Divinity In A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Maciej Szwoch
Sandra Beuchamp
3/8/2016
Com 102
A Good Believer is Hard to Find
Religion is a topic that has been debated by man since the beginning of time. Questions such as “Is there a god” or “Why did god make the world this way” have been pondered, and argued to no end, producing little to no results. Mankind’s hunger for knowledge will never be satisfied, leading to conflict. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find “, by Flannery O’ Connor, the author uses the grandma to portray the struggle of mankind to understand divinity. One way the author uses the grandmother to show mankind's struggle to understand divinity is with prejudice. The grandma believes herself to be a devout believer in Catholicism, however, nothing lies farther from the truth. …show more content…
Her blatant disregard of the bible's lessons shows mankind's struggle to understand divinity.
Furthermore, those who the grandma deems as a “Good man” do not possess qualities of one. The grandmother's values originate from her spiritualistic teachings, and she believes herself to be a good person because she goes to church and prays often. However the grandmother lies and manipulates her family in self interest showing that she is not as pious as she believes. The grandma also deems Red Sammy Butts as a good man. Nonetheless, in the story, Butts does nothing worthy of being deemed remarkable. If anything Butts is depicted as an awful person. For example, Butts has a monkey chained to a tree, who runs away from people at sight. From the monkey's reaction, it is probable that the monkey is abused on a regular basis and for this reason avoids other human beings. Moreover, even Sammy's wife does not believe he is a good man. In the short story, it says “It isn't a soul in this green world of God's that you can trust, she said. And I don't count nobody out of that, not nobody, she repeated, looking at Red Sammy”(O'Connor 189). Nobody knows Sammy better than his …show more content…
The author was frustrated with arrogant people belittling others due to their belief of self importance, and showed it by the way she characterized the grandmother. Going to church and praying does not make a person a true believer. It may take years, decades, or even a lifetime, but the struggle to understand divinity is a long and tedious one.
O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert Diyanni. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2004. 186-96. Print.
Nester, Nancy L. "O'connor's A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND." Explicator 64.2 (2006): 125-127. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Foundation Publications, for the Lockman Foundation, 1971.
Sandra Beuchamp
3/8/2016
Com 102
A Good Believer is Hard to Find
Religion is a topic that has been debated by man since the beginning of time. Questions such as “Is there a god” or “Why did god make the world this way” have been pondered, and argued to no end, producing little to no results. Mankind’s hunger for knowledge will never be satisfied, leading to conflict. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find “, by Flannery O’ Connor, the author uses the grandma to portray the struggle of mankind to understand divinity. One way the author uses the grandmother to show mankind's struggle to understand divinity is with prejudice. The grandma believes herself to be a devout believer in Catholicism, however, nothing lies farther from the truth. …show more content…
Her blatant disregard of the bible's lessons shows mankind's struggle to understand divinity.
Furthermore, those who the grandma deems as a “Good man” do not possess qualities of one. The grandmother's values originate from her spiritualistic teachings, and she believes herself to be a good person because she goes to church and prays often. However the grandmother lies and manipulates her family in self interest showing that she is not as pious as she believes. The grandma also deems Red Sammy Butts as a good man. Nonetheless, in the story, Butts does nothing worthy of being deemed remarkable. If anything Butts is depicted as an awful person. For example, Butts has a monkey chained to a tree, who runs away from people at sight. From the monkey's reaction, it is probable that the monkey is abused on a regular basis and for this reason avoids other human beings. Moreover, even Sammy's wife does not believe he is a good man. In the short story, it says “It isn't a soul in this green world of God's that you can trust, she said. And I don't count nobody out of that, not nobody, she repeated, looking at Red Sammy”(O'Connor 189). Nobody knows Sammy better than his …show more content…
The author was frustrated with arrogant people belittling others due to their belief of self importance, and showed it by the way she characterized the grandmother. Going to church and praying does not make a person a true believer. It may take years, decades, or even a lifetime, but the struggle to understand divinity is a long and tedious one.
O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert Diyanni. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2004. 186-96. Print.
Nester, Nancy L. "O'connor's A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND." Explicator 64.2 (2006): 125-127. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.
New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Foundation Publications, for the Lockman Foundation, 1971.