Role of Religion in 'A Good Man Is Hard To Find' and 'A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings' (Essay Sample)

Name
Instructor's Name
Course
Date
First printed in 1953, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" exemplifies several of the methods and themes that were to brand the typical O'Connor story. The story portrays the obliteration of an altogether normal family by three escaped offenders. The climax of the story comprises an offer of grace and the grandmother's approval of that gift as a result of the manifestation she experiences just before her death. The events that lead to that climax, however, generate much of the interest of the story.
The Christian model of God's grace is a fundamental theme in Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Regardless of being the worst, most displeasing characters in the whole story, the grandmother and the Misfit are shown to be inheritors of God's grace, getting his forgiveness and clemency despite their discredit. In many ways, it is suitable that O'Connor chose the most improbable characters to discover grace at the end of the book since the grandmother and the Misfit are the least commendable. Relentlessly lamenting and picking on the other family members, the grandmother taints the whole family outing. The Misfit is a vindictive maniac. The Misfit has experienced the hard knocks of life.