Redemption in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (LIT 2100 Response Paper)

            Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a story about a family of six that meet their demise in the hands of a criminal known as The Misfit.  There are several examples of foreshadowing that can lead the reader into what will ultimately be the family’s demise.  O’Connor does not show any sympathy for the characters in this story, not even the innocent children or the baby in the family.   Despite the terrible outcome of the family, I will show how this story can be considered a tale of redemption, which is given to the grandmother from one who is to become “a good man”.

            The reader first hears of The Misfit when the second quote of the story is spoken from the unnamed grandmother while she rattles a newspaper at Bailey, father of the family and her only son.  This was her attempt to convince Bailey to not take the vacation to Florida, but to east Tennessee instead.  As the story unfolds, the family ends up encountering The Misfit after surviving a car accident, leaving the family stranded in the middle of nowhere.  While The Misfit’s other two cohorts start taking family members off to the woods for execution, he begins revealing details of his past to the grandmother of the family, explaining why he ended up renaming himself.  At first he mentions when his father told him he was a “different breed of dog from his brothers and sisters”(O’Connor, 405).  This could imply that he is an illegitimate child, which is considered a misfit in the family.  When asked if he had ever prayed before, he mentions that he was sent to the penitentiary for killing his father when he was nineteen, even though his father actually died of an epidemic flu which he had nothing to do with.  Despite this claim, he was still sentenced to time in the penitentiary.  With conviction, he states, “I call myself The Misfit because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment”(O’Connor, 408).  But the irony of The Misfit does not end there.

            There are more ironic qualities in The Misfit mainly because of the unnamed grandmother in the story.  The grandmother posed a question asking if he would shoot a lady, his response was, “I would hate to have to”(O’Connor, 404).  It’s ironic in the sense that he did in the very end.  Another ironic moment of The Misfit is when he looks up at the sky.  He sees no sun and no clouds, which would make the reader believe that night is upon them, yet the grandmother says that it’s a beautiful day.  That passage is filled with irony since the reader would believe that a criminal mind would operate their deeds at night time, yet it’s still day time according to the grandmother.  This void they converse about is foreshadowing for the grandmother’s transition to the other side being in sight.  However, she’s not ready to accept it.

            Some of the family went in the back woods with the two cohorts of The Misfit willingly, yet the kids were against the thought of doing so.  During the family’s encounter with The Misfit, the grandmother of the family keeps telling him he’s a good man.  As she keeps trying to flatter him and control him, it is as if she is trying to postpone her end because she is not ready to face death.  Based on their conversation, it’s safe for me to assume that all her life she had been relying on her social status, flattery, and public opinion to deal with her predicaments.  She tells stories over the short course of the trip.  Her morality fell apart like her blue straw hat, which was symbolic of her morals fading away.  She was privy to the knowledge of Christianity, but she never embraced it since she had doubts of the resurrection of Jesus near the end of the story.  Therefore, all her talk of praying was flattery, postponing her end.

            The grandmother’s most lucid moment was when the final gunshots went off in the woods.  Upon analysis, the reader can consider this to be her sanity leaving her since she has a hole inside of her and needed a family to fill it, perhaps another Bailey since it was only his name she was calling out in his time of duress.  She may have been confused, or just having a mental breakdown, but The Misfit was also wearing Bailey’s shirt at the end of the story.  She calls him “one of her own children” for a reason, but I believe she was longing for a son.  This startled The Misfit as he shot her three times.

 In conclusion, there is an underlying Christian meaning to this scene since Roman Catholics believe that we are all God’s children, hence we are all related.  It is as if God is speaking through the grandmother before her execution.  The Misfit underwent a transformation afterward by putting his gun down and taking off his glasses.  O’Connor described The Misfit stating, “Without his glasses, The Misfit’s eyes were red-rimmed and pale and defenseless-looking”(O’Connor, 408).  He had a different outlook when his cohorts expressed their joy in killing, but The Misfit said, “It’s no real pleasure in life”(O’Connor 409).  She had seen the truth of our existence in a biblical point of view, her stereotypes and loose opinions had diminished, and the grandmother was redeemed.  The Misfit is most likely on his way to redemption as well, thus becoming a “good man”.

Works Cited

O’Connor, Flannery.  “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”  The Norton Introduction to Literature.

            10^th ed.  Ed. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010.  pp. 396-409.

Christmas in Disney World

Okay, here's the scoop on spending holidays like Christmas at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.  DO IT!  The lines were less than 10 minutes long on just about every ride, which is hardly measurable.  All the Christmas themed parades were top notch, and most families just stay at home, not sacrificing their time in the park.  There were no difficulties, everyone was happy at work (or so it seemed).  Again, no lines whatsoever.

The part of my trip that started getting other people pouring in was the 28th.  Around this time everyone starts celebrating their New Year holiday.  Everyone was pouring into the Animal Kingdom on this day.  The line for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride was so long that it extended past the bridge to the Africa portion of the theme park.  There were so many people around that park that I couldn't see the ground.  The parks were so booked up that they had all the ticket booths closed before noon that day.  I can imagine that the rest of the time beyond New Years Day was just as bad.  When you see a line go so far out from the entrance of a ride that you can't even see the entrance, may as well give up.  Fast passes were gone for most of the rides before noon.

On the 27th of December, my lady friend and I went to Hollywood Studios.  This was my first time there, so I didn't know what to expect.  Most of the attractions were wonderful.  My lady friend wanted to go on the Toy Story ride, and I had no idea what it was.  Apparently it was a shooting game of some sort where you went to different screens and shot some of the targets.  Note that the Buzz Lightyear ride in the Magic Kingdom is a bit more analog.  The ride was already packed at a 170 minute wait before noon, so I grabbed a fast pass and it wanted us to come back at 7:10pm...  I'll tell you this, it was worth the wait!  Fun fun fun!!!  The gun on the ride was a cannon.  You had to aim and pull the cannon string...  For guys, the pulling might seem natural (huh huh huh...).  Still, you were in a double sided car (two cars per track) that rotated.  In total, the entire platform seated 8 people comfortably.  You get scores, bragging rights, yada yada...  Anyway, it was a swell ride, but I think Fantasmic was the highlight of the night.

At night, the entire area lights up, music plays and the lights shift with the music.  It was quite a scene.  Hollywood Studios also had an Indiana Jones stunt show demonstration, which teaches you about the stunts that actors and doubles go through during the making of a movie.  There was also some American Idol experience for those of you who are into that...  Another star attraction was the Muppets in 3-D.  I've always been a fan of the Muppets.  For anyone who likes good use of 3-D, see the Muppet attraction.  There was also a look through the movies, but I forgot the name of it.  You have a tour guide taking you through movie scenes, when some gangster takes over your car.  I won't spoil the ending of that one, but it was fun!

There were others that I passed up, but it rained that day, making it hard to move around the park.  My lady friend didn't want to go on the Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Rollercoaster since she's soft like that.  It was a bummer, but I like her enough to make that kind of sacrifice.  It's also important that you check out Star Tours more than once...  They have 50 possible scenarios that you could experience.  Believe me, it's worth the wait!  And it's in a good 3-D too, not crappy at all!

Magic Kingdom hasn't changed much at all, but some of the 3-D attractions in there were pretty decent.  There wasn't much that caught the eye except the Pooh ride, the Stitch escape ride, the Haunted Mansion, the Jungle Cruise at night and The Pirates of the Caribbean.  I never seem to get tired of that last one, but my lady friend wanted to see it in English (as opposed to Japanese since Tokyo Disneyland is the closest theme park to her).

During one of the days, my hair was cut by the same person who does the staff haircuts.  This includes, but is not limited to Prince Charming, Prince Philip, John Smith, Prince Eric, and many more.  Most of the haircuts seem to be the same in some of the earlier movies, but I got me a Prince Philip haircut since my hair was well beyond the six inch mark for the majority of the strands.  Costs $19, but it was good conversation, I even got a good seat for the parade that was going on in the meantime.

Epcot is Epcot...  Still just as awesome.  Some of the changes were made to Spaceship: Earth.  They have these terminals that show you a future that you pick out.  Just be sure to hold still for the camera at the start of the ride so you can get a good vision of the future.

Captain EO was down for technical difficulties, but I saw it twice in Japan, so it wasn't anything I missed.  I believe I got fussed at by one of the photographers when I was trying to get my picture taken with Donald Duck.  The photographer told Donald to slap me because I had an Captain EO shirt on from Tokyo Disneyland.  Donald refused of course, but it was nice hearing that the guy used to work there.

Most of the eateries are the same as ever, mostly fattening.  Funnel cakes, hot dogs, ice cream, pizza...  It doesn't end there either.  Lots and lots of popcorn...  There just seems to be nothing worth eating in that park.  Reminds me of Death To Smoochy...

One of the characters which is new to the park is Duffy the Disney Bear.  He debuted at Tokyo Disney Sea before anywhere else, but he's very popular among the children and adults alike, especially the Japanese.  A Duffy bear costs well over $100 in Japan, where they are just $30 in America.  The clothes are a ripoff sine they are all licensed by Disney and cost over $20 for an outfit.  You can get most of the same stuff at a Build-A-Bear workshop for even less, and get boots with it.  Little did I know that the two companies have an agreement with each other.  I even have a firm belief that Build-A-Bear Workshop was a major influence on the creation and promotion of Duffy the Disney Bear.  This was probably the biggest thing that my lady friend was going on about all during the trip.  Anyway, the trip was wonderful.  Just be sure to grab fast passes as soon as you can.  Happy New Year everyone!