A good man is hard to find

Mary Flannery O 'Connor is a master storyteller employs the use of several literary devices to explore multiple themes , character development and plot progress . A stunning example of her skills as an author can be found in her short story A Good Man is Hard to Find Through the use of various forms of irony , O 'Connor explores the theme of perception . O 'Connor asserts that the perception of events differs from individual to individual and is almost always biased and distorted by that individual 's belief system . She continues that individuals find

br comfort in this near sightedness even though the end result may be dangerous and even deadly . The plot in A Good Man is Hard to Find is that violence must be present for a person to turn his / her life around and find God . The concerns of this story are the basic concerns of Christian belief : faith , death , salvation . And yet , if one reads the story without prejudice , there would seem to be little here to inspire hope for redemption of any of its characters . It is the use of characters that O 'Connor asserts her believe that only through violence can individual change and find salvation

In her efforts to strike a soft place in the heart of the Misfit , the Grandmother leads their conversation into religious channels . That is she admonishes him to "pray " perhaps hoping to distract him from the frightening recital of his violent life "If you would pray . Jesus would help you . Mentioning the name of Jesus is a mistake , for it ignites a slow-burning fuse in the mind of the Misfit . It seems that he has given Jesus a good deal of thought--far more than the Grandmother ever had done . Indeed , as she continues to mutter the name of Jesus "the way she was saying it , it sounded as if she might be cursing . With cold intensity , never raising his voice , the Misfit intones "Jesus thown everything off balance . It was the same case with Him as with me except He hadn 't committed any crime . Ignoring the Grandmother 's wailing , the Misfit pursues his obsession "Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead . and He shouldn 't have done it . He thown everything off balance . For the Misfit , as for many others (including Jesus himself on the cross , the problem is one of faith . He cannot believe , because he has no proof . Therefore , the choice is clear

"If He did what He said , then it 's nothing for you to do but throw

away everything and follow Him , and if He didn 't , then it 's

nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the

best way you can-by killing somebody or burning down his house

or doing some other meanness to him . No pleasure but meanness

he said and his voice had become almost a snarl

The emptiness in the soul of the Misfit is not an absence of religious faith (as the Grandmother naively sees it , but his lack of any kind of faith at all . The Misfit trusts nothing that he has not himself witnessed , touched , weighed and measured . This is his "reality Whatever transcends that reality--faith , hope , and charity might sum it up very well--has no meaning for him . He will not trust the miracles of Jesus because , as he agitatedly complains to the Grandmother "It ain 't right I wasn 't there because it I had of been there I would of known The Misfit 's inability to believe has destroyed his humanity . His indifference is complete "No pleasure but meanness

The Grandmother read the body but does not truly understand it . She is quick to invoke the name of Jesus , but it is perfectly clear that the Grandmother 's religion is entirely of the lip-serving variety "Maybe He didn 't raise the dead " she mutters in response to the Misfit 's outburst , for it hardly makes any difference to her , one way or the other . She is concerned only with her survival , in the midst of the blood-bath that has engulfed her family . The fact that Bailey , his wife and their children now lie dead nearby seems to have as little meaning for her as the divinity of Jesus--a , however , of compelling importance to the Misfit

Unlike the Grandmother , the Misfit has struggled to understand good and evil . His final verdict is relentlessly logical . And yet , surprisingly their philosophical positions--his by determination , hers by accident--are not so far apart in the end . By his lights , she could have been "a good woman "--if only she had not talked so much . Traveling by two different routes , the Grandmother and the Misfit have arrived at the same destination , both geographically and intellectually . No words could be more shocking , and yet appropriate "Why you 're one of my babies You 're one of my own children " Indeed he is one of her babies for her lack of values is his lack as well . Those two faces , so close together are mirror images . The Misfit is simply a more completely evolved form of the Grandmother . In truth , one of her babies

O 'Connor uses violence throughout her short story A Good Man is Hard to Find ' a s path to transformation . The violence that the Misfits creates and the violence that the Grandmother sufferers lead to each character understanding their own salvation . It is only through this violence that these characters have been the error of their ways and have found the light . O 'Connor seems to insist at this moment of mutual revelation that the Grandmother is transformed into the agent of God 's grace is to do serious violence to the story . It is as tendentious as to decree that the three bullets in her chest symbolize the Trinity . At the end "A Good Man is Hard to Find " descends further into the depths of despair . O 'Connor understands that world can be a scary place and evil does exist in our daily endeavors . To believe that any one person is better then yourself is perhaps the worst evil as all . Her story is full of darkness and leaves little room for hope . Yet , perhaps that was O 'Connor 's final irony - that while the world may have evil there is also light ...