O’Connors View of Good and Bad
1 March. 2013
O’Connors View of Good and Bad Everyone is evil—but being immoral is in the eye of the beholder. Not every person will consider the same things evil. So in reality evil has many different faces and it seems to be more powerful than good. For example one person may think that tattoos are evil and others use tattoos to express their beliefs. The choices made are also a great influence in the outcome accomplished. In the novel “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor explores the nature of evil. O’Connor also implies that the stigma of societies views on good and bad are very interesting. Society dictates what is right or wrong and will label a person almost immediately. For example a person who kills someone else is said to be vicious no matter what the circumstances. Others use the death penalty as a form of punishment for those who have committed awful crimes but are not considered corrupt. In both cases sinful behavior is present but one is accepted by society and the other is considered atrocious. How can society decide when is permissible to kill someone? It’s all about prospective. In the novel, O’Connor paints a picture for the reader. According to the description the reader automatically assumes the family is good. They are a middle class family who cares for the grandmother, and have enough income to afford vacations. All which are looked to be good according to society standards. This is understood by this description in the novel. The grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print (qt. O’Connor 450). The Misfit is also seen as evil, a serial killer which escaped federal pen and headed towards Florida and you read here what he did to these people (qt. O’Connor 449). But in an ironic twist the misfit’s view of the family was very different. He saw the grandmother as vain and selfish. The children and the son seemed rude and uncaring of
O’Connors View of Good and Bad Everyone is evil—but being immoral is in the eye of the beholder. Not every person will consider the same things evil. So in reality evil has many different faces and it seems to be more powerful than good. For example one person may think that tattoos are evil and others use tattoos to express their beliefs. The choices made are also a great influence in the outcome accomplished. In the novel “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor explores the nature of evil. O’Connor also implies that the stigma of societies views on good and bad are very interesting. Society dictates what is right or wrong and will label a person almost immediately. For example a person who kills someone else is said to be vicious no matter what the circumstances. Others use the death penalty as a form of punishment for those who have committed awful crimes but are not considered corrupt. In both cases sinful behavior is present but one is accepted by society and the other is considered atrocious. How can society decide when is permissible to kill someone? It’s all about prospective. In the novel, O’Connor paints a picture for the reader. According to the description the reader automatically assumes the family is good. They are a middle class family who cares for the grandmother, and have enough income to afford vacations. All which are looked to be good according to society standards. This is understood by this description in the novel. The grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print (qt. O’Connor 450). The Misfit is also seen as evil, a serial killer which escaped federal pen and headed towards Florida and you read here what he did to these people (qt. O’Connor 449). But in an ironic twist the misfit’s view of the family was very different. He saw the grandmother as vain and selfish. The children and the son seemed rude and uncaring of
Cited: O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature, Reading, Thinking, Writing. Ed. Michael Meyer.9th ed. Boston: Bedford. St. Martins, 2011. 449-59. Print.