Short Story A Good Man example essay topic
In the short story A Good Man is Hardt o Find, the grandmother thinks that she is superior to the other characters, and is best shown when she is talking with The Misfit about Jesus and forgiveness. In Good Country People, Hulga thinks of herself as more intelligent than Manley Pointer. This use of superiority as an element of characterization shows that in spite of this belief that the character is more superior than the other characters, the story ends fairly unpleasant for them. We also learn by the end ofthe story that these characters were in fact not more superior, but rather just thought of themselves higher than they actually were.
In both of these stories, a central character misjudges another individual. This error in judgment results in a sudden point of insight, an epiphany, when the characters realize their misjudgment. In O Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find, this epiphany takes place when the grandmother suddenly realizes that the family has encountered The Misfit. In Good Country People, this epiphany takes place when Hulga finds out that Manley Pointer is not in actuality a Bible salesman, and she then tries to reason with him to get her artificial leg back.
This use of th epiphany in Flannery O Connor's works shows that she relies heavily on this crucial turn of events in order to surprise the reader and conclude the story in a manner that the reader probably will not expect. These stories both deal with the theme of appearances versus reality, with relation to what makes a person good. Both story titles reflect this theme by how in A Good Man i sHard to Find, Red Sammy Butts misjudges what he thinks are good people just by their looks. In Sammy Butts case, this misjudgment of who good people are only resulted in the loss of a few dollars worth of gas, while in Good Country People, Hulga's misjudgment of the Bible-salesman ends up with him running off with not only her artificial leg, but, as the says, the only thing that made her different than other people. This theme of not judging people by their appearances plays an important role in the events of the story, and how when these characters make this false judgment, it is very detrimental, either by the loss of the money in Sammy Butts case, or the loss of the artificial leg in Hulga's occurrence. Flannery O Connor's short stories A Good Man is Hard to Find and Good CountryPeople both contain similar literary elements of characterization, plot development, and theme.
These stories both illustrate the idea of misjudgments, and the negative consequences that may follow. These stories also center on the belief that a person should not judge another by his orher appearances. Your NameComparison and Contrast EssayDateClass.