A Good Man Is Hard To Find And The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas '

Both stories “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor and “ The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula LeGuin contain elements of sin and redemption. In both of the stories sin is caused by intentional acts of humans, yet in the story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, some decide to leave the city in search of another city, also giving them redemption. In “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” redemption is offered many times even though those who need it don’t deserve it. In the end of “The Ones Who Walk Away” LeGuin uses specific diction to show that the citizens of the town have sinned and need redemption. O’Connor takes a different approach by showing that people who do not seek redemption often enough are handed it, while those who seek redemption may be given it.

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the author uses the grandmother a lot for the sole purpose of bringing sin and redemption out. Throughout the story, the grandmother repeatedly criticized both her son and daughter-in-law, she always seemed to be lying and messing with other people's feelings. The Grandmother considers herself morally superior to others because she is a “lady,” therefore she freely and frequently judges others.

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This unidentified child has never seen the light, never heard a nice word, and only gets fed a half-bowl of cornmeal and grease a day. So the ones who leave Omelas eventually seek redemption. In “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” the commotion the Misfit and his henchmen create is ultimate sin compared to what the grandmother said and did. The Misfit sinned multiple times throughout the brief part of the story, he killed the family but later realized the terrible things he had done. It was described he eventually felt grief for what he had done, his eyes were “red-rimmed and pale and defenseless-looking”