A Good Man is Hard to Find Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

A Good Man is Hard to Find - Research Paper Example In â€Å"Flannery O’Connor’s ‘Spoiled Prophet,’† T.W. Hendricks agrees with Blythe and Sweet that the Misfit is some form of a prophet, but the former stresses that he is a misguided prophet. Finally, the article â€Å"Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find: The Moment of Grace,† by Michael Clark, argues that the grandmother received her moment of grace during her moment of death and aims to touch the Misfit and redeem him from his meaningless existence. The family represents the disintegration of human society, but the grandmother receives the gift of grace during her dying moments, and yet the Misfit, who thinks of himself as a prophet, misinterprets this act of grace and seals the emptiness of his life. The family in the story stands for the fragmentation of society, due to lack of spiritual growth. Hendricks points out that the story has explored the â€Å"spiritual exile† of two families, Bailey’s and Red Sammy’s families (203). Bailey and his wife are detached from their Southern roots (Hendricks 203). Like Hendricks, Blythe and Sweet assert that Bailey has lost his authority over his mother and children, which has resulted to a family in â€Å"disarray† (Hendricks 203). In particular, they suggest that this stands for the fall of â€Å"secular authority† (185). The grandmother schemes to â€Å"visit some of her connections in east Tennessee,† and she defies Bailey’s instructions to leave her cat (O’Connor). The children also act waywardly by kicking the car seats, yelling, and whining. Their names suggest their spoiled personalities too. John Wesley, whose name feels that his parents had high ambitions for him, is impolite to his grandmother and disrespectful of his family’s history (Hendricks 203). Still, he likens himself to a young Superman and brags that he will beat the Misfit in the face, if they meet him. June Star has tap dancing skills, which tend to get