Week 9 - A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor
Shane Nelson
Sandrine Espie Muses
I thought that the grand mother was a very interesting character. I read some of the critics and most of them describe the grand mother as a selfish person who lacks self-awareness. I agree partially on this definition. It is true that from the beginning of the story we discover an old self-centered, racist and judgmental Christian lady who wants to make sure that her family will do what she wants. Her high sense of criticism is quite irritating. She has a very Manichean vision of the world. She is continually judging the world around her by using two reductive criteria: good or bad. However, I do see her more as victim than as a “tyrant”. I don’t really see any sense of deep meanness in her personality. I do see a profound ignorance. The grandmother’s attitude reveals that she has been impacted by a rigid and close-minded education. As a result, her vision of the world and people is very restricted. This dramatic ignorance leads her to act in an irresponsible and selfish way. She is irritating and she upsets the world around her (the children, her son, the Misfit and even the cat). The grand mother’s deep ignorance and impetuousness are also leading to her own death and the death of her family.
The narrator illustrates the theme of faith and Christian religion with a lot of irony. I like the sarcastic tone and dark humor that the narrator uses to describe the events. The Misfit is a cold character with no compassion. He looks down on the old Christian lady who tries to convert him. The grandmother wants to convince him that Jesus would help him but she can’t speak. Instead, she sounds like she is cursing. The Misfit argues against everything she declares. The Misfit personifies the grand mother’ Christians (and stereotypes) fears. He is a man with vices. He is a sinner. The grand mother’s Christian arguments appear to be useless and ineffective. On the contrary while listening to her, the Misfit loses his patience and his sense of tolerance. By killing her, the Misfit stops her lamentations. It is a form of relief. It is interesting to discover the grandmother transformation at the end of the story. The grandmother reaches out to touch the Misfit on the shoulder. She is probably hallucinating, but she recognizes the man as her own son. She finally realizes that she is not better that this murder and can finally find grace.
Sandrine
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Shane Nelson
Shane Nelson
November 20, 2012
Wyman 10am – week 9 response
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor is the story of a normal American family who set out on a car trip through the south which quickly descends into disaster. In the car are a grandmother, her son, his wife and their three children. Also in the car, brought secretly by the grandmother, is the family cat. The first part of the story is funny, with details like the grandmother fearing leaving the cat at home because he might accidentally brush the gas valve and suffocate himself. The grandmother, trying to manipulate her son to go somewhere she wants to visit, warns the family about The Misfit, an escaped convict on the loose.
During the drive the grandmother talks the family in to taking a detour on the trip, down a country road to see a house that she remembers from her youth. She manipulates the family by telling them a secret panel with treasure exists in the house. Halfway down the road she realizes that she is mistaken, and the house she remembers is in another state. She starts, startling the cat which jumps on the neck of her son who is driving the car. The son crashes the car, which turns over once and the family ends up sitting in a ditch. In shock sitting in the ditch the injured wife hopes for a passerby to rescue them. A car does pass by but the people who arrive are three men with guns. The grandmother realizes that one of the men is The Misfit and announces it. The Misfit implies that her recognizing him has sealed the family’s fate.
The Misfit’s cohorts take the family members in to the woods and shoot them. The grandmother pleads with and tries to reason with The Misfit. She tries to talk her way in to being spared, just as she has tried to talk her way in to getting what she wants previously in the story. Eventually, in shock and confusion, she touches The Misfit. The Misfit shoots the grandmother, and his gang comment on what a talker she was.
During The Misfit’s conversation with the grandmother it is revealed that he was accused of killing his father, although he doesn’t believe he did it. While the grandmother tells The Misfit to pray The Misfit tells her that if Jesus did raise the dead she would soon be saved, and “if He didn't, then it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness.” The Misfit had been very polite thus far, bur reveals that he enjoys killing people and, snarling, shows his true self.
Flannery O’Connor’s storytelling strategy is one of rapid exposition. The reader is shocked when a normal outing suddenly turns violent. The family wrecks then is thrown into a deadly situation facing the murderous Misfit. This technique employed by the author drew my interest suddenly after a slow-paced description of a mundane outing. The sudden change in tone grabbed my attention when I had been unsure where the story was going. I found it interesting that The Misfit said of the grandmother, "She would of been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." I’m not sure what this meant, other than that The Misfit enjoyed killing people. Or perhaps that he saw that the grandmother talked a lot to manipulate others. I found it interesting that The Misfit compared himself to Jesus, saying “Jesus shown everything off balance. It was the same case with Him as with me…” Jesus upset the balance by raising the dead. The Misfit upset the balance by killing people. Both Jesus and The Misfit, he believes, were punished disproportionately. The Misfit believing himself to be a victim of sorts was a twist in the story that made it even more interesting for me, giving some depth to the crazy killer.
On Tuesday, November 20, 2012 7:55:39 PM UTC-8, Shane Nelson wrote:
