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a good man is hard to find character analysis
literary criticism a good man is hard to find
analyse connie character in where are you going
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A superiority complex is an attitude of superiority that often conceals actual feelings of inferiority and failure. The majority of people who suffer from a superiority complex feel inadequate somewhere deep inside themselves and as a result, treat others as lesser. They consider themselves to be superior to those surrounding them and are often condescending, quick to judge, and observant of the flaws of others. Yet they somehow manage to always overlook their own imperfections. Both Connie, a teenage girl with an inclination towards independence who is enamored with herself, and Grandmother, a self proclaimed lady who is stuck in the past and has no qualms about manipulating others in order to obtain what she desires, have superiority complexes that do not shatter until they are in the face of peril. They each have their respective sudden realizations only moments before they are violently ripped out of their worlds, Grandmother through death, and Connie through abduction. As a result they never get the opportunity to utilize this newfound self awareness. Connie from Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" and Grandmother from Flannery O'Conner's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" are both flawed characters who believe themselves to be superior to others until they reach an epiphany that arrives too late.
Connie, who is incredibly shallow, regards others as beneath her; however, in reality she strives for the attention of strangers because she feels insufficient. Connie feels bad about herself because she feels that her "mother [keeps] picking on her." She makes up for this insecurity by fabricating a false sense of superiority. She is so desperate to eradicate these flaws in herself, which she ref...
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... immediately before it is too late to make any difference in the outcome of their undesirable situation.
It is commonly expressed that bullies are cruel to others because they feel lesser. This belief is linked to the idea of the superiority complex. Similar to Connie, a bully is quick to notice the flaws of others, and, comparable to Grandmother, is readily willing to exploit them. In general, people with superiority complexes do not go out of their way to treat other people kindly, or may even appear to be spiteful, because the majority of the time they are utterly absorbed with themselves. As a result, they will ultimately suffer the consequences, either on a large scale like Connie and Grandmother, or on a smaller scale, like loss of friends or the eventual realization of the flaws that they had previously deemed inexistent.
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Most bullies share certain characteristics. Usually, a bully is bigger than the person he is aggravating. Also, he tends to think highly of himself, normally because he feels inadequate. Thirdly, a bully picks on a person who is different or thinks differently than him. In “Rowing the Bus”, Paul showcases the characteristics of a bully.
There are plenty of on this earth who are egocentric. They feel that as if every decision they make is important and feel as if they are more important than everyone else. Flannery O 'Connor explores this type of mindset in her short story A Good Man is Hard to Find. The story focuses on a family of six who are going on a trip from Georgia to Tennessee after the Grandmother reads an article about a serial killer heading to Florida. After stopping to eat, the Grandmother convinces her son Bailey to take a detour; the car crashes, afterwards; they encounter the serial killer and then he kills the entire family. Throughout the story, the Grandmother exemplifies that she may be egocentric, so O 'Connor 's character of the Grandmother feels that
Being sexualized by the boys around her, Connie is self-conscious and finds her worth in beauty. The story even states, “She knew she was pretty and that was everything” (Oates 422). She is concerned about her appearance and what others think of her because she has been taught that she lacks any value outside of physical beauty norms. Arnold Friend, even tells Connie, “...be sweet like you can because what else is there for a girl like you but to be sweet and pretty and give in?” (Oates 432). Between this coaxing and the consistent message about the importance of beauty, Connie is nearly forced to conform to this mentality, which displays the lack of respect for young females as human beings. This in turn leads women to self-degradation as they are consistently viewed as sexual
In addition to demonstrating the value of tolerance, the Grandmother is the first character who serves as a caveat for the public in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Throughout the story, the Grandmother attempts to present herself as the archetypical “good”, spiritual old woman. Ironically, she is a particularly repugnant human being. She is set in her archaic mentalities, pretentious, and selfish. In the beginning, her egotism becomes evident when she rejects her family’s desires to go to Florida and insists on traveling to Tennessee, where she could, “visit some of her connections” (O’ Connor 61). Irving Malin, professor and literary critic, also notes that the Grandmother is an unpleasant because she, “…forces her family to obey her… [and] she sees them as an extension of herself…” (Bloom 21). Although she processes a blatant disregard for others, she still considers herself highly. Furthermore, the Grandmother is als...
Bullying is when a person or group frequently harms someone who is weaker or more vulnerable then themselves. They do this by means of physical, verbal, or mental abuse. Bullies can be male, female, young or old. The nature of a bully depends on many factors such as sex, age, and past experiences. Depending on the nature of the bully, their actions can have many negative effects on others. Bullies display many characteristics such as aggression, rivalry, and competitive behavior. Bullying occurs in many different places, a good example is in the novel The Lord of the Flies. Jack, the antagonist in this novel, displays many characteristics of a bully. Many children have been victimized by the terrible acts of bullies.
Initially, Oates portrays Connie as an extremely conceded young woman. "She was fifteen and she had a quick nervous habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right." Oates set the tone for Connie's character by that statement alone. It was obvious that Connie was a pretty girl but what was more obvious is that Connie knew it. Connie's conceded quality was first revealed as she "gawked" at herself in a mirror to the point where it angered her mother. I imagine Connie's mother was probably talking to her and realized she was not paying attention to anything she said, fascinated by the reflection.
In the story “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?’ Connie does not have a good relationship with her relatives. Her family relationship is unhealthy. Her mother says demeaning things to her like “Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you’re so pretty?” (Oates qtd. in Kirszner and Mandell, 453 ). Or
When the short story began, Connie was an extremely conceited girl. She expressed how pretty she was throughout the beginning of the short story. However, she didn’t get much praise at home about her outer appearance. In actuality, her mother seemed to hate that the most about her. Connie seemed to have no support around her. Unfortunately, her mother nagged at her all the time about how she thought she looked and a constant comparison to her older sister. Per in the short story, “Her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything and who hadn 't much reason any longer to look at her own face, always scolded Connie about it. "Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you? You think you 're so pretty?" she would say.” "Why don 't you keep your room clean like your sister? How 've you got your hair fixed—what the hell stinks? Hair spray? You don 't see your sister using that junk." (Pg.1) Therefore, her older sister received all the glorious praise from her mother. Subsequently, not only was her
Bullies like to interact with people who have the same issues as them, because they don’t have to deal with competition. Bullies can be independent, but mostly bullies like to have admirers encouraging their ruthless behavior. When adult cliques bully other people, they usually focus on people who are possible rivals. They do not like to see people’s full potential, because bullies can tell that it can outshine their position in their workplace (“Sanctuary for the Abused”). Troubled adults and children have problems within themselves that they cannot fix, so they tend to take their anger out on people (“Bullying: Characteristics and Interventions”). They like to damage people’s confidence, because they know they do not have good self-esteem. Also, dictators are very reliant on others, because they want people to do their dirty work. When two dictators come together, they can possibly go to war as allies together and make horrific changes in their
Personality is a unique characteristic each one has. Throughout "Where are you going, Where have you been", and "Good men are hard to find" depicts various individuality throughout. Connie and the grandmother, the victims, display similar trait, struggling between reality and fantasy, but differ to some extent. Connie was a dreamer who got herself deep into the fairytale of romance, and movies that left her in a situation in reality she was not prepared for, when Arnold Friend, representing evil came up to her driveway. On the other hand, the Grandmother lived her life relating to the way she used to do things in the past, picturing how good life was back then, and children were well-mannered before. On contrary, the victims experience with
When someone is bullied frequently, they tend to become a bully to other people. This is evident in the story, The White Circle by John Bell Clayton because when Anvil was younger, he was bullied by his dad very often due to the fact that his dad wasn’t supportive or kind to Anvil. His dad never treated him well, since he was always angry with Anvil and didn’t act like a father to him. Anvil’s father threatened him by saying he was going to “beat him to death” (2), and Anvil was nervous he actually would. He would “[tremble] and [whimper]” (2) until someone would stop his father from hurting him. However, as Anvil grew up, he started to beat up people and do things what his father did to him because he was bullied as a kid and wasn’t raised
Connie has the need to be viewed as older and as more mature than she really is, all the while still displaying childlike behavior. She shows this childlike behavior by “craning her neck to glance in mirrors [and] checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates 323). This shows that Connie is very insecure and needs other people’s approval. Although on one side she is very childish, on the other side she has a strong desire to be treated like an adult. This longing for adulthood is part of her coming of age, and is demonstrated by her going out to “bright-lit, fly-infested restaurant[s]” and meeting boys, staying out with those boys for three hours at a time, and lying to her parents about where she has been and who she has been with (Oates 325, 326). “Everything about her ha[s] two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home” (Oates 324). Even her physical movements represent her two-sided nature: “her walk that could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearin...
Pride is encouraged in some and hated in others. Pride in elderly people is excused because they are considered wise. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the grandmother’s pride . The grandmother enters the story trying and failing to take control of the choice of where the family should go on vacation. She is very concerned about appearances in public but allows herself to be rude in private. The grandmother manipulates those around her to get what she wants. The Misfit does not know her or much about her, but he understands her character. The grandmother assumes everyone is inferior to her.
“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by Flannery O’Connor explores the complexity of human nature. The unnamed grandmother is a perfect example of how contradictory a person’s beliefs and standards can be. She is indirectly manipulative, yet she holds herself to a higher, purer standard than the other characters. Not to mention, the grandmother is not as she first appear, and she is stuck on the views of the past and how they apply to her as a lady, whether the views are correct or not.
A person’s self-esteem or self-image can be extremely effected by bullying. Bullying may seem like a fun at the time but the consequences can be very damaging to the way a person sees himself or how others see him. Bullying has a negative effect on a person’s self-esteem and can make him depressed in life, but this is not just limited to the person who is bullied but also the person being the bully. (Seals, D., & Young, J. 2003.) When a person is bullied he start to believe the comments that are made about him and he can start to think less highly of himself. If a person has low self-esteem it came make him care less about himself or others. If having a low self-esteem makes him give up on others he may become withdrawn from people that he once cared for dearly, which can make him become lonely and self-kept. If he would start to care about himself less it can make him stop thinking he is important and of value, which in return can make him stop trying in life and give up on his dreams or goals. Something that effects a person’s self-esteem also effects the way ...