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¶ … Flannery O'Connor's fiction, under the spell of the writer's occasional comments, has been unusually susceptible to interpretations based on Christian dogma. None of O'Connor's stories has been more energetically theologized than her most popular, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." O'Connor flatly declared the story to be a parable of grace and redemption, and for the true believer there can be no further discussion. As James Mellard remarks, "O'Connor simply tells her readers -- either through narrative interventions or be extra-textual exhortations -- how they are to interpret her work" (625). And should not the writer know best what her story is about? A loaded question, to which the best answer may be DH Lawrence's advice: trust the art, but not the artist."
Paraphrase
Stephen Bandy states that while O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" has been interpreted as a profoundly Christian work, when it comes to judging the art itself (rather than the artist's intention) the story does not necessarily do what the author suggests it does. O'Connor's personal belief and conviction (publicly acknowledged) is one rooted in the theological doctrine of grace acting in conjunction with redemption -- but as DH Lawrence noted, the art is what matters -- not what the artist...
Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" builds on this misconception and through the use of the "African" names that Dee (aka Wangero) uses, along with mistaken expressions, Walker crafts a tale that reflects black ignorance of actual African culture. Hoel's article shows how, through her own personal experience of traveling throughout Africa and researching the names and expressions used by Dee in the story, she came to understand more deeply the significance of African terms and expressions and what they signified. Her growth in knowledge was based on real research, whereas Dee's was artificially constructed and based on a superficial education. Hoel concludes, however, that this should not mean that Dee is a fool: she is simply different from her sister Maggie -- but her ignorance of African culture does not necessarily reflect her love for culture and heritage (Hoel 34-42).
Direct Quotation
While many critics positively agree that Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is a story that cannot easily be forgotten, Helen Nebeker notes that "beneath the praise of these critics frequently…
Works Cited
Bandy, Stephen C. "One Of My Babies': The Misfit And The Grandmother." Studies
In Short Fiction, vol. 33, no. 1 (1996): 107-118. Print.
Hoel, Helga. "Personal Names and Heritage: Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use'." American
Studies in Scandinavia, vol. 31, no. 1 (1999): 34-42. Print.
"You've got good blood! I know you wouldn't shoot a lady! I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady.... "Lady,"...There were two more pistol reports and the grandmother raised her head like a parched old turkey hen crying for water and called, "Bailey Boy, Bailey Boy!" As if her heart would break. "Jesus was the only One that ever raised the
..if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." [8] in O'Connor's case, that somebody was lupus. End notes. 1] O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Archived at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/goodman.html 2] Knickerbopcker, Eric. "Flannery O'Connor: Heaven Suffereth Violence" Available at http://www.mrrena.com/flannery.shtml 3] O'Connor, Flannery. "Everything that Rises Must Converge." Archived at http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/oconnorconverge.html 4] O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Archived at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/goodman.html 5] Galloway, Patrick. "The
Flannery O'Connor Writing is an ancient art, used from long ago to convey various aspects, including entertainment, education, recording of history, critiquing and rebuking, writing revelations and many other purposes. There are various forms of writing, in which authors engage to put forth their feelings and intention. Additionally, history has many prolific and congruent writers who made names for themselves through writing instinctively about various themes and issues. Among the writers
Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, in the Deep South-East of the United States in 1925. Her adolescence was marked by the death of her father, from whom she later inherited the disease, deadly enemy with whom she fought, without surrender, for a lifetime. (Ann, pp74-78) However, her childhood was marked by more or less serene moments; she was taken to be, at the age of 6 years, a minor
He then utters the story's baffling last line, "It's no real pleasure in life" (O'Connor 1955b, 456). Thus, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" can be read as something of the inverse, or parallel, parable to "Good Country People": In the former, nihilism, or the absence of belief, wins out over faith, despite the Misfit's ugly admonition that his anti-programmatic perception of the world is ultimately not firm
Flannery O'Connor's literature has been described as grotesque, Catholic, Southern, and even gothic. Her work has also been recognized for its harsh humor and criticism of the south. Much of her literature reflects the hostilities she experienced against racist southern attitudes, social structures, and southern ways of life. She was awarded three O. Henry awards for short fiction during her life as well as numerous grants and fellowships. After her