A Journey of faith Christianity is the underlying theme in a lot of Flannery O’Connor’s writing. As she writes, “I write the way I do because (not though) I am a Catholic” (O’Connor, “On Her Catholic Faith” 435). Without keeping her Christian background in focus, she believes it is impossible to fully understand and interpret her stories. These interpretations accurately describe the journey that the grandmother takes in “A Good Man Is Hard To Find.” In this story, the grandmother's journey from manipulative self-absorption to grace symbolizes a Christian's journey toward salvation. As we begin to look at the grandmother, it is important to note that she was never given
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The title of Misfit accurately portrays evil’s relationship to God. The car that is used by the Misfit and his gang represents mortality. The incessant pounding of the destruction that evil creates gives the car its battered appearance. Evil brings death into this world just as the Misfit brings this symbol of death into the grandmother’s presence. Like many people, the grandmother doesn’t leave her world of being hypocritical until she is faced with her own mortality. One by one, the Misfit’s men escort the grandmother’s family into the woods to be murdered. As the last of her family is killed, “There was a piercing scream from the woods, followed closely by a pistol report” (415), and only she and the Misfit are left. Even then she did not seem to be shaken by what has just happened. In fact, she believed that the misfit would not shoot an old lady like her, but she was sadly mistaken. It is important to know that there is symbolism in the grandmother’s death. The three bullets fired from the Misfit’s gun represent the Holy Trinity. The three bullets were truly inside of her just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were now truly living inside of her. The grandmother is shot through the chest, which is where her heart is. When the Misfit says, “She would have been a good woman…if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (416), he explains that receiving Christ is not a onetime
The title of Misfit accurately portrays evil’s relationship to God. The car that is used by the Misfit and his gang represents mortality. The incessant pounding of the destruction that evil creates gives the car its battered appearance. Evil brings death into this world just as the Misfit brings this symbol of death into the grandmother’s presence. Like many people, the grandmother doesn’t leave her world of being hypocritical until she is faced with her own mortality. One by one, the Misfit’s men escort the grandmother’s family into the woods to be murdered. As the last of her family is killed, “There was a piercing scream from the woods, followed closely by a pistol report” (415), and only she and the Misfit are left. Even then she did not seem to be shaken by what has just happened. In fact, she believed that the misfit would not shoot an old lady like her, but she was sadly mistaken. It is important to know that there is symbolism in the grandmother’s death. The three bullets fired from the Misfit’s gun represent the Holy Trinity. The three bullets were truly inside of her just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were now truly living inside of her. The grandmother is shot through the chest, which is where her heart is. When the Misfit says, “She would have been a good woman…if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (416), he explains that receiving Christ is not a onetime