God has a plan for all of his children which involves grace. Grace is forgiveness and the only real grace comes from God. God’s grace is offered to everyone no matter what his or her religion, or lack thereof. He reveals it when he is ready and in different ways. The real obstacle is whether or not the offered grace is realized and accepted. In “The River” by Flannery O’Connor a clueless child, Harry, is offered grace. He is clueless to what is going on, but he knows he is not content in the life he lives now. In addition, in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” O’Connor challenges the self-centered Grandmother, and the socially unworthy Misfit to find and accept grace. God grants all of his children the opportunity to obtain grace whether they lack religion, are self-centered, or are socially unworthy. Harry doesn’t know about God or Jesus yet he is still offered grace. The Grandmother receives grace despite her self-centeredness. The socially unworthy Misfit is offered grace despite being a convicted criminal but he rejects it.
In “The River” Harry (Bevel) Ashfield is a child that lacks religious and spiritual guidance from his immoral parents and is treated as an after-thought at best. He “is at the mercy of his rotten parents who treat him as nothing more than an inconvenience” (Sparrow 1). In his home everything is a joke and he is raised as if nothing matters (Sparrow 1). Although Harry is not materially deprived, he is spiritually malnourished. He does not know who God or Jesus is. In his home the words Jesus Christ or God are used in vain by his parents when they are frustrated or angered in some way (Chapman 2). He has never been taught about religion and lacks the appreciation and admiration that is needed for ...
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... And Other Stories.” Masterplots, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-2. Literary Reference Center. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” The Complete Stories. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971. 117-133. Print.
O’Connor, Flannery. “The River.” The Complete Stories. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971. 157-174. Print.
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Sparrow, Stephen. "Getting Somewhere: Baptism and the Sense of Place in Flannery O'Connor's ‘The River’.” Comforts of Home: The Flannery O’Connor Repository. MediaSpecialist.org, 4 Mar. 2004. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.
Wetherell, W.D. "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant." Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Fourth Edition. Ed. Judith A. Stanford. Boston: McGrawHill, 2003. 191-196.
Follow The River by James Alexander Thom is about Mary Ingles gruesome but yet courageous tale of her remarkable 1,000 mile journey home after she had escaped form the captivity of the Shawnee Indians. Through Mary Ingles hard work and determination she proved that all obstacles big and small can be overcome.
Maclean, Norman. A River Runs Through It and Other Stories. Chicago: The U of Chicago P, 1976.
Norman Mclean’s A River Runs Through It explores many feelings and experiences of one “turn of the century” family in Missoula, Montana. In both the movie, directed by Robert Redford, and the original work of fiction we follow the Mcleans through their joys and sorrows. However, the names of the characters and places are not purely coincidental. These are the same people and places known by Norman Mclean as he was growing up. In a sense, A River Runs Through It is Mclean’s autobiography. Although these autobiographical influences are quite evident throughout the course of the story they have deeper roots in the later life of the author as he copes with his life’s hardships.
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O?Connor, Flannery. ?A Good Man is Hard to Find.? Literature: An introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 8th ed. New York: Longman, 2002.
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Thomson, Jeff. "What is Called Heaven: Identity in Sandra Cisneros's Woman Hollering Creek." Studies in Short Fiction. Vol. 31 Issue 3 1994.
In the short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find, written by Flannery O’Connor, the theme that the definition of a ‘good man’ is mysterious and flawed is apparent. The reader must realize that it is difficult to universalize the definition of a good man because every person goes through different experiences. Thus, these experiences affect his or her viewpoint and in turn flaw ones view on a good man. O’Connor conveys this theme through her excellent use of diction, imagery, foreshadowing, and symbolism as well as through a creative use of repetition and an omniscient point of view.
Flannery O’ Connor’s story: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the tale of a vacation gone wrong. The tone of this story is set to be one irony. The story is filled with grotesque but meaningful irony. I this analysis I will guide you through the clues provided by the author, which in the end climax to the following lesson: “A Good Man” is not shown good by outward appearance, language, thinking, but by a life full of “good” actions.
“The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant,” written by W.D. Wetherell, tells the story of a fourteen-year-old boy and the summer in which he met Sheila Mant. After weeks of failed attempts and longing for the older woman who seemed just out of his reach, the boy worked
O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Flannery O’Connor: Collected Works. New York, NY: The Library of America, 1988. 137-153.
“The place she is taking the children to may no longer exist. The excruciating trip, blindly taking the river, could result in nothing. When they get there, down the river, will they be safe?” (Malerman 92).