A Good Man is Hard To Find
Despite the relatively limited volume of Flannery O'Connor's published fiction, she has begun to be regarded as on of the most significant figures in the American literary canon in the 34 years since her death. Throughout her three novels and two volumes of short stories, O'Connor addresses a number of problematic issues and ideas, mostly through a conceptual framework firmly grounded in her devout Catholic faith. An overarching theme in O'Connor's fiction is the indictment of the paucity of ethics extant in modern society. Further, the characters in her stories are often exposed to shocking violence as a means of achieving an ultimately meaningful moment of grace (Martin 15). An examination of the use of symbolism, religious motifs, and characterization in O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" reveals her emphasis on both of these recurrent themes.Because many of O'Connor's stories are didactic in nature and similar in function to parables or fables, she relies heavily on the use of symbolism in order to invest even the minutest elements of her fiction with thematic significance. In "A Good M
Carter W. The True Country: Themes in the Fiction of Flannery O'Connor. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 1969. Grandmother." Studies in Short Fiction 33.1: 107-18. an is Hard to Find," O'Connor employs symbols that not only serve to define the archetypes of certain characters, but also to amplify the confusion surrounding the lack of the expected moral characteristics associated with the characters (Merton 146). Bandy, Stephen C. "`One of My Babies': The Misfit and the The story is rife with religious elements. Most notably, the Grandmother attempts to engage the Misfit in a theological discussion not in hopes of assisting his redemption, but solely as a means of prolonging her life (Bandy 116). Alluding to the story of Lazarus and Jesus' ability to raise the dead, the grandmother at once reveals her stubborn refusal to truly embrace the ambiguities inherent in Christian doctrines and the Misfit's ability to do exactly this. By brining religion into the scenario, O'Connor demonstrates the hollowness of the institution in a world where a practiced manipulator like the grandmother can be considered a faithful devotee, and the Misfit, a fo
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Approximate Word count = 771
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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