Flannery O’Connor’s, A Good Man is Hard to Find, is a tale that exemplifies how grace can transform an individual. In this story we are introduce to a dysfunctional family, planning their annual family vacation. The grandmother is trying to convince her son, Bailey to take the family somewhere other than Florida, because she read in the news that an escaped convict, The Misfit, is on the loose and heading there. The family does eventually go on the trip to Florida, but never makes it there, because of a series of events that land them in the hand of the Misfit, who ends up killing them. In this horror tale O’Connor’s belief that grace can be found through vile, unimaginable evil and violence is embodied through her portrayal of her characters
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She begins to stutter through her sentences, repeating herself over and over again. When The Misfit tells the boys with him to take the other family members to the woods, where they kill them, the grandmother never begs for the lives to be spared, even though she knows what is happening. Instead she tries to spare her own life, using her usual tactic, manipulation. The grandmother believes that if she could convince him that she is a lady he would not kill her. She repeatedly tells him to pray, although she herself is unable to compose a coherent prayer. She also intentionally calls him a “good man”, believing that this will cause him to have mercy on her. When she registers that he is going to kill her, she has a moment of clarity, a moment where she is transformed by grace. She says to The Misfit “you are one of my children”, a statement that embodies everything she is not. She is neither a woman of compassion nor understanding, yet in that moment, she sees that she is not that different from the man who is about to take her life. In that moment, her moral code and her attitude of superiority vanishes, and she sees herself for who she truly is. Through grace the grandmother is able to not only express compassion, but also live
She begins to stutter through her sentences, repeating herself over and over again. When The Misfit tells the boys with him to take the other family members to the woods, where they kill them, the grandmother never begs for the lives to be spared, even though she knows what is happening. Instead she tries to spare her own life, using her usual tactic, manipulation. The grandmother believes that if she could convince him that she is a lady he would not kill her. She repeatedly tells him to pray, although she herself is unable to compose a coherent prayer. She also intentionally calls him a “good man”, believing that this will cause him to have mercy on her. When she registers that he is going to kill her, she has a moment of clarity, a moment where she is transformed by grace. She says to The Misfit “you are one of my children”, a statement that embodies everything she is not. She is neither a woman of compassion nor understanding, yet in that moment, she sees that she is not that different from the man who is about to take her life. In that moment, her moral code and her attitude of superiority vanishes, and she sees herself for who she truly is. Through grace the grandmother is able to not only express compassion, but also live