Authorship in Cinema
Flannery O'Connor's short story collection A Good Man is Hard to Find has many elements of a southern gothic work. Images of ancient castles with sliding panels create suspicious themes and settings that lead the readers into the dark and gloomy world of the southern United States. With all of the violence, horror, and dismal surroundings presented in O'Connor's stories there is too a moral message given. Later gothic work did not always explain horror like this, holding little moral value to contrast their grotesque images (notes, November 1). O'Connor's stories do include a strong moral element, frequently in the form of religious explanations. The characters within A Good Man is Hard to Find are usually ignorant and self-satisfying people, who come across "the grotesque" and are shocked into self-realization, no longer self-satisfied. These grotesque elements are usually the divine in disguise forcing the characters into introspection. In a letter Flannery O'Connor wrote she stated: "You have found Christ when you are concerned with other people's suffering and not your own." In this quotation we can see the moral message O'Connor was attempting to convey in her stories, and through further analysis of the work this fa
1. O'Connor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace and Co., 1976 Soon the family is on their way again but the grandmother forces her way by using the children. Getting the kids exited enough to annoy their father so much that he breaks down and changes the route and seeks out the old gothic house. We soon learn that the grandmother has made a geographical mistake thinking Georgia for Tennessee. Her ignorance starts a chain of events which will result in all their deaths: Brining the cat along even though she knew it wold not be allowed, forcing her will even when unsure if it was right (O'Connor, 2, 11). The grandmother's uncertainty of geography could be read as mirroring her spiritual uncertainty. In the first story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, O'Connor's moral message is clearly presented. The grandmother protagonist in the story is very self-serving. She demands constant attention (although rarely getting it) and stubborn in the fact that her wishes must be carried out. She only wants to go to Tennessee to see old connections (O'Connor, pg. 1). The grandmother cannot move away from past and is at the same time confused by accuracy of past events. On the trip a road stop seems very suggestive of a hellish place: barbecue fires, Red Sammy, etc (O'Connor, pg. 6). The grandmother's lack of character judging is pointed out in this scene. She believes that Red Sammy is a good man because he relates to her old fashioned values (she thinks). Sammy is surprised at this and exclaims, "Yes'm, I suppose so," his unsureness makes the reader question Sammy's character. What is more telling is what the waitress says while bringing the food: "It isn't a soul in this green world of God's that you can trust... I don't count nobody out on that, not nobody (O'Connor, pg. 8)." While speaking this last line the waitress looks directly at Sammy, making him angry/uncomfortable. If Sammy is not a good man is he evil? Could he represent Satan, Red Sammy is a fitting parallel name. Sammy then states that "a good man is hard to find." Could this be forewarning to the grandmother's confused values of what is right or wrong (good or bad)? Throughout the story Mr. McIntyre also rejected religion fearing the priest because she suspected him to try and convert her. Why was she afraid of religion? Was it because it too would show her faults (i.e. not helping the needy, greed, dishonesty)? By finally accepting the priests company after becoming bed ridden we can infer that Mrs. McIntyre has indeed been changed by what the displaced person has taught her and is more willing to accept her past deeds and be forgiven for them. This transformation into an innocent childlike state illustrates how the Misfit has given her a fresh start or a rebirth, as Jesus did. Is the misfit representative of Jesus? The grandmother seems to think so. If we look at the dialogue more closely we can see that the grandmother refers to the Misfit as Jesus many times unintentionally (O'Connor, 20 21). "Jesus...you've got good blood, Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady". Other examples of the Misfit as a god are in his power to dictate whom lives or dies. He is the leader of the gang and what he says goes (in control verses grandmother, who has lost what little control she had). Taking no pleasure in killing is yet another godly trait. We can see in this quotation that the Misfit takes no pleasure in his "duties." "It's no real pleasure in life (O'Connor, pg. 22)." If the Misfit really is indeed a representation of Christ than we can see that he has made the grandmother realize her perceptions of goodness and her self-centered behavior was wrong. By returning her to the state of a child the Misfit has given her a sort of rebirth and a new fresh outlook on life. In death the grandmother has learned these things and has achieved salvation through the barrel of the Misfit's gun. As we can see O'Connor'
Some common words found in the essay are:
Misfit O'Connor, Red Sammy, Secondly Pointer's, Nelson Head, Flannery O'Connor's, Misfit Jesus, McIntyre Guziac, People Hulga, Artificial Nigger, Europe McIntyre, displaced person, o'connor pg, moral message, country people, notes november, red sammy, grotesque elements, o'connor's moral, notes november 8, wouldn't shoot, displaced people, o'connor's moral message,
Approximate Word count = 2703
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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