Shayla Nichols
ENG102
October 21, 14 A Good man is hard to find
I think that that O’connor’s short story “ A Good Man Is Hard To Find “ is written partially in order to convert people who have not yet fully accepted the Christian faith. O’connor , herself being a strong believer in Christianity, probably thought that writing this story will help make people who aren’t really living by the Christian rules to seriously consider doing so. She was deeply concerned with the values and the direction of the youth at the time. O’connor believed that Christ was no longer enough of a priority to the people of her generation. “ A Good Man Is Hard To Find “ is representative of O’connor’s concern for the priorities and values of the 1940s.
An example of this story, involves the grandmother’s strong, southern heritage. She dresses with the intentions that anyone who finds her dead on the road will know she was a lady, and she is always telling stories of southern hospitality. Her grandmother is a woman who believes in God, but it seems that her belief isn’t really strong up until her confortation with the misfit.
From what I understand, most of her work follow a similar pattern. The main character(s) are in some kind of trouble and at the end they see “ the light “ of God’s ways and have their redemption. Christians have often criticized her works for being immoral but in actually she uses these extreme situations and portrays to express the power of God in a positive light. The immoral character of the misfit is very skillfully portrayed as is enlightened character of the grandmother.
Most of the character(s) in this story go through some type of change in their views of the world and their perceptions about life and death