Actions speak louder than words. A picture says a thousand words. Most people today take these well known sayings into account as soon as they meet a person. Just one glance can trigger innumerous experiences and memories in the brain that recognize traits or actions helping the viewer classify what they are looking at. Additionally, a person’s body language is a window into understanding how they really feel. From a baseball player slumping his shoulders on the mound to a student biting their nails during a test, almost everyone unknowingly portrays their true emotions through actions. Picking up on these cues may be difficult but can be an incredibly useful skill in analyzing a situation. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard
…show more content…
Appearance truthfully means very little compared to a person’s personality, yet it always ends up being the focus. Each person has so many experiences that allow them to use mental shortcuts and classify personality traits by appearance. As a reader, the author’s introduction of the Misfit causes these snap judgments to be made. O’Connor describes the Misfit,
“His hair was just beginning to gray and he wore silver-trimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look. He had a long creased face and didn’t have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun” (13). A picture is now painted of a man with quite the outfit. All the mismatching articles of clothing plays back into the outcast idea. The Misfit is not portrayed as someone that has all the makings of an average member of society, so his clothes have to be equally strange. Digging even deeper, one could focus in on the detail that the pants appear to not fit. This observation correlates directly to the idea that the man behind the Misfit does not fit the mold for a ruthless killer. In sum, O’Connor uses the description of the Misfit’s appearance to allow the audience to have sympathy for the out of place
Appearance truthfully means very little compared to a person’s personality, yet it always ends up being the focus. Each person has so many experiences that allow them to use mental shortcuts and classify personality traits by appearance. As a reader, the author’s introduction of the Misfit causes these snap judgments to be made. O’Connor describes the Misfit,
“His hair was just beginning to gray and he wore silver-trimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look. He had a long creased face and didn’t have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun” (13). A picture is now painted of a man with quite the outfit. All the mismatching articles of clothing plays back into the outcast idea. The Misfit is not portrayed as someone that has all the makings of an average member of society, so his clothes have to be equally strange. Digging even deeper, one could focus in on the detail that the pants appear to not fit. This observation correlates directly to the idea that the man behind the Misfit does not fit the mold for a ruthless killer. In sum, O’Connor uses the description of the Misfit’s appearance to allow the audience to have sympathy for the out of place