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Common Stereotypes In Flannery O Connor's Short Story

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Flannery O 'Connor often used common stereotypes in her short stories, only to subvert them later in order to change her audiences ' perception or judgments of people. Especially considering the time that she was living in, Flannery O 'Connor’s writing style and critique of culture would be a slap in the face to many of her readers. Upsetting her audiences’ expectations and judgments of people seems to be her specialty. Some of her characters that exhibit this the most are The Misfit from A Good Man is Hard to Find, Manly from Good country people, and the teen girl from Revelation. These three characters all seem to be a certain type person, and the main character from each short story sees and judges them that way. But, when nearing the end of their respective stories, these characters are shown not to be what they appear. …show more content…

He is an escaped criminal who comes across the family from A Good Man is Hard to Find. Because the grandmother recognizes him, he shoots them all. He seems initially to be just a two-dimensional “baddie” character. But it is discovered that he has some sort of mental disorder, which severely affects his actions and his memory of the crimes that he commits. While conversing with the Grandmother, he says, “I forgot what I done, lady. I set there, and set there, trying to remember what it was I done, and I ain’t recalled it to this day” (O’Connor, Good Man 293). So though he is still a terrible person, and it cannot justify his actions, he is not entirely what he seems to

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In the short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the author, Flannery O'Connor, demonstrates how a family vacation can quickly face a violent end, caused by a criminal known as “The Misfit.” Looking at the short story through a feminist point of view, one can quickly gather that O’Connor uses the traditional gender roles right from the beginning of the story. As reading the title, it automatically suggests the men 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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