The Theme Of Grace In Good Country People

One of the most subjective terms used in society is “grace.” All three stories, “Good People”, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, and “Good Country People” have a main character that faces their “moment of grace.” Many define grace as “good willed courtesy.” Others (like Flannery O’Conor) take a more religious based meaning such as the underserved salvation from God. For the moment of grace to occur the protagonist must be faced with a conflict that reveals their true desires. Accompanying characters in the story help develop the story line aimed towards the moment of grace. Theme, conflict, and irony all are factors in the characters reaching their epiphany. Theme is defined as a recurring thought or meaning within a piece of literature. Each

In the story “Good People,” David Foster Wallace uses isolation as a main theme. The isolation Lane and Sheri face shows how important communication is within a relationship whenever dealing with a problem. Another theme of the story is “good.” Both Lane and Sheri and young Christian college students who became pregnant and are debating an abortion. Both of them want to do “good” by God and themselves. The story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” has many themes. One of the core themes is that selfishness leads to disaster. The unnamed grandmother is very self centered and has no regard for anyone, especially her family. She brought her cat after being told not to, which might have saved their lives. If only she had admitted to her mistake of taking the wrong dirt road, the family would not have crossed the path of the Misfit and his crew. She was too selfish to admit her numerous faults throughout the story that eventually led to her entire family's death. Another theme is familial love, both the Misfit and the grandmother had complicated

In the story “Good People,” the irony is that both Lane and Sheri are devoted Christians yet they premaritally became pregnant. Engaging in sexual relations before being married is listed as a sin in the Bible. The irony seen in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” comes from the grandmother’s high favoring thoughts of herself. The Grandmother sees herself as proper, wise, and a truest form of a lady. She convinces and gaslights the family into taking a small detour to visit a plantation shed once been to; it turned out to be not only the wrong road but the entirely wrong state. If only she had been wiser and more truthful the family would have never crossed paths with the Misfit. In the story “Good Country People'' the title displays irony in itself. Manley Pointer, the bible salesman, is described as a good country person by many characters in the story. He fooled Hulga into believing such and eventually showed his ulterior motives by confessing he does not believe in God and wanted to steal her prosthetic leg. Turns out he was not the good country person he seemed to