A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, a grandmother attempts to convince her son, Bailey, and his wife to take their family to east Tennessee for vacation instead of Florida. To make her case, she points out an article about the Misfit, an escaped prisoner rumored to be heading towards Florida, also saying that the children have already been to Florida anyways. John Wesley and June Star (Bailey and his wife’s children) frequently give their input on the situation, June especially proving not to be afraid to share her opinion. I found the dynamic of the family to be very interesting and dysfunctional, annotating the texts with phrases like "the children have bad attitudes" and wondering why the grandmother sat in the back seat between the children. On their drive, the family stops at a restaurant called the Tower and meet the owner, Red Sammy Butts. He complains that people are untrustworthy, explaining that he recently let two men buy gasoline on credit. As they get back on the road, the grandmother insists on visiting a plantation she has visited before, which takes the trip deep into the woods. The story takes a turn, as they crash the car, which is witnessed by two men, who drive over to seemingly help them. We find out that one of the men is the Misfit, and the family soon meets their demise. Before shooting the grandmother, the Misfit debates about Jesus and being a Christian, revealing some of the possible reasons behind his criminal tendencies.

As I read more of O’Connor’s work, I enjoy it more and more because of the way in which she weaves her Christian morals into the story line seamlessly, still making the story eventful and meaningful to whoever reads it. My favorite part of the story was the debate about what Jesus means to him. The Misfit says that Jesus confused everything by raising the dead, and if what Jesus did is true, then everyone must follow him. But, if he didn’t raise the dead, then all anyone can do is enjoy their time on earth by getting caught up in “meanness.” The grandmother agrees on the idea that maybe Jesus didn’t raise the dead. The Misfit says he wishes he had been there so he could know for sure. Finally,The grandmother calls the Misfit “one of my own children,” and the Misfit shoots her in the chest three times. I think the theme behind this exchange this can be interpreted in many different ways, and I am interested in hearing the class' theories on what it means, diving deeper into the story.

Revelation by Flannery O'connor

Revelation is a short story surrounding Mrs. Turpin, an opinionated, blunt woman, who faces an internal struggle after an encounter at the Doctor's office. This story is based sometime around the mid 1900s when segregation, especially in the South, was still very prominent, and that is very evident throughout this story. It is interesting to see the way in which Mrs. Turpin, along with the other women and men in the doctors office, discuss African Americans in such a vulgar tone. One part of the story that I found particularly though provoking was as Mrs. Turpin was discussing how she wished she could ship all of African Americans back to Africa, even though that was not plausible. At one point Mrs. Turpin says," they're going to stay here where they can go to New York and marry white folks and improve their color. Thats what they all want to do, every one of them, improve their color (134)". I found this extremely shocking and obscene because Mrs. Turpin of the way she uses the word "improve". Not only does this quote show the way in which Mrs. Turpin views the aspirations of African Americans, but she generalizes them and degrades them immensely. This is also diminishing the culture of African Americans and assuming that they would want to shift their culture to white culture and even shift the color of their own skin.
Another part of the short story that I found interesting was directly after this comment as a song begins to play and says," We'll all blank along, together, and all along the bank, we'll help each other out (135)". Immediately I found this extremely ironic, due to the conversation that had been had previously, although what was even more ironic is how this song reminded Mrs. Turpin of how helpful and kind of a human she was herself. This shows just how oblivious and ignorant she was to believe that she could be so crude to African Americans. Through this encounter specifically, I feel that Mrs. Turpin considers African Americans as so inferior that she almost dehumanizes them, which allows her to not feel guilty for the way that she treats them.