Elizabeth Flynn's essay titled "Gender and Reading" discusses her analysis of data which informed her of a conception of the reading process which assumes that reading involves a confrontation between self and "other". It focuses on how the self, the reader, encounters the "other", the text, and the nature of that confrontation depends on the background of the reader as well on the text. She talks of how the coexistence of reader and text can take on a number of different forms, which is what I will focus on and relate to my interpretation of Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find".
Flynn discusses three different forms that describe this coexistence between reader and text. Firstly, "the reader can resist the alien thought or subject and so remain essentially unchanged by the reading experience. In this case the reader dominates the text. Or the reader can allow the alien thought to become such a powerful presence that the self is replaced by the other and so is effaced. In this case the text dominates the reader. Either the reader resists the text and so deprives it of its force, or the text overpowers the reader and so eliminates the reader's powers of discernment. A third possibility is that self and other, reader and text, interact in such a way that the reader learns from the experience without losing critical distance; reader and text interact with a degree of mutuality. Foreignness is reduced, though not eliminated. Self and other remain distinct and so create a kind of dialogue" (Flynn 268).
"The dominant pole is characterized by detachment, observation from a distance. The reader imposes a previously established structure on the text and in so doing silences it. Memory dominates over experience, past over present. Reader's who dominate texts become complacent or bored because the possibility for learning has been greatly reduced. Judgment is based on previously established norms rather than on empathetic engagement with and critical evaluation of the new material encountered. The reader absents the text" (Flynn 268).
"The submissive pole, in contrast, is characterized by too much involvement. The reader is entangled in the events of the story and is unable to step back, to observe with a critical eye. Instead of boredom the reader experiences anxiety. The text is overwhelming, unwilling to yield a consistent pattern of meaning" (Flynn 268)
"Productive interaction involves the active participation of the reader in the construction of meaning. Readers formulate hypotheses as they encounter signs of the text, and those hypotheses are constantly being altered as new information is processed. Productive interaction necessitates the stance of a detached observer who is empathetic but who does not identify with the characters or the situation depicted in a literary work. Comprehension is attained when the reader achieves a balance between empathy and judgment by maintaining a balance of detachment and involvement. Too much detachment often results in too much judgment and hence in domination of the text; too much involvement often results in too much sympathy and hence in domination by the text. However, when the reader is able to integrate past experience with the experience created by the text through critical evaluation of the interwoven signs encountered in the process of reading, comprehension is achieved and learning takes place" (Flynn 269).
I feel that my reading and analysis of O'Connor's story followed the guidelines of the third interaction, which Flynn states is the point in which self and other, reader and text, interact in such a way that the reader learns from the experience without losing critical distance; reader and text interact with a degree of mutuality. I noticed many elements that the author used in the story such as symbolism, metaphors, and foreshadowing as I was reading.
In the beginning of the story the grandmother is reading a section of the paper which talks about The Misfit and how he is headed towards Florida, where the family is headed. The grandmother exclaims "I wouldn't take my children in any section with a criminal like that aloose. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did" (O'Connor 1201). This excerpt foreshadows the events to come and reflects the feelings that the grandmother experiences at the end of the story when she abandons these thoughts of her conscience moral decision. The grandmother, who comes off as an overbearing character, is constantly given description that causes the reader to recognize her as a crucial part of the story. She is stubborn, outspoken, and seems to view herself as righteous and proper. She doesn't want to travel to Florida, but instead to Tennessee and she makes this known throughout the story. Her desire to go to Tennessee and her reminiscence of her memories there ultimately bring the family to their fate due to her embarrassing mistake of thinking that the plantation house which the family went out of their way to visit was not in Georgia, but in Tennessee. The grandmother's desire to travel to Tennessee can again be recognized as a foreshadowing of the events to come.
When the family stops at The Tower to eat the grandmother chats with the owner named Red Sammy. They begin to discuss The Misfit's escape and Red Sammy expresses his mistrust of all individuals which he excludes no one from. I felt that this exclamation of mistrust later reflects not only The Misfits character, but the grandmother's as well. She appears as a caring, trustworthy individual but in the end betrays her own blood. Red Sammy then states that "a good man is hard to find" which seems to be a direct reference to The Misfit.
After the families accident, the mother exclaims that maybe a car will come along. The reader, unknowing at this time, can view this sentence as one that precipitates what is to come. Just as the mother had thought, a car does come along. It is described as a "big black battered hearselike automobile" (O'Connor 1207). This imagery gives the reader a feeling of uneasiness which is further conveyed in the description of the characters who are in the car.
The driver is the first to step out of the vehicle and he is portrayed with an expressionless gaze. One of the individuals who piled out of the car was a fat boy in black trousers and a red sweat shirt with a silver stallion embossed on the front of it. The other man had on khaki pants and a blue striped coat and a gray hat pulled down very low, hiding most of his face. The two boys also had guns. This description conveys the men in a sense of mystery. The author makes them appear very sketchy and through this description the reader gains a sense of, again uneasiness as well as a sense of skepticism. The introduction of these characters further exemplifies as well as foreshadows the fate of the grandmother and her family.
As the grandmother's family is being taken away and killed off she attempts to reason with The Misfit and introduce him to the power of prayer. She continuously tries to convince him that he is in fact a good man and has a good heart. She stresfully cries "You've got good blood! I know you wouldn't shoot a lady! I know you come from nice people! Pray!" (O'Connor 1211). Due to his philosophy that "Jesus thrown everything off balance" the grandmother's pleas anger the man. As the grandmother recognizes The Misfit as one of her "babies", she reaches out to the man and touches him on the shoulder, the man jumps back as if bitten by a snake. He springs back and shoots her three times. Through this act of offering mediation to The Misfit, the grandmother can be viewed through a metaphorical standpoint: that of grace. She steps in to attempt to bring some light into his world and change this man's point of view on life as well as to save her own. Her act was one filled with grace and charity which may imply that this story was written as one to convey the transformation of an individual through the progression of the story.
Although the grandmother's attempts at saving her own life have failed her, she has come to realization that perhaps she isn't as righteous as she thought she might be. Her attempts however don't seem to be lost on The Misfit who adverts that by enduring a lasting violence, much like he has throughout his life, the grandmother could have been a good woman after all. With this statement it appears as though the grandmother wasn't the only one transformed by the encounter after all. The Misfit, through his statement, appears to have been at least somewhat moved by the actions of the grandmother.
Works Cited
Flynn, Elizabeth A. "Gender and Reading." 267-86. Print.
Note: I chose to pull direct excerpts from the author's essay and place them in my own writing because I felt that her own explanation was well written, and crucial in the understanding of the relevance of my post. This reason being the same for the amount of direct quotes in the previous post.
Monday, March 8, 2010
"A Good Man is Hard to Find"-Relation to Charles E. May's Writings
In chapter two of Charles May's book titled The Short Story: The Reality of Artifice he states that in the nineteenth-century a new genre was created which would be called "the short story". He describes it as a "combination of code-bound narrative convention of the old allegorical romance forms with the verisimilar techniques of the new mimetic forms" (May 22). He states that the short story "reflects a reality that is primarily a transcendent, timeless ideal or a projection of human desire for transcendence, and the best way to reflect it is to construct narratives that center on revelatory moments when that ideal or desire is manifested. It is primarily a romantic rather than realistic form, in which revelation--what the romantic poets describe with phrases such as 'moments of vision'--reflects true reality. The short story reflects on the sacred rather than on the profane, the universal rather than the particular. However, it differs fundamentally from the old romance in that the revelatory moment is experienced by an individual perceiver" (May 22), which in O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" would be the grandmother. "It is not a result of the direct intervention of an absolute, transcendent reality" (May 22)".
In May's analysis of Herman Melville's short story "Bartleby the Scrivener" I found many parallels that pertain to O'Connor's story. In Melville's story, May states that the character Bartleby serves as a metaphoric figure rather than a realistic one. The grandmother in O'Connor's story seems to represent this same type of metaphoric figure in that she symbolizes grace through her actions towards the end of story. In his interpretation, May claims that "this metaphoric process (in which an object stands for something else) forms the basis of romanticism and symbolism, whereas the predominance of metonymy (in which an object stands next to something else) is what forms the basis of the realistic style" (May 35). The Misfit character of O'Connor's story becomes a symbol for the grandmother in that he brings to her the realization that she is not after all such a good person.
Characters used in short stories by authors such as O'Connor often live a "safe", "snug", "prudent," "methodical" existence. This romantic convention of such smugness, as seen through the grandmother, must be challenged by a mysterious stranger from the outside, a stranger whose reality is more metaphoric than metonymic; a stranger much like The Misfit. The other characters of O'Connor's story, Bailey, John Wesley, June Star, the mother, and The Misfits two accomplices, seem to have an aspect of metaphoric human emptiness. None are whole in themselves, but when taken together, they constitute one passably whole individual. Where they are characterized by little more than the sum of their traits, the grandmother, like Bartleby, seems to "metaphorically stand for a universal human awareness" (May37). This being recognized when she fails to salvage the lives of her family members and instead attempts to save her own by talking her way out of being killed. This brings about an awareness of selfishness, a very recognizable and immoral characteristic.
Like the story of "Bartleby", "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is problematic because it marks a transition between romance narratives, in which characters are two-dimensional representations, and realistic stories, in which the characters come off as if they were real. The story seems so firmly grounded in social reality that it is difficult to take the grandmother as a purely symbolic character; at the same time, if we take her as an "as-if-real" character, we have difficulty understanding what motivates her to act in the contradictory way that she does. However, as put by essayist Erich Heller, what does seem realistic, as in "Bartleby", is what is new about nineteenth-century realism generally--"the passion for the understanding, the desire for rational appropriation, the driving force toward the expropriation of the mystery" (May 39-40). The mystery behind The Misfit is continuously questioned by the grandmother. She asks questions about his life and about his faith asking "Do you ever pray?". It appears as if she's trying to wipe away the mystery of the man by digging into his personal life which angers the man and ultimately leads to her death.
"With the rise of realism and the resultant focus on specific everyday experiences, the short story has shifted from a symbolic embodiment of human experience to an illustrative example: instead of saying, with authority of the old romance, 'this is what human experience is,' realistic fiction says, 'given the way human experience is, this is what might happen.' Whereas the old romance story says, 'this is the way people are', the new realistic story says, 'this is the way people act' May 40). It is realism that gives the reader the thought that the characters may have a choice and that they might do something other than what they actually do. In O'Connor's story, this aspect of realism correlates directly with the grandmother's actions. The grandmother seems somehow bound, obsessed, driven, and determined to win over The Misfit even as the reader implicitly thinks that she "might" do something else if only she would turn back, get out, or snap out of it. The reader hopes that she might keep her thoughts to herself and keep her family out of danger, but her outspoken character causes each of them their lives.
The central characters of O'Connor's short story do not seem to be allegorical characters in the sense of the old romance form, yet they seem somehow caught in the conventions of allegory. O'Connor achieves this effect by bringing together the two worlds of the grandmother and the Misfit: she lives a life of what she views as righteous and proper whereas he lives in one of darkness and anger. This juxtaposition allows the reader to recognize the effect of The Misfits words and actions towards the grandmother ultimately bringing her to the realization that she is not such a good person after all. "Thus, the very mythic, traditional pattern of the story of the archetypal journey into the 'heart of darkness' transforms an 'as-if real' character", the grandmother, "into an allegorical figure" (May 40).
Works Cited
May, Charles E. "Chapter 2: Nineteenth-Century Beginnings." The Short Story: the Reality of
Artifice. New York: Routledge, 2002. 21-41. Print.
In May's analysis of Herman Melville's short story "Bartleby the Scrivener" I found many parallels that pertain to O'Connor's story. In Melville's story, May states that the character Bartleby serves as a metaphoric figure rather than a realistic one. The grandmother in O'Connor's story seems to represent this same type of metaphoric figure in that she symbolizes grace through her actions towards the end of story. In his interpretation, May claims that "this metaphoric process (in which an object stands for something else) forms the basis of romanticism and symbolism, whereas the predominance of metonymy (in which an object stands next to something else) is what forms the basis of the realistic style" (May 35). The Misfit character of O'Connor's story becomes a symbol for the grandmother in that he brings to her the realization that she is not after all such a good person.
Characters used in short stories by authors such as O'Connor often live a "safe", "snug", "prudent," "methodical" existence. This romantic convention of such smugness, as seen through the grandmother, must be challenged by a mysterious stranger from the outside, a stranger whose reality is more metaphoric than metonymic; a stranger much like The Misfit. The other characters of O'Connor's story, Bailey, John Wesley, June Star, the mother, and The Misfits two accomplices, seem to have an aspect of metaphoric human emptiness. None are whole in themselves, but when taken together, they constitute one passably whole individual. Where they are characterized by little more than the sum of their traits, the grandmother, like Bartleby, seems to "metaphorically stand for a universal human awareness" (May37). This being recognized when she fails to salvage the lives of her family members and instead attempts to save her own by talking her way out of being killed. This brings about an awareness of selfishness, a very recognizable and immoral characteristic.
Like the story of "Bartleby", "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is problematic because it marks a transition between romance narratives, in which characters are two-dimensional representations, and realistic stories, in which the characters come off as if they were real. The story seems so firmly grounded in social reality that it is difficult to take the grandmother as a purely symbolic character; at the same time, if we take her as an "as-if-real" character, we have difficulty understanding what motivates her to act in the contradictory way that she does. However, as put by essayist Erich Heller, what does seem realistic, as in "Bartleby", is what is new about nineteenth-century realism generally--"the passion for the understanding, the desire for rational appropriation, the driving force toward the expropriation of the mystery" (May 39-40). The mystery behind The Misfit is continuously questioned by the grandmother. She asks questions about his life and about his faith asking "Do you ever pray?". It appears as if she's trying to wipe away the mystery of the man by digging into his personal life which angers the man and ultimately leads to her death.
"With the rise of realism and the resultant focus on specific everyday experiences, the short story has shifted from a symbolic embodiment of human experience to an illustrative example: instead of saying, with authority of the old romance, 'this is what human experience is,' realistic fiction says, 'given the way human experience is, this is what might happen.' Whereas the old romance story says, 'this is the way people are', the new realistic story says, 'this is the way people act' May 40). It is realism that gives the reader the thought that the characters may have a choice and that they might do something other than what they actually do. In O'Connor's story, this aspect of realism correlates directly with the grandmother's actions. The grandmother seems somehow bound, obsessed, driven, and determined to win over The Misfit even as the reader implicitly thinks that she "might" do something else if only she would turn back, get out, or snap out of it. The reader hopes that she might keep her thoughts to herself and keep her family out of danger, but her outspoken character causes each of them their lives.
The central characters of O'Connor's short story do not seem to be allegorical characters in the sense of the old romance form, yet they seem somehow caught in the conventions of allegory. O'Connor achieves this effect by bringing together the two worlds of the grandmother and the Misfit: she lives a life of what she views as righteous and proper whereas he lives in one of darkness and anger. This juxtaposition allows the reader to recognize the effect of The Misfits words and actions towards the grandmother ultimately bringing her to the realization that she is not such a good person after all. "Thus, the very mythic, traditional pattern of the story of the archetypal journey into the 'heart of darkness' transforms an 'as-if real' character", the grandmother, "into an allegorical figure" (May 40).
Works Cited
May, Charles E. "Chapter 2: Nineteenth-Century Beginnings." The Short Story: the Reality of
Artifice. New York: Routledge, 2002. 21-41. Print.
"A Good Man is Hard to Find"-Initial Response
In Flannery O'connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find", 1955 the story opens with an introduction of an unnamed grandmother complaining to her son, Bailey, and his family that she would rather go to Tennessee for vacation than Florida, the family's planned destination. After the family resolves to go to Florida regardless of her protests, she besets them by rising early the next morning and waiting in the car for the rest of the family. The grandmother is dressed in her finest , so that "in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady"(O'Connor 1202).
The grandmother talks tirelessly during the trip, often recalling her youth in the Old South and commenting on various things she sees alongside the road. When the family stops at a gas station/diner, called "The Tower," for lunch, she beings to speak with the owner, Red Sammy, in conversation about the state of the world's affairs, specifically an escaped convicted murderer known only as "The Misfit." This "Misfit" character is the same individual which the grandmother was reading about in the beginning of the story. Red Sammy and his wife both appear as very skeptical individuals as they suggest that their isn't a soul in all of God's world that can be trusted. Red Sammy's wife states that "I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't attack this place right here" (O'Connor 1205) which I believe is a foreshadowing of the events to come. After their discussion about The Misfit, the grandmother agrees with Red Sammy's claim that a good man is hard to find.
While making their way back on the road, the grandmother, once again recalling a certain memory of a place alongside the families path, attempts to detour the family away from their destination and begins to tell a story of and old plantation that she had visited in the neighborhood of Toombsboro, the town which the family was right outside of. She tells of a secret panel and upon hearing that it has secret passages, the children become fixated on visiting the house, and the grandmother instigates them to pester their father until he gives in and agrees to follow the grandmother's directions to the house. As they travel down an unpaved dirt path, the grandmother continues to recall other points about the house: the beautiful glass over the front doorway and the candle lamp in the hall. When the grandmother's directions lead them down an abandoned dirt road, she embarrassingly realizes that the house is, in fact, in Tennessee and not Georgia. Flustered, she upsets her cat, which panics and attacks Bailey, causing him to lose control of the car and roll it into a ditch.
No one is seriously injured, and the children are inclined to view the accident as an adventure constantly exclaiming "We've had an ACCIDENT!" (O'Connor 1207) which plays into the humor instilled in the piece. The grandmother, unable to accept the trouble that she has put her family in as well as the consequences she must face for not giving her family the correct information, fakes an internal injury in order to gain their sympathy. I believe that this action that the grandmother takes contradicts all of her other actions throughout the story. She instantly comes off as a righteous, proper individual which later comes into play with the stories climax and conclusion.
The family sits in a ditch to recover from the shock. As they are waiting for a passerby, it isn't long that a big black battered hearse like automobile comes by. In seeing this, the grandmother stands up and waves both arms dramatically to attract their attention. As the car pulls up, the family sees three men which are all given vivid descriptions. One was a fat boy in black trousers and a red sweat shirt with a silver stallion embossed on the front of it. The other man had on khaki pants and a blue striped coat and a gray hat pulled down very low, hiding most of his face. The driver, who comes out of the car last was older than the other two. His hair was just beginning to gray and he wore silver-rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look. He had a long creased face and didn't have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun. The other two boys also had guns. I feel that the detail of the description of these men is a way for the author to allow the reader to recognize them as crucial characters to the stories plot. Their description also imparts a feeling of uneasiness for the reader perhaps in order to foreshadow the huge role these characters play.
The driver, who appears to be the leader of the three, instructs his accomplices to inspect the family's car and engages Bailey in polite conversation. While this is going on the grandmother comes to a great realization. As she scrambles to her feet she stands and says "You're The Misfit!" and exclaims that she recognized him at once. They begin to converse and the grandmother asks The Misfit if he would ever shoot a lady. "I would hate to have to" The Misfit exclaims and it is at this point when the grandmother starts labeling him as a "good man". As the talking goes on the grandmother continues to claim that the man is a "good man" and shouldn't call himself The Misfit because she knows he is good at heart. At this point, The Misfit asks his accomplices to take both Bailey and his son, John Wesley to the back of the woods to talk. Bailey tells his mother that he will be back in a minute and this instills shock in the grandmother who begins to shout "Come back this instant!" which ironically reflects her overbearing character. Two pistol shots are heard from the woods and the reader now knows of the fate of Bailey and John Wesley. The Misfit next asks the mother and her daughter, June Star to go with the two men to the woods, and here, like before the reader becomes aware of the fate of the two. While The Misfit instructs his accomplices to murder the family one by one, the grandmother begins pleading for her own life, first reminding the Misfit that she is an old woman and therefore unworthy of death, and then by flattering him. When the Misfit ignores her pleas, she becomes speechless for the first time in the story. Panicked, she attempts to tell The Misfit about Jesus. She speaks to him about prayer and that if he would do this Jesus would help him. The Misfit becomes visibly angry and tells of his philosophy and outlook on life. He is angry with Christ for having given no lingering, physical evidence for his existence, and therefore he casts doubt about the legitimacy of Christianity. The Misfit explains that he is angry because he doesn't want to waste life serving an individual who may not even exist, nor does he want to displease an almighty God who may exist; frustrated by the paradox, he has settled on the idea that there's "no pleasure but meanness"(O'Connor 1210). The grandmother then reaches out to The Misfit, recognizing him as her "child".
As The Misfit's accomplices return from killing off the family, The Misfit who seems unmoved by the whole ordeal, calmly takes a moment to clean his glasses and appraise the grandmother. He concludes that "she would have been a good woman...if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life" (O'Connor 1212). The accomplice, now recognized as Bobby Lee comments on what fun they have all had in murdering the family. At saying this, The Misfit angrily admonishes him saying that "It's no real pleasure in life"(O'Connor 1212).
In reading Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" I recognized a prominent underlying meaning. It is obvious that most of the conflict centers on the grandmother's act of reaching out and touching The Misfit. I feel that the grandmother's final act was one filled with grace and charity, which may imply that the story was written to show a sort of transformation in the grandmother through the progression of the story. At first, she seemed mainly concerned with appearing as a good Christian rather than being a good Christian. This can be seen through her selfish want to travel to Tennessee instead of Florida, but even more so through her attempts to salvage her own life while her family was being killed off. This is made worse by the fact that she characteristically could not keep her mouth shut, and having done so she may have saved the lives of her family. She soon realizes that contrary to her former belief, she has indeed not led a good life and at this point she reaches out to embrace her killer,The Misfit, in a final act of grace and charity. Although her attempts fail her, it is not lost on The Misfit who implies that by enduring a lasting of violence, she could have been a good woman.
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