A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay -- essays research papers fc

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 fact can be more clearly illustrated. 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 co... ...ot 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. As we can see O'Connor's moral message of religion leading people's concerns away from self-suffering is quite prevalent in most of the stories in A Good Man is Hard to Find. By analyzing stories such as A Good Man is Hard to Find, The Displaced Person, The Artificial Nigger, and Good Country People we can see the representation of religion hidden behind grotesque elements that force the characters towards introspection and change. These interpretations can be taken further as a possible comment of American culture showing sometimes a horrible apocalyptic vision. O'Connor's moral lessons seem to be telling us that by finding Christ we may overcome these grotesque elements and become stronger people who, through the grace of God, care more for the people around us than our selfish wants. Bibliography 1. O'Connor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace and Co., 1976