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Flannery O?Connor?s ?A Good Man Is Hard To Find,? is an account of how a homicidal maniac slaughters a family of ordinary, innocent people whom he happens to encounter on the road. O? Connor interprets the dialogue between the grandmother and the Misfit as a comment on general human and Christian values; represented in the themes of the dysfunctional family, society as a dysfunction and the role of Christianity interwoven in the dialogue. O?Connor?s obvious displeasure with contemporary society is woven in the story, and presented through an interesting generation gap. The story begins with the typical nuclear family, challenged by the grandmother who does not want to take the family vacation to Florida, but rather East Tennessee. She reads about a crazed killer by the name of The Misfit, who is on the run, heading towards Florida as well. Unfortunately she is ignored by every member of the family except for the little girl, June Star, who can read the grandmother like an open book. The fact that she admonishes Bailey, her son, of this Misfit and ?what he did to those people,? foreshadows what will happen to them (Brooks 307). O?Connor doesn?t mention this in the beginning of the story as a mute point, it?s
------------------------------------------------------------------------ omeone saw her dead on the highway. she too must forgive the Misfit and accept him as a child of God. The victims in this story are not heroic figures reduced to misfortune, but yet ordinary characters who succumb to an ill fate. The reader is left with a vision of destruction of human life both literal and figurative. An obvious comment O?Connor was making on the ever-present lack of human and Christian values in contemporary society. most evil souls, if the soul reaches back to God in return. The Misfit is also is an avid record keeper, as he writes down his activities and assigns his signature as well. He did this so he would remember the crimes that he committed and those that he hasn?t. The reason for doing this is so that he can measure up the crime with the punishment, finding justification in if the two correlate. He has to justify this to himself, determining whether the system of society is doing its job correctly (Brooks 318). He respected the power of the words because he felt they defined what he does. Therefore knowing that his punishment is no mistake, because he wrote down his actions, and symbolically will accept the consequences when confronted. o innocent children. However unlike that of Jesus, the Misfit himself has escaped punishment. The grandmother thusly responds in the only way she knows how to; clinging to the belief about him having ?good blood,? symbolizing his chance to still have forgiveness by God. In the end the Misfit feels that he has saved the grandmother, by murdering her. Even still O?Connor shows that this mixture of good and evil inside of him becomes meaningless, with this violent act of murder. The only pleasure that the Misfit got out of the killing of the grandmother is the meanness behind the act itself. obvious that this interesting fact is going to have a significant impact on the characters later in the story. The morning of the trip the grandmother is the first one in the car, ready to travel as June Star predicted she would be, ?She wouldn?t stay at home for a million bucks?sh
Some common words found in the essay are:
June Stars, Jesus Judas, John Wesley, Jesus OConnor, God Misfit, June Star, OConnors Hard, Jesus Misfit, East Tennessee, Lee Hiram, contemporary society, bobby lee hiram, grandmother christ-like figure, meet fate, lee hiram, christ-like figure, brooks 308, forgiveness god, human christian values, grandmother misfit, god misfit, confronted misfit, reference grandmother christ-like, brooks 318,
Approximate Word count = 1447
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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