Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, although these religious undertones may not be seen during the first reading, Flannery O'Connor writes stories that reflect her strong Roman Catholic faith. The author points out that in her encounter with The Misfit, the Grandmother increasingly calls on her religion to restore The Misfit's faith, thus hoping to save her own life. The paper relates that, after being shot, the Grandmother and God finally have come to peace; her legs are crossed in a position similar to that of Jesus on the cross upon which he is said to have been crucified.

From the Paper:

"After all of the other attempts to get through to The Misfit, the Grandmother starts to see The Misfit from a Jesus-like perception. It is at that same moment, while looking into The Misfit's face, that the grandmother's head clears and states to him, "Why you're one of my babies". The church teaches us that we are all God's children no matter what we do or say. It is from these teachings that The Grandmother comes to realize this life altering realization. Simultaneously, the grandmother "recognizes briefly and dimly that she and The Misfit are bound together by the mystery of life and death" which is something up until now "she has able to ignore". The Misfit and grandmother are spiritually connected to each other by the blood and body of Christ that are said to be given in order to free one of sin. When the grandmother reaches out to touch The Misfit and become one with him that he "spring back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest". "

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