Blog 3 Questions 3 & 6

Flannery O'Connors title "A Good Man Is Hard To Find," relates to the grandmother's point of view on society's downward spiral and nostalgia for the way things use to be. The title is also an allusion to the rampant crime, and lawbreakers such as the Misfit. At first, just based on the title, I thought that the reading was going to be about a woman trying to find a good man. The title led to insight on the limited good in humanity. Martha Stephens influenced my own understanding of the story by pointing out the symbolism in the grandmother saying "Why, you're one of my babies." I had no clue what that was suppose to mean, until she gave meaning to it by saying that the grandmother realized that she was "responsible for the man before her," (1267). Bad begets bad. Though she considered herself a good woman and him a good man, that was her flaw. He was bad and she was bad as well. She just held herself in a better light, and she held him on the same pedestal. Before reading the story and criticism, I just assumed she was saying anything to get herself out of trouble. Her sin was not her mouth, but her arrogant perspective. Though I enjoyed reading the text for it's action, it did not appeal to me as great literature. The theme was too simple, the plot too ambiguous or unclear, and the message too abrupt.