Thematic interpretation of “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
German
Professor Robison
Enc1102-10
24th, Sep. 2011
Thematic interpretation of “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Flannery O’Conner portrays many messages through her story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Religion is shown throughout the story from the Grandmothers point of view. She is a classy lady and judges many on her knowledge of Christ to determine whether or not they should be considered “good”. This story displays that God’s grace can be received by anyone, in any form and that each and everyone can be saved, according to the Grandmother’s judgment, actions, and epiphany. The Grandmother spent most of her life criticizing others on how to achieve her view of gods expectations. She believes that if you are good then you must come from a good family and live through the beliefs of the church. In the end, during the Grandmother’s epiphany she receives gods grace and tries desperately to pass it on to the Misfit, believing that anyone can be saved by god. However, he is pure evil and does not understand the feeling of “good” even though it may lay deep inside him. The Misfit rejects the presence of God in his heart, and that is the main cause of his evilness. The Misfit conscious threatens his evil and he then, decided not to accept his chance to receive God‘s Grace. The Grandmother lived her life judging what is “good” and in the end ironically ended up in the most evil hands, the Misfit.
Rose and
Professor Robison
Enc1102-10
24th, Sep. 2011
Thematic interpretation of “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Flannery O’Conner portrays many messages through her story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Religion is shown throughout the story from the Grandmothers point of view. She is a classy lady and judges many on her knowledge of Christ to determine whether or not they should be considered “good”. This story displays that God’s grace can be received by anyone, in any form and that each and everyone can be saved, according to the Grandmother’s judgment, actions, and epiphany. The Grandmother spent most of her life criticizing others on how to achieve her view of gods expectations. She believes that if you are good then you must come from a good family and live through the beliefs of the church. In the end, during the Grandmother’s epiphany she receives gods grace and tries desperately to pass it on to the Misfit, believing that anyone can be saved by god. However, he is pure evil and does not understand the feeling of “good” even though it may lay deep inside him. The Misfit rejects the presence of God in his heart, and that is the main cause of his evilness. The Misfit conscious threatens his evil and he then, decided not to accept his chance to receive God‘s Grace. The Grandmother lived her life judging what is “good” and in the end ironically ended up in the most evil hands, the Misfit.
Rose and