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Good contrasted with evil
Good contrasted with evil
Good contrasted with evil
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Good Vs. Evil The concept of good and evil always springs up in the context of either religion or a society with the goals or creating a more unified union. Religion, especially Christianity was at its climax during the middle ages and almost every aspect of a European's life was controlled by the interpretation of the bible. As a result, any one that had even the slightest ideas that went against the bible was considered "bad" and often punished severely. As society moved towards a secular type of governing, the concept of good and bad changed as well. Today a person is considered, "bad" only if they don't meet society's laws set forth by a country's lawmakers. However, on an individual basis most people today use a combined …show more content…
In Flannery O'Connor's, " A Good Man is Hard to Find" two characters that are either displayed as good or bad, are the Grandmother and the Misfit. To truly judge if these characters are good or bad, we must analyze the motives and past experiences of both the Grandmother and the Misfit. In doing so we realize that the whole concept of good and bad is flawed and an individual does certain actions based on their past experiences. The Grandmother is portrayed as a person from a good and pious family, so many people would call her "good", however when analyzing her actions such as her treatment of the Misfit, one can argue that she is not good and even bad. On the other hand, the Misfit is considered bad, because he has killed people and has very outrageous religious values, however if you consider his life experiences and his intentions, the Misfit can be …show more content…
After a few words, the Grandmother recognizes the Misfit and announces it to him. As soon as he is recognized, he turns into the person that the Grandmother pre-labeled him as being. During the conversation, the read can see all of the Grandmother’s flaws. For example, we see her selfishness when she seems to care more about her own life than the life of her family because she constantly pleads for the Misfit to let her go. The interaction between the two reaches a climax when the topic about Jesus is brought up. From the Grandmother’s view on Jesus we can see her one dimensional mind because her belief is the typical Christian doctrine. However, at this point is where a change in the Grandmother can be see, because she says “"Maybe He didn't raise the dead."(O’Connor 1184) For the first in the story and probably in the Grandmother’s life she has questioned something that has been to engrained in her. Finally, at the last seconds of her life the Grandmother realizes that the Misfit indeed is a good person and reaches out to him and says “You're one of my own children!” (O’Connor, 1185) Unfortunately, for the Grandmother the Misfit is not a dynamic character and he shoots the Grandmother multiple times to her
A brilliant storyteller during the mid-twentieth century, Flannery O'Connor wrote intriguing tales of morality, ethics and religion. A Southern writer, she wrote in the Southern Gothic style, cataloging thirty-two short stories; the most well known being “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”
The grandmother character in A Good Man is Hard to Find is the Christian icon of the story, while the Misfit represents all that is evil. True to her southern roots, ...
After the accident that the grandmother had unintentionally caused by manipulating the image of a nonexistent house into her family’s head, they run into the Misfit. No one else in the family knew who he was or anything about him. They all thought someone had come to their rescue and was going to fix the car, but nothing gets over on the grandmother. Blatantly putting the whole family in danger she blurts out, “’You’re the Misfit!’…’Yes’m…but it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn’t of reckernized me’” (192). At this point in time, she knows that she is going to die, trying to save herself and not caring about the rest of her family clearly as she has witnessed the Misfit’s goons kill off her whole family, she tries to manipulate him. She brings up that he is a “good man at heart” (192) and telling him if he “would pray…Jesus would help” (194). That was just simply her trying to plea for her life, but when she realized she was getting nowhere her “head cleared for an instant” (196), she knew this was an opportunity to try and manipulate the Misfit into letting her go, to make him feel like he didn’t have to be a killer anymore, to comfort him “she reached out and touched him on the shoulder” (196). The Misfit jolted away and shot her three times in the chest because he saw through her manipulative ways which if clear when he
There are three phases of thought for the Grandmother. During the first phase, which is in the beginning, she is completely focused on herself in relation to how others think of her. The Second Phase occurs when she is speaking to The Misfit. In the story, The Misfit represents a quasi-final judgment. He does this by acting like a mirror. He lets whatever The Grandmother says bounce right off him. He never really agrees with her or disagrees, and in the end he is the one who kills her. His second to last line, "She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life," (O'Conner 152). might be the way O'Conner felt about most of us alive, or how she felt that God must feel about us.
As I read Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, I find myself being completely consumed by the rich tale that the author weaves; a tragic and ironic tale that concisely and precisely utilizes irony and foreshadowing with expert skill. As the story progresses, it is readily apparent that the story will end in a tragic and predictable state due to the devices which O’Connor expertly employs and thusly, I find that I cannot stop reading it; the plot grows thicker with every sentence and by doing so, the characters within the story are infinitely real in my mind’s eye. As I consider these factors, the story focuses on two main characters; that of the grandmother, who comes across as self-centered and self-serving and The Misfit, a man, who quite ingeniously, also appears to be self-centered and self-serving. It is the story behind the grandmother, however, that evidence appears to demonstrate the extreme differences between her superficial self and the true character of her persona; as the story unfolds, and proof of my thought process becomes apparently clear.
The grandmother has never truly understood what being saved means. She is also ignorant to what salvation is. The Misfit is missing the ability to empathize and bind with other people. He does not hold respect for human life. In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, it says “She would of been a good woman, The Misfit said, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (430). In “‘One of My Babies’: The misfit and the grandmother”, written by Stephen C. Bandy, it says “The Misfit has already directed the execution of the Grandmother’s entire family, and it must be obvious to all including reader and the Grandmother, that she is next to die” (108). These example justifies that The Misfit does not have any regard for human life. The only people that he has are the two goons that help him murder people. The grandmother sees that The Misfit has never had anyone to take care of him. At the end of this story she tries reach out to him on a spiritual level, but he shoots her three times in the chest as soon as she touches
In the short story, “The Good Man Is Hard to Find” the grandmother describes a “good man” vaguely. The grandmother pertains the label “good” broadly, putting a shadow over the definition of a “good man” until it loses its meaning completely. She first applies it to Red Sammy after he furiously complains of the universal untrustworthiness of people. Red Sammy states, “Two fellers come in here last week, driving a Chrysler. It was an old beat-up car but it was a good one and these boys looked all right to me. Said they worked at the mill and you know I let them charge the gas they bought? Now why did I do that?” (1,045). The grandmother said he did this because he is “a good man.” She next relates the label “good” to the Misfit. After she identifies him, the grandmother asks, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” (1,049). Even though he hates to admit it, The Misfit says, “I would hate to have to” (1,049). Because being a lady is such a meaningful part of what the grandmother believes as being ethical, the Misfit’s answer confirms to her that he does not share the same moral principles as she does. The grandmother begins to desperately call him a good man and that he comes from ...
Lessons are learned through mistakes and experiences, but to completely understand the lesson, a person must be smart enough to profit from their errors and be strong enough to correct them. However, this was not the case for the main character in the short story; A Good Man is Hard to Find written by Flannery O’Connor. In this tale of manipulation and deception, O’Connor depicts the main character, the grandmother, as a shrewd self-centered woman, who considers herself morally superior than the other individuals. Throughout the entire story, she is seen using her manipulative tactics on everyone, which brought her to a sinister ending. O’Connor expertly portrayed the grandmother as a character that did not correct her negative characteristics throughout the story. To prove this statement, the use of time will be applied to help focus on the main idea of the grandmother not changing her deleterious ways throughout this story.
In Flannery O’Connor’s, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the sense that each character is on the wrong path is not correct, some characters may have been on the right path. But I feel that there are only two certain characters in this story that were certainly on the wrong path, the grandmother and The Misfit. They both portrayed behaviors and actions, which I believe lead them on the wrong path. The grandmother is depicted as being a self-centered, self-involved woman who desires her way, an individual with slight recollection, just a simple old woman living with her single child. The Misfit on the other hand is a man who senses he has done nothing immoral, but has just been in the wrong place and time, but in the end approaches too near to the
...dly evil character, The Misfit, is able to help the grandmother to find grace makes him redeemable as well. Whatever the reason was for Flannery O’Connor to write A Good Man Is Hard To Find, it will forever be one of her best works as well as one of the best and most unusual short stories of all time.
I had issues with downloading the.doc file to my PC for unknown reasons, so for sake of citation I have included a link to a pdf of the text. I’m sorry this is an inconvenience, but I did not want to be without citations. Here is the exact site I used: http://www.boyd.k12.ky.us/userfiles/447/Classes/28660/A%20Good%20Man%20Is%20Hard%20To%20Find.pdf. When reading "A Good Man is Hard to Find" I found the relationship between the Grandmother and the Misfit very complex. I personally think this is one of the best relationships we have been presented with all this semester.
The lines that define good and evil are not written in black and white; these lines tend to blur into many shades of grey allowing good and evil to intermingle with each another in a single human being. Man is not inherently good or evil but they are born innocent without any values or sense of morality until people impart their philosophies of life to them. In the words of John Locke:
Never once as the Grandmother was begging for her life, did she stop and beg for the life of her family. Her tactic to save herself went from “You wouldn’t shoot a lady would you?” (O’Connor), to “You’ve got good blood! I know you come from nice people” (O’Connor), then lastly to “If you would pray, Jesus would help you” (O’Connor). Yet to every beg the Grandmother made, the Misfit was completely honest with her, admitting that he would hate to have to kill a lady, but he would do it, admitting that he did come from good people but that he is not good, and admitting that he does not want Jesus’ help, that he is perfectly fine alone. Because the Misfit was so honest and open about who he was and his flaws, the Grandmother realized that she is not a “Good Man”. That she has been lying to herself and the people around her. The Misfit allowed the Grandmother to come to terms with who she really is a person. The Misfit giving her this eye opening realization before taking her life gave her the redemption she needed so
Flannery O 'Connor utilizes multiple biblical references, such as Jesus raising the dead, to create a foundation for what the Grandmother and Misfit believe in terms of morality. The Grandmother references Christianity in a positive and redeeming sense while the Misfit claims that “Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead, and He shouldn 't have done it. He shown everything off balance” (O’Connor 151). Her reality before the incident was the people such as the Misfit were evil, while those similar to her who grew up in the classic traditions of the south were better off. Although she was raised in a highly religious and proper setting, she does not realize the fault in her logic until she is staring down the barrel of a gun. The grandmother attempts to use this religion to save her life by telling the Misfit about prayer and salvation. By asking the Misfit "Do you ever pray?" and then repeatedly saying “pray, pray, pray”, she is attempting to show him the fact that he does not have to do evil acts because of his past (O’Connor 149). Because the Misfit does not view himself as evil, his reality is that his actions and beliefs are morally
In today’s world, there are many different opinions and perceptions of what is good and what is evil. The way people think can be different from their neighbor, their parents, their kids, their spouse, etc. The way each individual lives their life is different from the next, their morals, their opinions, and what their opinions are on what is good or evil. This being said, good vs. evil is strictly based off of one’s perspective, according to their religion, political views , and cultural background.