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A Good Man Is Hard To Find Identity Essay

1048 Words5 Pages

Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” deals with the flawed moral conduct of a presumed religious figure and a criminal. The Grandmother, who is the protagonist in this story and The Misfit, who is the criminal, are heavily influenced by their environment. Both of these characters show the relationship between environment and identity. O’Connor’s inspiration for this story is rooted in her deeply religious, Catholic beliefs. The author brings the reader down a road which questions if having religious beliefs makes a good person. The two main characters of this short story, are brought together by a life altering accident due to a detour during a family trip. Religious beliefs become the focal point that each of these character’s struggles with during a chaotic event that ultimately results in death. As …show more content…

When the family arrives at The Tower, The Grandmother has a conversation with the restaurant owner, Red Sammy. In this conversation The Grandmother says that she does not trust anyone in the world in the quote, “it isn’t a soul in this green world of God’s that you can trust” (474). Red Sammy also agrees that there is no one to trust. The Grandmother continues by blaming Europe for the way things were at that time. By her snide comments about African Americans and her blaming of Europe in her conversation with Red Sammy, she is reflecting how prejudice her own identity is. In contrast, her interaction with The Misfit affects her identity. In an effort to stay alive, The Grandmother perceives her faith as a Christian and attempts to save The Misfit’s soul. She is attempting to not discriminate against The Misfit, despite what he had done to other people, and because of her beliefs. However, this contradicts The Grandmother’s overall identity as racist and prejudice. Whereas God does not discriminate, The Grandmother does discriminate against His

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In this moment, the grandmother realizes that she has a commonality with the Misfit, and that they both truly do have some good in them. Her observation that his face was momentarily like hers causes her to see the emotion that the Misfit is experiencing, and she makes the connection between his emotion and hers. She finally is transformed by this realization and her own actions of kindness, as she died and “her face [smiled] up at the cloudless sky” (212). The goodness that the grandmother had been seeking throughout the entire story had at last been realized through her own actions of kindness toward the Misfit, who was also momentarily affected and taken back by her grace towards

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A Good Man Is Hard To Find Identity Essay

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