A Good Man Is Hard To Find Grandmother Essay

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Flannery O’Connor’s characterization of the Grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” depends on her biases gained by growing up in a religious, Southern household. These biases allow O’Connor to be exceptionally forgiving of the Grandmother’s sins, blind to the true nature of a character she herself created. This willingness to forgive, a sentiment not necessarily shared by her readers, significantly alters the interpretation of the Grandmother’s role in the story and the meaning of the ending scene. Flannery O’Connor’s failure to imbue her intended thematic ideals into the story itself, specifically through her inability to characterize the Grandmother as a selfless woman, lead readers to derive negative meaning from the ending instead of her intended visions of religious grace and redemption.
Based on the actual text of the story, the Grandmother is a …show more content…
Given only the text itself, “if one reads the story without prejudice, there would seem to be little here to inspire hope for redemption of any of its characters” and “no wishful search for evidence of grace or for epiphanies of salvation, by author or reader, can soften the harsh truth” (Bandy). Without the context of O’Connor’s views and thoughts, there is insufficient evidence in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” to support a religious theme of grace and redemption. Lacking this insight, the Grandmother is characterized instead as a fierce, self-centered woman who fights only for her own life, and any religious pleas she makes to the Misfit are appeals for her own good rather than attempts to save him from himself. O’Connor’s failure to characterize the Grandmother as a moral woman destroys any possibility that the reader can naturally interpret a theme of religious salvation and

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