Revelation & A good man is hard to find Flannery OConner - Research Paper Example

‘Revelation & A good man is hard to find’ Flannery O’Conner Action of Divine Grace in Transforming Eccentric Individuals to Transcending Nature Two short stories; Revelation and A good man is hard to find, written by Flannery O’Conner share the common theme of transformation within individuals blessed by the grace of God due to violent actions (verbal and physical) or spectacular displays of cruelty. Flannery O’ Conner (1925-1964), had a Catholic family background that served as the inspiration of her writings that greatly reflect her faith in Roman Catholicism (Shmoop). According to her “The stories are hard but they are hard because there is nothing harder or less sentimental than Christian realism" (The Habits of Being). Her writing was viewed as “grotesque” by the readers. Her writings revolved around religion, probably because of the house she lived in faced a French Gothic Cathedral that regarded her as “conceived in the shadow of cathedral”. The basic idea reflected in her two writings revolved around those moments of violence that made her comical characters spiritually open the characters’ eyes to an atrocious intellectual capacity, as a result of action of grace (FamousAuthors.org). She termed “violence” as a productive and constructive phenomenon and explained its impact through her two short stories. Her writings are influenced by a coherent theme of relation of God to the human spirit transcending nature (Stafford) In the two short stories, commonality occurs in the main characters of “Revelation” and “A good man is hard to find”. Mrs. Turpin (of Revelation) and the old grandmother (A good man is hard to find) are both eccentric ladies who see themselves as superior to all the others. The two characters are in a habit of freely passing comments on others and are judgmental, according to what these two ladies perceive of others. For example, Mrs. Turpin named the individuals sitting in the Doctor’s clinic as “white - trash woman, lean stringy old fellow, ugly girl, and stylish pleasant lady”, simply on their physical composure and looks. On the other hand, the old grandmother used the word “Cabbage” for the mother’s face. The two characters, both females, have the same problem of seeing things unclearly and obsessed with the upholding class distinction. They both are found concerned as to how others would see them. In addition to this, the two females from the individual stories, are also self centered and dishonest and hypocrite. For example, the old grandmother pleaded Misfit for her own life and not to spare the life of her very own children and grandchildren whereas Mrs. Turpin labeled, “Mary Grace’s act of violence as a crazy action, and she is therefore labeled as a Lunatic” as she has attacked her only of the people sitting over there and Mrs. Turpin's "vision narrowed and she saw everything as if it were happening in a small room far away, or as if she were looking through the wrong end of a telescope". The other two characters that served as the source of transforming the vision of both the eccentric ladies into a heavenly one are more or less the same. Misfit’s wanton killing aroused spiritual guidance in grandmother whereas the verbal and physical violence of Mary Grace served as a catalyst causing a spiritual awakening of change in her. For example, Mary Grace smirked back at Mrs. Turpin’s smiling face at her, which shows her agitation at the realization of Mrs. Turpin’s real insight and that’s why she attacked Mrs. Turpin. In the same way, Misfit realized his role in life and believes in his actions (Brandon). He “revealed the self-awareness that the grandmother lacked”. The two violence attempters are probably not ethical in the conventional sense, but they are realistic, strong and consistent. The writer called Misfit “prophet gone wrong”. Mary Grace’s words, “Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog” caused a verbal deathblow and confused Mrs. Turpin leading her to a divine vision later on, whereas Misfit’s actions caused a realization of weaknesses in old grandmother’s life, she realized how wrong she had been throughput her life and when she told Misfit, that he is “one of [her] own children,” she understood the feeling of compassion, moments before her death. The symbols used in the two stories are also alike revealing the showing of lady-like nature by the two women as they both feel concerned at what others think of them. For Example, the only reason why grandmother wore a stylish hat was to show off herself as a stylish “Lady” that further depicted her misguided ethical code. She was also dressed up while keeping this thing in her mind that she could have a car accident so that when somebody finds her, he/she would think of her as a stylish lady indeed. She was not concerned about her death or the death of her children and grandchildren rather the only thing that was of matter to her was standing as a lady which reveals her selfishness. The brim of the hat fell apart as after she was thrown from the car and was facing Misfit and dropped the broken hat. On the other hand, Mrs. Turpin is termed as "She is a closed circuit of intolerances that pass for social distinctions" by Richard Giannone. Her size, an important element of her personality and her eyes are put as “Her little bright black eyes took in all the patients as she sized up the seating situation". For example, as she enters the doctor’s room, she immediately viewed and observed the people seated over there and her mind started thinking of comments on them. However, when she was hit by a book she got a mark under her eye and she started seeing thing larger, instead of smaller. Personal characteristics are used by Mrs. Turnip as the symbolic representation of an individual ranking them as lunatics, freaks or white trash. Moreover the use of “eyes” is also related as the character’s social perspective drawing the essence of the story (Nixon). The writer has also included irony in her both short stories. For example, the irony used in “a good man is hard to find” when the grandmother saw Misfit in Bailey’s shirt she immediately realized that Misfit is "…one of [her] own children…," which means that both misfit and she belonged to the same God. She realized that both of them are elements of the human race by any distinction. As Misfit shpt the women he said "She would of been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life," which is an ironic dialogue yet again which showed that the old woman could perhaps see clearly but it was too late. In the same way when Mary Grace threw her book in Mrs. Turnip’s face, reversed her vision and she could see "everything large instead of small" which is an ironical statement when she could see the world just like hers and not only herself as superior. More over after the violence attack, the verbal attack of the little girl as she said “Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog” is an ironic dialogue that made Mrs. Turnip realize of her cruelty and dishonesty to herself rather than claiming herself as an honest and noble lady, she is a wicked person from the inside, indeed (Jensen, 2-6). The writer has included violence as constructive and productive means of evoking the goodness onside individuals. The white trash women in “Revelation” represented the lowest class of garbage pickers rusted with uneducated intelligence whereas the “pleasant and well dressed woman” represented the superior class with higher standards of living and much poise (Write work contributors). In the same way the class distinction also played an important role when the grandmother wanted to show off herself as a lady, and to her standing like a lady meant everything, above the lives of her children and grand children. As the two women were struck by violence attacks, or under violence attack, they realized the significance of equality and humanity. Their vision broadened and transcended their nature and they realized how wrong they had been about the idiosyncrasy of their lives. Mrs. Turnip vision that was broadened after the violence attack is actually the Revelation. She was revealed by God the hierarchy according to which she was in a habit of categorizing people. The writer wants to convince the readers to reveal the facts how human race has been affected, with intent to reveal the outlook on prejudice impacting the human race. In her two stories she has portrayed the characters concerning her curiosity towards life and death. Lastly, a transformative moment can probably occur at any point in life time and the writer believes in this fact (Shmoop Editorial Team). References Brandon, Brenda. "The Price of Distortion." Flannery O'Connor: Comforts of Home, The Flannery O'Connor. Mediaspecialist.org, 2003. Web. 27 July 2013. FamousAuthors.org. "Flannery O'Connor | Biography, Books and Facts." Famous Authors | List, Books and Biographies of Famous Authors. famousauthors.org, n.d. Web. 27 July 2013. . Jensen, Karen. "Depiction of Violence in Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation"." University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/, 5 Jan. 2012. Web. 27 July 2013. . Nixon, Joshua. "The Eyes Have It Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation"." Facultystaff. Faculty/Staff Web, n.d. Web. 27 July 2013. Read More