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A Good Man Is Hard To Find Greed Analysis

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''Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction'' is a quote by Eric Fromm that can describe the character of Mathilde Loisel in ''The Necklace'' by Guy de Maupassant that focus on an unhappy woman who feels she is far above her simple lifestyle and wish for a more luxurious life, while the grandmother in ''A Good Man is Hard To Find'' by O'Connor Flannery, which focus on an old southern woman who look down upon everyone because of her past importance. Both story writing in a different place and time, however, both characters have the same struggle regarding greed and pride which lead to they downfall. The authors emphasis greatly on class, appearance and greed. …show more content…

Even with a humble and understanding husband who would go above and beyond to make her happy she is still unhappy. Blessed with a beautiful physical beauty, but not the affluent lifestyle that she yearns for, which lead her to continuously seek for what she cannot posses. Her greed for a lavish lifestyle stop her from enjoying her basic life and to constantly judging what she posses ''She suffered from the poorness of her house, from its mean walls, worn chairs, and ugly curtains. All these things, of which other women of her class would not even have been aware, tormented and insulted her'' (Maupassant 7). Mathilde always imagined herself in a high social position with wonderful jewels and expensive clothing instead she have to wear simple clothing. In her mind she is doing her husband a favor by marry him because he is a ''little clerk in the Ministry of Education''(Maupassant 3). She never considered her husband feeling he was heartbroken because she was not happy about the invitation to the Ministry party but she was too busy fretting over what to wear to notice. Her one night of radiance cost them to loss everything they

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However, she is poor so she borrows a necklace from a friend. She did this instead of wearing flowers for a cheap 15 francs. Mathilde lost the necklace and had to pay it off over the next 10 years. She did this because she wanted to fit in and no one else would be wearing cheap flowers. The theme is also shown in this story by the fact the Mathilde wanted to wear jewelry.

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Death, Death, and More Death The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor is a story about death. A family is killed by a fugitive they call the “misfit”. In another short story by Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour,” death is also apparent.

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Three examples of greed and its effects are shown in the stories of “The Necklace”, “Civil Peace”, and “The Golden Touch”. The short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant tells the story of a woman, named Mathilde, who borrows a very expensive necklace, ends up losing it, and spends 10 years of her life repaying the debt it took to buy a new one, only to find out the original was fake and not expensive at all. This alone states the extent at which we will go to replace materialistic items. The lady had been part of the middle class, living comfortably, and even had a maid and a cook.

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In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the author portrays the grandmother as self-centered, dishonest and prideful woman. The grandmother is an old, southern, Caucasian woman who describes herself as a good woman. Throughout the story, O’Connor shows how the grandmother’s pride, and selfishness leads her to unappreciated her family. She does not care about them, she only cares about herself and what will benefit her. The grandmother’s selfishness, judgmental actions, dishonesty put the family in danger.

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In the short story of “A good man is hard to find” is about a family wanting to take a vacation but the grandmother had different plans for the family. The family wanted to take a trip to Florida, but the grandmother wanted to go to Tennessee instead. The grandmother tried everything she could to change her son Baily’s mind. Nothing seemed to work, because Baily was just stubborn like his mother. The grandmother finally does convince the family to go to Tennessee; and that is when things turn out for the worse for the grandmother and the family.

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In the short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the author, Flannery O 'Connor, demonstrates how a short story can contain many aspects of feminism without one even noticing. Looking at the short story through a feminist point of view, one can quickly gather that O’Connor uses the old school gender roles from the very beginning of the short story. As reading the title, it automatically suggests the male characters in this short story are untrustworthy, not prevalent, and dangerous. With that being said, the female characters in this story are viewed in the eyes of how a woman should act.

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In her society, it is the woman that is left to be alone in her own thoughts, shown through her husband’s freedom to leave the house and not come back until he wants to versus her confinement to the house. This is reflected through the various “hedges and walls and gates that lock”, making her stay isolated in the house. Ultimately, the character is overtaken by the imagination and through the

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This story by Flannery O’Conner has several different hidden themes in it. Two main themes include appearance, and fear. The main character, which is the grandmother has an interesting character. She judges people through appearance, including herself. She fears going to Florida because of a criminal so called the “Misfit” that she saw in the newspaper.

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Human nature causes people to desire more than what one already has. However, after desiring material items, people realize the foolishness in their greed. In “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, Mathilde Loisel, who lives in France during the 1880s, attempts to transform her ordinary life into one of luxury. She attends a reception with her friend Madame Forestier's diamond necklace, but after losing it, she works to buy a new necklace, only to later discover the necklace she lost is fake. Through this experience, Mathilde learns to be content with what she has, and as a result, she realizes the flaws in her character.

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In the second paragraph of the story the author states that she is suffering because she doesn't have the things she wants by saying, “She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury. She suffered from the poorness of her house, from its mean walls, worn chairs, and ugly curtains.” (Guy de Maupassant 2) “She had no clothes, no jewels, nothing. And these were the only things she loved;” (Guy de Maupassant 2) The author included this to let the readers know what kind of “Poverty” Matilde was living in. Mathilde doesn't seem to love her husband as much.

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