What was the grandmothers moment of grace in a Good Man is Hard to Find

Grace in A Good Man is Hard to Find In the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” O’Conner, tries to make us understand the meaning of grace. The Misfit and the Grandma are the two main characters that show us what grace is and how it can be applied to a person’s everyday life. In Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the Grandma tries to save her family by convincing them to visit a place she recommends to keep them away from the Misfit, whom with they later come in contact. Neither the Grandma nor the Misfit deserves grace but it is given to them anyway.
The Grandma tried to keep her family safe by trying to take a different direction other than Florida because of The Misfit, who is criminal who escaped from the Federal Pen. She convinces them to go to East Tennessee instead to visit some of her connections since she grew up there. ---“Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people.”(Par. 2) She wouldn’t feel comfortable by taking her children in that direction since a criminal was on the loose in the area. Also the Grandma mentions to her son that he should take the kids somewhere they haven’t been before since they had already been to Florida. ---"You all ought to take them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be broad.”(Par. 4) I figure that the Grandma was just trying to do a mother’s job to do anything

A good man is hard to find is a collection of short stories by Flannery O’Connor. It is the widely known of all Flannery O’Connor’s stories. The short story was published in nineteen fifty-three. The story features several characters among them the grandmother who is unnamed throughout the story. The woman seems pushy on matters she feels are good to her. She insists that the family should go to Tennessee for the holiday and not Florida as planned (O’Connor 12).

Grandmother repeats this to Bailey, her son several times. One of the reasons she points for preferring Tennessee to Florida is a story she quotes from the newspaper for her son to read. Though she loses this battle, her personality of believing that she has superior morals begins when she dresses in a way that will make her recognized as a lady if she dies. This is related to the story she gave to his son from the article when she was trying to convince him to take the family to Tennessee. Her actions throughout the story including her relations with other characters make her a controversial character in the entire story. This is seen in the last part when the story ends as she gets her moment of grace.

Grandmother’s triumph

The analysis of Grandmother’s character shows that she has a special triumph over other characters. One thing that is very clear from the story is that the grandmother comes out as a character who dictates everything and everybody around her. This means that she is a manipulator. Cunningly, she insists that the family should go to Tennessee for the holiday and not Florida because she has relatives to visit in Tennessee but she uses other tricks without telling Bailey about them (O’Connor 53). The granny pulls a story from an article about a man who went to Florida but had a bad ending. After failing to convince the son to change his mind, she dresses in a way that will make her look like a lady but for bad reasons that are being seen as a lady if she dies. This is one way of expressing her dissatisfaction over the choice of Florida for the vacation.

The woman is always fast in making judgments over the decisions made by others. Granny scolds John Wesley for what she feels is a lack of respect for Georgia where she was born and brought up. She categorically points to Bailey that what comes from her conscience guides her actions. She insists that conscience drives her life in all perspectives and therefore, she cannot go for a holiday where Misfit went (O’Connor 67). That is why she sarcastically dresses like a lady so that people can see her like a lady if she dies. She believes that being a lady is the best of all virtues and it is only reserved for her. A lady to her means commanding respect from other people because she is good-looking. A grandmother is a schemer. She waits and takes any chance that could come her way to change her son’s mind over the choice of Florida.

To prove that she is a schemer, she is never controversial and avoids direct attacks if she is on a mission to win over others. In a witty way, she intends to prove to Bailey that criminal gangs are on the loose in Florida and goes ahead to give him an article with such stories (O’Connor 77). The old woman changes her strategy when Bailey seems not to be moved. She puts the children in perspective by trying to explain to him that going to Tennessee is in the interest of the children. She dresses down the children’s mother for refusing to let the children go on vacation to Tennessee where they would get a broad overview of the environment. Other incidences include hiding the cat in the bag against Bailey’s wishes and using the children to convince Bailey to allow them to visit the old plantation.

Granny’s moment of grace

The grandmother indeed gets her moment of grace towards the end of the story. In her interaction with the Misfit, grandmother seems to talk a lot about Jesus. It can, however, be argued that she is not very religious as she appears. This can be traced by analyzing the reasons that make her mention Jesus in their conversation (O’Connor 18). She only brings Jesus into her matters if the intention is for her benefit. If granny could be religious then, words from her conversation with the Misfit could be trusted. She tells the Misfit that being a respectable woman, she considers herself to be God, should be merciful to her.

She feels that if God would be merciful then He would not let some bad things happen on a good woman such as herself. She seems to scold at Jesus by the way she shouts His name. From the conversation, it could be passed that by letting occurrences run over her faith then she is not deeply religious (O’Connor 23). Her emotions supersede her first statement in her conversation with the Misfit that if one prays Jesus would help her. The contrast between granny’s faith and that held by the Misfit becomes clear when she yells at Jesus. Her religious faith can be summed to be shallow. Analytically, the grandmother gets grace. This is because she does not seem to be a very bad old woman. She is full of humor, sympathetic and flawed. When finally grandmother is transformed to become good, her moment of grace arrives.

Conclusion

Flannery O’Connor has captured the issues in his story in a way that flows smoothly from the start. The granny does not shy away from giving her opinion on issues. She is critical but does not get time to reflect on her actions. Sometimes she acts in hypocrisy, selfishly and with a lot of dishonesty. The story begins when she explains to Bailey that she is driven by conscience in everything she does. However, she does not evaluate whether what her conscience guides her to do is for the benefit of everybody or not. This is also captured when the Misfit kills the entire family. The grandmother does not beg him to spare the lives of her children but hers (O’Connor 33). That is the epitome of her selfishness. However, when she becomes good at the end, her moment of grace comes.

Works Cited

O’Connor, Flannery. A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Other Stories. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1955. Print.

The ending of O’Connor’s story means experiencing the moment of grace. It is highly personal for every human being. At the end of the story, the grandmother finds herself at peace and regains her integrity.

Detailed answer:

A Good Man Is Hard to Find is Flannery O’Connor’s short story published in 1955. The story centers around a family that consists of Bailey, a father of three children, his wife, and his mother. The grandmother is the protagonist of the story. One day, the family decides to go on a trip to Florida, but the grandmother does not want to visit the state. Instead, she proposes to go to Tennessee, as it is the state where she grew up. She uses many arguments to convince Bailey. In one of the arguments, she says that in Florida, there is a criminal on the loose.

However, the family still decides to go on the trip because they do not care about the grandmother’s warnings. As a result, a variety of actions caused by the grandmother lead to a car crashing into a ditch. Although everyone stays alive, the grandmother feels that she has some injury. That is why she stops the approaching vehicle. There are three men inside. Later, the grandmother recognizes one of them as The Misfit from the newspapers.

The men kill the family members one by one, but the grandmother stays alive till the end of the story. She tries to beg The Misfit for redemption and talk him into giving her peace. To do so, she discusses with him Christianity, his thoughts about God, and his perception of the “good” and “bad.”

In the beginning, The Misfit is engaged in the conversation, and he starts to think about the grandmother’s words. At some point, the grandmother recognizes the man’s outfit and says that he was one of her children. At that moment, she touches The Misfit, and he shoots her three times. The story ends with The Misfit’s saying that the grandmother would be a good person if she was shot repeatedly.

There is no direct explanation for the ending of A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Some people believe that the true meaning of the ending is that there will always exist two types of people. The first type knows they are evil, and the second type acts wrong while thinking they are good.

A single fact may interpret the ending of the story. While people think of themselves as the “good” ones, there is no such thing as good after all. For example, upon facing death, grandmother believes that The Misfit wants to hear that he is a good man. However, when telling that, she implies that she is a good and caring person. She demonstrates the strength to empathize with a murderer. That is why The Misfit realizes the old lady is as spoiled as everyone else.

Another view on the ending says that any intended positive act may influence even the worst people. The grandmother dies with a smile on her face, which means that she experiences a moment of grace. At the same time, when The Misfit shoots her, he feels no pleasure in the evil act. On the contrary, he is terrified by the thought that purity and kindness may impact him.