There were some ideas I came across in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” that I would have missed if I hadn’t read O’Connor’s article. Reading the article added more depth and allowed me to understand better the story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” One of the themes she highlights in the article is the idea of redemption. The grandmother’s last act of reaching out to The Misfit, can be seen as a moment of grace, almost like her last and final attempt to find some kind of redemption, even in a dark situation. The author also talks about how she uses dark humor and violence to reveal the truth about her characters. For example, the grandmother’s blend of kindness and manipulation, or The Misfit’s casual talk about life and death, although we might feel uncomfortable, it shows us who these people really are. The Misfit Is not just a villain, he is more of a mirror for the grandmother. He is forcing her to face her beliefs about faith and right and wrong. These ideas are examples of ideas I might have missed without reading the author’s article first.
Daily Archives: October 31, 2024
A specific idea from “A Good Man is Hard to Find” that I would’ve missed if I hadn’t read the article was the idea of violence being used for a character’s “moment of grace.” Typically, I would expect violence to be used for an adrenaline-pumped action scene or a simple victory/loss. However, O’Connor says that violence is “strangely capable of returning (her) characters to reality.” It was interesting to see this idea fleshed out when I reached the end of the story, because it completely shifted my view of the grandmother. I viewed her as a desperate old lady whose biggest concern was her own safety; although, the use of violence gave her a moment of clarity that redeemed her. Being moments away from death, she finally felt actual sympathy for The Misfit, whereas before she was just trying to convince him to let her live. One would think she simply wanted to capitalize off The Misfit’s emotions, but O’Connor makes it clear that her final words were her genuine return to reality.
Even story’s title can have an influence on how a reader prepares for the story line. Before reading the story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, I expected to be a romance story, just from reading the tittle. Getting deeper into the reading, I was looking forward to a happy ending love story , since the grandmother was describing a gentleman that she remembers from her working days, who passed away a wealthy man and told a story of a mystery house with hidden treasure ” she would have done well to marry Mr. Teagarden because he was a gentleman and had bought Coca-Cola stock when it first came out and that he had died only a few years ago, a very wealthy man”. Unfortunately the story does not end with happiness/love and discovery of the mystery treasure, it becomes a tragedy, ending in brutal deaths and agony. One unexpected decision in the story, altered the faith in the characters story life. I read the story twice and every time I had a vivid image of the kids being taking away to the woods, while seeing the parents fear and pain through their eyes. The grandmother on the other hand , did her best part to speak some sense into Misfit by using religious language and reversed psychology. One main specific idea, that I had to read and research after reading “Excerpt from ‘On Her Own Work’: The Element of Suspense in ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find.’” was the part of the grandmother’s gestures. First gesture was “hands waving” after the accident that family just had, to attract attention of approaching vehicle, in which there were 3 man , whom one of them was her killer, Misfit. Second gesture was mentioned at the end of the story, […]
