As I was reading Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find", it began as what seemed to be a playful story about a family vacation. The plot followed a quirky grandmother, her son, and his family. Even in the first paragraph of the story, the "Misfit" was introduced. There was some very obvious foreshadowing that the Misfit would play a key role in the story. Yet, I had never imagined that it would be more of a complaint or tangent in a conversation coming from the grandmother. The plot twist of the Misfit initially seeming to rescue the family, only to "take them into the woods" was not expected at all.
While reading this story, the imagery stood out. Toward the beginning of the story, the author used hyperboles and word play to get her point across in a playful manner, yet as the plot intensified, the imagery came from lengthy descriptions. Just as the grandmother is describing the plantation of her childhood, which ends up to be in Georgia, nearly an entire paragraph is used to show the readers what the author is trying to convey, no details spared.
What seemed most prevalent to me towards the end of the story was the Misfit and his reaction/views on Jesus. He ends the story by saying, "It's no real pleasure in life" (154). As the grandmother and the Misfit carry on a conversation about Jesus and his resurrection of the dead, the reader gets some insight as to why the Misfit commits these crimes. It almost seems that the Misfit is trying to reverse/reset the actions of Jesus by returning people to the earth (a.k.a killing them). I believe that the Misfit is some kind of an anti-Christ, especially because of the common dislike of and uncomfort with children, while Jesus is known for his love of them.
Questions:
- Who is the Misfit really represent?
- Why is there no clarity what truly happened to the family?
- What happened that caused the Misfit to end up in jail?
- Why did the cat like the Misfit?
No comments:
Post a Comment