O’Connor employs all the elements of humor, irony and, paradox intermingled within the system of Christian belief in evil and redemption. This is no more evident than in the character of Joy, the daughter, who had lost a leg in a hunting accident at the age of 12 and who now has a wooden leg in his place. Throughout the story, it becomes increasingly clear that Joy’s physical affliction is closely paralleled by a spiritual one as well. As the narrative unfolds, the great lengths Joy has gone to recreate her inner self, her soul, are revealed in painstaking detail. It appears she has succeeded in fashioning her own soul into a spirit that is as hard and unyielding as the prosthesis that now takes the place of her missing naturally soft and flexible appendage.

Flannery O’Connor believed in the power of religion to give new purpose to life. She saw the fall of the old world, felt the force and presence of God, and her allegorical fictions often portray characters who discover themselves transforming to the Catholic mind. Though her literature does not preach, she uses subtle, thematic undertones and it is apparent that as her characters struggle through violence and pain, divine grace is thrown at them. In her story “Revelation,” the protagonist, Mrs. Turpin, acts sanctimoniously, but ironically the virtue that gives her eminence is what brings about her downfall. Mrs. Turpin’s veneer of so called good behavior fails to fill the void that would bring her to heaven. Grace hits her with force and

Flannery O’Connor’s philosophy of writing was directly related to her life and roots as a Southerner, a Catholic, and a woman. One of the Southern traditions that O’Connor used most in her writing was local customs and manners which make people laughable. “Exaggeration of characteristics and of incidents is one cause of our laughter in O’Connor’s stories” (Grimshaw 89). She would regularly expose the hypocrisy of character’s thoughts by exaggerating their ridiculous actions in moments of distress causing readers to feel both horror and humor at the same time. Also present in most of O’Connor’s work, is her Catholic faith with regards to her vision of grace and the devil. Her view of faith was complete in the sense that it had a beginning, middle, and end, but she wrestled with Protestantism and depicted hypocrisy and intolerance when she found them (Grimshaw

“In religion // What damned error, but some sober brow // Will bless it, and approve it with a text // Hiding the grossness with fair ornament?” writes William Shakespeare in the Merchant of Venice. Since Christianity’s founding, the religion has often been plagued with corruption and intrigue. Hardy, like Shakespeare, held a jaded view of Christianity in society and was skeptical of its power and morality. In Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy employs biblical allusions, color symbolism, and ironic characterization, to illustrate that religion is often laden with hypocrisy and evils of its own, leading to corruption within the church and corruption of its teachings.

Flannery O'Connor remained a devout Catholic throughout, and this fact, coupled with the constant awareness of her own impending death, both filtered through an acute literary sensibility, gives us valuable insight into just what went into those thirty-two short stories and the two novels: cathartic bitterness, a belief in grace as something devastating to the recipient, a gelid concept of salvation, and violence as a force for good. At first it might seem that these aspects of her writing would detract from,

However, Flaubert’s most significant idea presented in this story, one that is intertwined with death and devotion, is his questioning of mystical belief. Felicite’s religious devotion seems arbitrary and indirect. Despite this, it also appears to be quite deep and meaningful to her. The irony lies in the fact that she gains most, if not all, of her religious experience vicariously

Felicite's early life is presented as a series of interruptions as potential normal sources of happiness are slowly extricated from her: first her parents, then the potential for sexual enjoyment, then marriage, and finally for a

Likewise, the church of St. Eustache is a representation of the corruption within the society in Paris, demonstrating Zola’s depiction of the political state of the city. When walking around Les Halles and Saint Eustache with Florent, Claude argues, “I don’t think it was some chance need for symmetry that put one of the rose windows of Saint-Eustache right in the middle of

"Does monsieur wish to see the points of interest in the church? No said Leon" (Flaubert 235). Within this section the the novel Leon is reintroduced, thus stirring his passions for Madame Bovary; after a small amount of convincing Emma agrees to meet him for a date. While he is waiting in the town he sees a church, Flaubert describes it in detail; this is his way of marking importance.

The heated discussion briefly ceases when Charles enters the room, and then resumes once he has left. Homais’ dispute over the use of prayer not only reaffirms his agnostic beliefs but also reflects his open contempt for the church and its institutions. Furthermore, his apparent eagerness to win the debate overrides his respect for the deceased, and further underscores his selfish and indifferent values. As a representative of the bourgeois, Homais is depicted as morally offensive and shallow. In fact, the very image of him arguing ideologies over the deceased body of Emma is offensive in itself. “Flaubert creatively uses this incident to highlight the ideological and religious decay of French middle class society and also to ridicule the optimism and enthusiasm for scientific progress and enlightenment which were so marked a feature of mid-19th century France” (Thody 576).

The middle class in France during the early 1800s, otherwise known as the Bourgeoisie, was defined by capitalistic views and business-minded outlooks. However, many people of this era, including author Gustave Flaubert, were highly critical of this middle class. In Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary, the character Homais represents the ideas and spirit of the Bourgeoisie. Because of his dissatisfaction with the middle class, the author gives Homais several negative character traits, such as selfishness, cowardice, and hypocrisy. Flaubert’s criticism of the egotistical and corrupt nature of Homais is evident during the procedure on Hippolyte and the argument between Homais and the priest; Homais’ triumph at the end of the novel suggests that Flaubert is also critical of the outcome of the pharmacist’s actions, not just the actions themselves.

It’s here that she begins the biggest of her struggles. Under Madame Aubaine she suffered four hardships that were common in Felicite’s days. Her first hardship was the loss of her nephew on his journey to America. As explained in the story, when Felicite’s nephew left for the new world she constantly paced back and forth hoping a letter from him would arrive soon. The constant anxiety of never knowing whether or not he was alright was something that those who knew New World travelers experienced often. Even more people lost loved ones to this voyage as Felicite did. Without the instant communication and