The Good Shepherd and the Black Sheep: Paradoxical Irony in "The Lame Shall Enter First"

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.

During childhood we begin to learn the meaning of integrity. Having patiently awaited Jesus? appearance for what must have seemed an interminable amount of time, the pressure on Hughes to get up and go to the altar must have been ponderous. Finally, when Jesus failed to make an appearance that evening Hughes had a choice of continuing to wait or rising and satisfying the expectations of the congregation. In making his decision to approach the altar, Hughes is fearful, as most children are when disobeying the ?rules?. Hughes? reticence in coming forward probably reflects his type of up bringing, and he watches his friend to see what punishment God will mete out and bases his decision on the fact that nothing appears to happen. In embracing his friend Westley?s deception, in being saved without seeing Jesus, and because of his own up bringing, Hughes had to acknowledge his own dishonesty.

The Power Of Good And Evil in Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find

Many authors choose to use biblical allusions in their stories, but no one does it like Flannery O’Connor. Her complex but yet important allusions are very key to understanding a lot of her short stories. Especially in one of her most famous stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor uses biblical allusions to allow readers to receive a deeper understanding of her short story. The Misfit’s characterization, the grandmother’s characterization, and the Timothy allusion are all major examples of these biblical allusions.

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.

But our Everyman starts as a truly “fake” Christian and whether or not she deserves any redemption is questionable. Though she perishes like a martyr, as the Misfit confesses when he tuned to perpetrating evil deeds, the Grandmother responds that he should have started praying and that “Jesus would help”. Again, O’Connor’s attempt here is to present, by means of religious motifs, how superficial the faith of Southerners is. Grandmother’s advice comes out of convenience, not of genuine worship of God and is a commentary on how people turn to religion in the event of sickness, deathbed or

Foreshadowing in a story is very hard to include, without making the next event too obvious. In the story “Lamb to the Slaughter” Roald Dahl uses elements of suspense to engage the readers to keep reading to see what happens next. Even though one may seem innocent and gentle, can turn powerfull in a second. The author frequently uses dramatic irony, plot twist and foreshadowing to create a story that is both creepy and mysterious.

Brutality, humor, religion, and violence are a few themes portrayed throughout many of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories. In many of her short stories, O’Connor exposes the dark side of human nature and implements violent and brutal elements in order to emphasize her religious viewpoints. In the short stores “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Revelation”, O’Connor explicitly depicts this violence to highlight the presence and action of holy grace that is given to a protagonist who exudes hypocritical qualities.

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

To the uninitiated, the writing of Flannery O'Connor can seem at once cold and dispassionate, as well as almost absurdly stark and violent. Her short stories routinely end in horrendous, freak fatalities or, at the very least, a character's emotional devastation. Working his way through "Greenleaf," "Everything that Rises Must Converge," or "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the new reader feels an existential hollowness reminiscent of Camus' The Stranger; O'Connor's imagination appears a barren, godless plane of meaninglessness, punctuated by pockets of random, mindless cruelty.

O’Connor takes her main characters through an epiphany in which therefore helps the characters to become aware of their own ignorance. The characters eventually gained knowledge or better yet became self-aware of their attitudes towards others through some form of an unexpected tragedy. O’Connor wants her readers to see how no matter how much you try to cover or justify your ignorant ways whether it be through grace, judgment is still imminent. “In A Good Man is Hard to Find”, O’Connor reveals in this story both grace, redemption and pride. The

Flannery O 'Connor is a Christian writer, and her work shows Christian themes of good and evil, grace, and salvation. O’Connor has challenged the theme of religion into all of her works largely because of her Roman Catholic upbringing. O’Connor wrote in such a way that the characters and settings of her stories are unforgettable, revealing deep insights into the human existence. In O’Connor’s Introduction to a “Memoir of Mary Ann,” she claims that Christians live to prepare for their death. This statement is reflected in her other works, including her short story “A Good Man is Hard To Find.” After reading “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” many questions remain unanswered

In Flannery O'Connor's eccentric short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the reader is introduced to her fundamental theme of Identity through a typical southern family. O’Connor’s exceptional use of fictional elements such as characterization, point of view, and setting further develop this theme in her work. She does so by familiarizing the use of violence, humor, and salvation along with point of view and setting to create a deeper connection between her work and the reader.

Faith in Christ is the stronghold for Helen Burns. She considers living to the glory of God the purpose of her life. Her troubles and sorrows do not sway her faith, for she declares it her “duty to bear it” (56). For Helen, living a fruitful life means imitating the character of Christ. When Jane inquires why she allows her superiors to treat her unjustly, Helen first replies that Christ

Knowing Flannery O’Connor’s religious conviction, one cannot overlook this underlying tone in both of her regarded stories “A Good Man is hard to Find” and “Good Country People”. It is often said of those who stand outside of religious conviction that faith seems to come in handy to people only when it is valuable to get them out of a predicament, of which they have likely placed themselves through insensitive behavior and decisions. In such a desperate attempt to appeal to faith, one only finds emptiness and a fate that leaves them hopeless or even dead. O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People” illustrate that the inability to see the flaws in one’s self lead to substantial consequences, where an appeal to faith