A Good Man Is Hard To Find Theme Essay

I believe the theme of O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is violence grace. When speaking about this short story, O'Connor states, “I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace.” In the story, every member of the family act rude and are very self-absorbed. The character who is most selfish is the grandmother. She does not take any one else into consideration, and she does act upon grace or religion at the beginning of the story. She controls her son, deceives her grandchildren, and constantly talks about how the past was a much greater time than the present. She doesn't give much thought to how immoral her actions are. She is completely oblivious to the world around her. However, at the end of the story she is faced with …show more content…
When the hearse pulls over, a trio of psychopathic criminals, all with guns, come out. They shoot and kill each one of the family members. However, it's not until the Misfit turns his gun on the grandmother that she encounters a moment of "grace." By definition, in Christian belief, grace is the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. The grandmother is a rather undeserving recipient of grace. However, as she becomes more and more afraid of what the Misfit might do to her, her mindset on Christ changes. When the Misfit is getting ready to kill her, she tells him to pray, even though she cannot form a decent prayer herself. She also tells the misfit, "Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” By this, she is not meaning that the Misfit is her child, but rather that the two are both human beings. At this point, there is a moment of clarity, and she realizes that they are equal. Unfortunately, the grandmother's grace only ends in her