Author Topic: Good Man is Hard to Find, A by Flannery O'Connor ~ June 18-20 ~ Short Stories  (Read 14025 times)

JoanP

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Short Stories - Some SeniorLearn Selections-  JUNE 1 throught JULY



It is said that a good short story should include: * a strong theme, * a fascinating plot, * a fitting structure, * unforgettable characters, * a well-chosen setting, * an appealing style.  Let's consider these elements as we discuss the following stories.  Is it necessary to include them all in a successful story?
 

  
Notice that the titles are all links to the stories.

Discussion Schedule:
June 1 -June 9: *The Book of The Funny Smells--and Everything (1872) by Eleanor H Abbott *The Necklace or The Diamond Necklace (1880) -  by Guy de Maupassant *A Pair of Silk Stockings (1896) by Kate Chopin
June 10- 14: *Babylon Revisited (1931) by F.Scott Fitzgerald
June 15- 17: *First Confession (1939) by Frank O'Connor
June 18-20: *A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1953) by Flannery O'Connor  
June 21-23: *The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (1973) by Ursula LeGuin

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Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) is known as a Southern Gothic writer. It's said of her short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, (written in 1953) that more than anything else she wrote, this story evokes the comedy, violence, and religious concerns that characterize her fiction.


Topics for Consideration
June 18 - June 20

Let's ease into this story with our thoughts about some of the scenes/descriptions that made us laugh. What are some of your favorite comic moments?

What do you all think of the Misfit? Does he show any potential for change at the end?

What happens to the grandmother right before the Misfit shoots her? What do you think it means?
  


DL Contact: Marcie

marcie

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Jude,those are great questions and ones that I believe the author wants  us to think about. Pat and Barbara have responded well, I think, regarding Flannery's belief in "grace." It's a gift that, if accepted, enables one to participate in divine life, becoming one with God, or as Pat says, "seeing God's truth." She thought that human beings had to be in touch with the world and themselves in order to be open to receive the gift.

In a letter and/or a talk after she had written the story, Flannery referred to the Misfit as a misguided prophet. I understand a religious prophet to be someone who teaches or interprets the will of God. I found a library of Catholic thought at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12473a.htm and the following statement I think is of interest to us:

"Writing on the recipients of prophecy, Pope Benedict XIV (Heroic Virtue, III, 144, 150) says: "The recipients of prophecy may be angels, devils, men, women, children, heathens, or gentiles; nor is it necessary that a man should be gifted with any particular disposition in order to receive the light of prophecy provided his intellect and senses be adapted for making manifest the things which God reveals to him."

By the above criteria (or lack of it), it sounds like the Misfit could be a prophet. He is not a good man but has a considerable intellect and thinks about many things, including the role of God in our lives and thinkgs that if he were present when Jesus died, he would have turned out differently and would have made a difference. The Misfit says in the story: "if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn't be like I am now."

marcie

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Jude, you also ask about Flannery's quote "Violence is a force which can be used for good or evil, and among other things, TAKEN BY IT IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN."

It comes from the Douay–Rheims edition* of the New Testament of the Bible, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, verse 12.

"AND it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he passed from thence, to teach and preach in their cities.

2Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ: sending two of his disciples he said to him: 3Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another? 4And Jesus making answer said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. 5The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me.
7And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: What went you out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind? 8But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings. 9But what went you out to see? a prophet? yea I tell you, and more than a prophet.

10For this is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.

11Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. 13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John: 14And if you will receive it, he is Elias that is to come. 15He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

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+* The Douay–Rheims Bible (also known as the Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R and DV) is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by members of the English College, Douai, in the service of the Catholic Church. The New Testament portion was published in Reims, France, in 1582, in one volume with extensive commentary and notes. The Old Testament portion was published in two volumes thirty years later by the University of Douai.


Wikipedia says:

"There are various explanations for the use of this passage as a title, the most accepted being that violence constantly attacks God and heaven, and that only those violent with the love of God can bear it away."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Violent_Bear_It_Away#Explanation_of_the_novel.27s_title

It seems from what Flannery O'Connor herself says, that violence thrust upon her characters could be the occasion for opening her characters to their true self -- to life and the action of the Divine in their life (grace) and their means to take heaven by storm, so to speak.

JudeS

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Thank you all for answering my questions. I appreciate it greatly.
I still don't like the story but at least I understand what the author was trying to say.
It seems that anyone can receive the grace of God, even murderers and fiends, if they repent and see the light.

Not my philosophy but I guess it was O' Connors.

Portraying evil and a psychopathic personality was her thing. I ended up feeling as sorry for her as I did for the victims of the Misfit.



marcie

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Jude, thanks very much for your questions... and for staying with us... especially since you didn't care for the story.

I'd like to thank, again, everyone who participated in this discussion, either by reading or posting.  I appreciate everyone's thoughts. They all gave me many new insights and pushed me to clarify in my own mind what the story might offer. As with the other short story discussions, we'll keep this one open.

Our next discussion, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, by Ursula Le Guin, is at http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=3842.msg194212#msg194212