"A Good Man is Hard to Find", Questions #1 & #4

1. Having reviewed the lecture on O’Connor, explain why you think recognizing and understanding the concept of the grotesque is important to understand and more fully appreciate the texts?
Response:
It is important to understand the concept of the grotesque style in literature in order to see past the shock of the violence and appreciate the story in a new light. O’Conner often used the grotesque style in order to get through to the reader, but many readers are blinded by the violence in her stories and are unable to see the true meaning of grace portrayed by her characters. A reader that is well versed in the grotesque style is not blinded by the violence of these stories and are prepared to understand the true message that she is sending. In this story, for example, she is sending a message that one should not wait for a catastrophic event, such as being shot three times in the chest, to see the true grace shown by the grandmother. For many readers who are unfamiliar with this style, the message of faith that was portrayed by the grandmother may seem vague at first, but the pairing of spirituality and violence works seamlessly to show the true message that she is sending.

4. Another major thematic element at work in much of O’Connor’s fiction is “grace”, the concept of undeserved forgiveness and/or acceptance. Consider her own statement about her characters: “Our age not only does not have a very sharp eye for the almost imperceptible intrusions of grace, it no longer has much feeling for the nature of the violences which precede and follow them . . . I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace. Their heads are so hard that almost nothing else will do the work. This idea, that reality is something to which we must be returned at considerable cost, is one which is seldom understood by the casual reader, but it is one which is implicit in the Christian view of the world” (1392-1393). Explain this statement in the context of “A Good Man is Hard to Find”.

Response:
The statement given by O’Conner in the context of this story means that many times the reader needs an unexpected violent act in order to get through to them, as often times the Christian view has a very limited perspective. I think that this statement could also be interpreted that the average Christian reader would be more accepting of virtually any other ending than the one given and coast through without seeing the message that was intended. For instance, if the ending included the grandmother being able to talk “the Misfit” into sparing her own life and showing him there is another way to live his life, then that would be one of many expected endings which would also be very comfortable and forgettable. By having such a shocking and violent ending, the average reader would be forced out of their comfort zone to look at the story in a new light, identifying the message through a window of what reality actually is, and not what they wish to think reality is. I don't look at this statement as being critical of the Christian view, only emphasizing the need for all readers to open up to the reality that it is not a world that follows the "Golden Rule". In this story, the grandmother temporarily loses her faith that God will deliver her, only to regain that faith just before she gets killed. In this case, the grandmother's moment of grace is usually only recognized after she has lost her life, but it takes a tragic end to shake the reader into realizing that she had that moment to become the person of faith, and that she is redeemed.