“A Good Man is Hard to Find”: Comparing Flannery O’Connor’s Literary Te

A ethical Man is Hard to Find Comparing Flannery OConnors literary Technique to Grotesque Medieval LiteratureUpon initially reading Flannery OConnors work, one would have no problem recognizing her use of shocking, violent, or desperate themes. It may not be as easy, however, to completely accept or understand her style. According to Patrick Galloway, one must be initiated to her trademarks when reading any of her cardinal novels or thirty-two short stories (1).In many of her works, she paradoxically uses styles that are grotesque and brutal to illustrate themes of grace and self-actualization. As OConnor herself says, I have lay out that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace (qtd. in Hawkins 30).Although at times disturbing, OConnors paradox is an effective literary technique, deepening the meaning of her stories.Flannery OConnors short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, can be used as a tool to be come initiated to this unique style. Few critics would deny that A Good Man is a grotesque story A grandmother and her sons family on vacation are ruthlessly killed by an escaped convict.Some OConnor critics are taken aback by this grotesque aspect because the family and elderly char seem so innocent.People do not want to imagine their quiet and delicate, gray-haired grandmother standing in the face of a murderer, so they sympathize with OConnors Grandmother as well (Bandy 2).This gruesome scene does not, however, serve as senseless violence.Beyond the disturbing imagery is a story that makes affecting religious and philosophical claims (Galloway 6).Pat Galloway analyzes this technique as the way OConnors characters receive t... ...arterly 34 (Sum 1993) 383-397. Wood, Christopher. Albrecht Altdorfer and the Origins of Landscape. Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1993. Works Consulted Bloom, Harold, ed. Flannery OConnor. New York Chelsea phratry Publishers, 1986. Hagen, Susan . Team Teaching Middle English Literature With Flannery OConnor. http//panther.bsc.edu/shagen/oconnor.htm (10 Nov. 1999). McMillen, Jenny. Short Story Reviews.http//www.geocities.com?Athens/Troy/2188/reviews.html (10 Nov. 1999) Owens, Mitchell. The Function of Signature in A Good Man is Hard to Find. Studies in Short Fiction 33 (Wntr 1996) 101-106. Schilling, Timothy. Trying To See Straight Flannery OConnor & the Business of Writing. Commonweal 122 (Nov 3, 1995) 14-15. Sloan, Gary. OConnors A Good Man is Hard to Find. The Explicator 57 (Wntr 1999) 118-120.