Imperfection and Faith in A Good Man is Hard to Find and...

Knowing Flannery O’Connor’s religious conviction, one cannot overlook this underlying tone in both of her regarded stories â€Å"A Good Man is hard to Find† and â€Å"Good Country People†. It is often said of those who stand outside of religious conviction that faith seems to come in handy to people only when it is valuable to get them out of a predicament, of which they have likely placed themselves through insensitive behavior and decisions. In such a desperate attempt to appeal to faith, one only finds emptiness and a fate that leaves them hopeless or even dead. O’Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† and â€Å"Good Country People† illustrate that the inability to see the flaws in one’s self lead to substantial consequences, where an appeal to faith†¦show more content†¦The grandmother’s bigotry is also on display as the family rides past a black youth standing near his modest home. Her reaction to seeing him is like walking past an adorable dog; â€Å"Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!† (12). When her granddaughter June Starr comments on the boy’s lack of clothing, the grandmother explains that â€Å"little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do† (12). As the grandmother emits racism through her comments, she is also inserting such notion into her grandchildren’s minds. Nor Bailey or his wife says anything, so it can be suggested that they are used to such comments and may hold the same views as well. The grandmother does not see a reason to be empathetic; the boy waves and she does return the gesture. Instead she romanticizes the boy’s plight as a missed opportunity, suggesting that â€Å"If [she] could paint, [she’d] paint that picture† (12). Not only is the grandmother intolerant, but she is also quite vain, with an entire paragraph illustrating her choice of clothing for the road trip. Most people going on a road trip dress casually and comfortably, which is evidenced by the mentioning of the children’s mother, who â€Å"still had on slacks and still had her hair tied up in a green kerchief† (11). The grandmother instead chose to ride with style: â€Å"†¦but the grandmother had on a blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blueShow MoreRelatedThings Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe1265 Words   |  6 Pagesheels of our Imperialism unit, this post-colonial novel provides very helpful context on different civilizations’ perspectives throughout the Age of Imperialism; aside from analyzing death tolls, descriptions of conflicts, and names of countries, it was previously hard to envision what life was actually like during that time. 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