Hangcheng Zhou Instructor Fox Writing 102 Section 38 27 Feb.2012 No Absolute Barrier between Good and Evil in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, written by Flannery O’Connor, is an example of Southern Gothic fiction that uses a series of ironic events set in the American South to explore certain values. The author creates two seemingly opposite characters, the grandmother and the Misfit to show her opinions about what is good and evil. The grandmother regards herself as a graceful and devout lady, but actually she is so self-obsessed and shallow that her behavior leads to her entire family’s death. By contrast, the Misfit is an obvious villain who never pretends to be a good man and, quite ironically, he may be the only one in this story who has deep thoughts about life. Through the development of the story, readers may draw the conclusion that there is no straightforward answer to what is good and evil in the world.
Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the story of a family’s vacation tragically ended by a murderer and his gang. Through O’Connor’s use of characterization, symbolism and the theme that “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, O’Connor’s point that society’s morals and faith has crumbled is conveyed. O’Connor’s use of characterization shows the breaking down of respect and discipline in American society. From past generations to present generations, this message can be understood. Grandma represents the past with her strong “southern hospitality” heritage.
The grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” tells her sons family and him to go to Tennessee. Disregarding her words, the family ends up going to Florida where things seem to go terribly wrong. Half way through the story, the grandmother speaks about a house the kids are fascinated about. Eventually realizing that the house was actually in Tennessee rather than in Georgia. She realizes she has made a huge mistake and needs to revise things.
He means that if someone were there to show the same kind of threat that he did, she would have shown the same compassion and grace her entire life. We do learn a little about the emotional side of the Misfit when he shoots the grandmother in the chest, he simply wipes his glasses and carries on. It is as though he realizes that he is an evil person and realizes that he could have turned out better if certain events in his life never happened and if he was present for a specific event. “I wish I had of been there,” he said, hitting the ground with his fist. “It ain’t right I wasn’t there because if I had been there I would have known.
Never achieving her dreams paragraph quotes: Steinbeck inevitably brings out the reader’s sympathy towards Curley’s Wife when she dies in the book. In the scene where Lennie kills Curley’s Wife, we are made to understand that she is just as helpless to Lennie’s brute force as the mouse or the dog were earlier in the book. Furthermore the word “writhed”, that is used to describe Curley’s Wife as she attempts to escape
"If you had not been born Mama would still be alive she died because of you. You are bad luck." This quote is about the death of her mother due to her birth and all her siblings blame her for the death. This example is showing a significant event of the theme 'family relationships' because now all her siblings hate and treat Adeline unfairly because they blame her for the death when it wasn't even her fault. Also since this incident now all of her siblings pick on her and call her 'bad luck'.
The grandmother reads in the newspaper about a convicted killer, The Misfit, who has escaped from the Federal Pen, and is headed towards Florida. She seizes her opportunity, and points out to Bailey of the breaking news. Her son is easily persuaded by his mother and plans are changed to have the family vacation in east Tennessee. There are times when we opt to be deceitful to others in hopes of protecting a self-image that has been created by our own lies; as a result, we only cause excruciating pain or harm to those who surround us. Unfortunately, the grandmother is not able to see the damage that she causes by her character.
She claims that her conscience is a guiding force in her life. She’s the irksome woman who lives with Bailey and his family. During the family’s journey to Florida, the grandmother suggests that they visit an old house she remembers, an idea that leads to a car accident and the murder of everyone in the group. The Misfit a wanted criminal who stumbles upon the family when they crash their car in the woods, the Misfit lives by a moral code that involves murder and remorselessness, but he also spends time wondering about Jesus. Because he doesn’t know for sure whether Jesus really raised the dead, he has opted for “meanness” as a way of giving his life meaning.
Meaningful Meaninglessness Society constantly seeks for a deeper meaning to human life by placing value on trivial things and holding dogma to a high standard. In Albert Camus’s novel The Stranger, the protagonist does not participate in society’s aforementioned morals; they consider him an unintelligent outcast. Meursault, the protagonist, faces a handful of circumstances throughout the book in which any “normal” person would express emotion, but in which he held back: his mother’s death and funeral; his mistress’s proposal; an offered promotion; a pimp’s promiscuity; an adoring, yet abusive dog owner; a murder that he committed; and, finally, his own death sentence. At the time that he least needed to do so, Meursault displays feelings of anger, remorse, and even happiness. Even though the fictional judicial system of France and current readers view Meursault as completely absurd, Camus illustrates the innocence in Meursault’s existentialist lifestyle and, because of this, its meaning as well.
If the grandmother stopped preaching about how the new world has fallen from the Christian faith, and opened her eyes to her real life, she would have saved the whole family from the misfit. Garo 2 The grandmother’s son, Bailey, seemed exhausted of having to take care of his own mother. He doesn’t bother raising his head when his mother is trying to get him to read the paper about “the misfit.” This creates Foreshadowing and a bit of irony to the story because in the end the misfit is what brings him and his family to his demise. Not only does he ignore his mother, but when she wants to take the children to see the old plantation, he sighs, gets aggravated and didn’t want to be bothered. Although her tired son may have a good soul, he is not a good man in the sense he seems tired and lifeless in the story.