The article Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find: The Moment of Grace by Michael Clark focuses on the climax of the story: the Grandmother's final act, her touching of the misfit, and its religious and realistic implications. Clark questions her last gesture by asking,

"Should the Grandmother's final act-- her touching of the misfit be taken as a token of true,divine grace and spiritual insight? Or should the story be interpreted strictly as a naturalistic

document?" (1) O'Connor refers to the Grandmother's final gesture as a moment of grace. Sloan states that many critics tend to disagree with O'Connor's belief that the final act was a moment of grace; rather they prefer to stress the realistic explanation of grace, a more naturalistic grace. Stanley Renner is also uncomfortable with the religious explanation of the climax; he describes

the final gesture as, "a vague touch, a parental blessing, or the ceremonial dubbing of knighthood" (Clark 1). According to Clark this explanation sees the Grandmother's response as one that not so much reflects divine grace as it "touches her instinctive springs of sympathy and human kinship"(Clark 1). Oth

grace. I agree with Clark and the other critics in going against O'Connor's belief. However, I think the best critic interpretation in the article of the final gesture is; her final act was simply part of a desperate hope that her nobleness could change her fate. I disagree with Clark and the other critics who read more into it than that. I also disagree with the presentation of the idea that the epiphany was this great spiritual awakening of the grandmother, I think the epiphany was superficial and just another part of her desperate attempt alter her impending demise. However, I agree with Clark's suggestions that O'Connor uses biblical allusions in the writing of the story. Considering the fact that Timothy, Georgia does not exist it makes a lot of sense that she came up with the name of this town based on the book in the New Testament. I disagree with Sloan's belief that the touch of the grandmother upon the misfit replicates Paul's laying of hands on Timothy in the New Testament. I find it a unique coincidence, but I see no solid evidence to support a replication of Paul's act. I like the way Clark broke down the climax and looked at it from more than one perspective. Again, I think the most solid point of the article was the point of the critics who believed the grandmother's final act was not a sincere moment of grace,instead just a desperate attempt to prolong her life and maybe alter her gloomy fate. Gary Sloan's article O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find focuses solely on the character of the Misfit from his mental capabilities to his religious beliefs and his way of life. Sloan looks at the Misfit as a very mentally capable man of no mean wit. I don't necessarily

Hallman Bryant, in an article written before Clark's, noted that there is no Timothy, Georgia,and persuasively argues that O'Connor is referring to the book of Timothy in the New Testament of the bible. Bryant points out that 2nd Timothy can help explain the crux of the story, "it provides a subtext for the central and problematic episode in O'Connor's story, the grandmother's moment of grace" (Clar

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Approximate Word count = 1406
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)