The article from Flannery O’Connor, on her own story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” had one detail I didn’t think about regarding the Grandmother. She may be considered a bad person, even I considered her one, but she isn’t completely one. O’Connor mentions a time when a teacher was pushing the narrative that the Grandmother was a bad person. At her core, she is a good person but can’t understand some things, just like some older people now. It took her getting to what ended up being the end of her life to make a character-changing realization about her morals, but when she did she spread it to the Misfit, who had a seed of doubt, in what he saw in himself, planted in his heart because of her. Her actions and views aren’t right in the slightest, but that still doesn’t make her an outright bad person (especially with the somewhat redemption by the end).
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3 thoughts on “Week 9 Discussion Board – Jonathan Garcia”
In your view about the grandmother, that she is not a bad person; I understand you got this idea from reading the excerpt from the story. Is it that she can’t understand certain things or that she can only see things her way? Although she was able to plant a seed of doubt in their thoughts they all paid the ultimate price. Her actions led to the violent ending of herself and the entire family
Bernadette, I like the question you are raising here. You’re right that the whole family is dead because of the Grandmother. Does the fact that she didn’t mean for this to happen excuse her? The story and article bring up a lot of questions.
Jonathan, yes, O’Connor does give the Grandmother a break in her article. She likens her, as you note, to many older family members, who have a kind of innocence even though they are very annoying. She says that students from the South recognize the Grandmother and know she is not really evil. I think O’Connor is trying to point out, however, that it’s not enough to just not be evil. Being a good person requires more than that. In fact, she suggests that people should dedicate themselves to being good with as much passion as the Misfit dedicates himself to being bad.