Violence, morality, and redemption: “A Good Man is Hard to Find”

In the story “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery, O’Connor, irony is used throughout the development of the killing.It is shown in situations and verbally when the characters meet.This story is a mixture of violence, morality, and redemption, which gives the killing a ethical and moral consideration likely similar to the one in Bandy, Stephen’s “One of My Babies”.This essay argues that O’Connor’s portrayal of killing in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” reinforces the moral issues talked in Bandy’s “One of My Babies”, leading The Grandmother’s selfish life decisions to kill her, eventually showing the relationship between personal morality, redemption and violence.

The grandmother starts off the story with a shallow sense of morality, focusing more on how she looked to others over actual ethical behaviour.For instance, the grandmother scolds her son for wanting to take a family trip to florida, arguing that “You all ought to take them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world” (177).Her initial interest in life experience is shallow, especially when compared to her later on desperation to survive.As the killing develops, her moralities are exposed and she’s forced to face a challenge.When she faces the misfit, she pleas to God, exclaiming “You ought not to shoot a lady”(183).Then she called out to jesus, begging the misfit to pray for jesus forgiveness.However, the way she’s talking feels as shes only saying it out of fear or internal selfishness rather than sincere faith.It is only at her final moments, when she recognized that he’s not just a criminal but a human being.This is when her morality shifts, she reaches out and tells him “Why you’re one of my babies.You’re one of my own children”(183).This moment felt genuine, as she surpasses her self-centeredness to offer grace, even in the face of grace.O’Connor suggest that such moments can reveal a person’s true self.

Stephen Bandy suggests that the grandmother’s personal morality is both flawed and pivotal in the development of the killing.Bandy believes that the grandmother’s shallow morality eventually adds to the family’s demise, as her self-centered choices lead them straight to the misfit.He notices that the grandmothers decision to bring her cat, Pitty Sings, although knowing it could cause problems, is an example of her moral flaws. “Her selfishness is not incidental but central to the story’s progression”(bandy 191).This lacks of actual ethical awareness, resulting in the crucial error of revealing the plantation’s location, a lie that caused the family to take a fatal detour.Bandy points out that even in her final moments, the grandmother’s morality is still questionable.When she tells the misfit “You’re one of my babies.You’re one of my own children”(183), this can be seen as an act of grace but is also “ an instinctive, desperate attempt to save herself”(Bandy 188).Bandy describes this moment as a combination of selfishness and redemption, demonstrating the grandmother’s complex and changing of morals in the face of death.Finally, Bandy’s essay argues that her morality is not completely virtuous but rather connected to the development of the killing, demonstrating the gap between moral failure and spiritual clarity.

Flannery O’Connor uses the grandmother’s journey to redemption to highlight how grace often comes in the face of violence.Throughout the story, the grandmother is shown as selfish and shallow, focusing on appearances and manipulative strategies.However, when the misfit gets close to her killing, her weak morality gives away to something deeper.Faced with her own morality, she first appeals to the misfit’s sense of decency, saying “I know you’re a good man.You don’t look a bit like you have common blood”(183).When these failed attempts at flattery fall flat, she is forced to face her own spiritual fate.The grandmother undergoes a significant experience in her last moments as she confronts the fact that she is about to die.She reaches out to the misfit,saying “You’re one of my babies.You’re one of my own children”(183).This small act is a moment of genuine grace in which she recognizes their shared humanity and offers forgiveness.The misfit himself realized this change, saying after her death that she “ would have been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life”(183).O’Connor uses this violent action to show the readers that redemption often comes at the cost of suffering, showing the grandmother’s spiritual awakening.

Bandy explores the theme of redemption by suggesting that the grandmother’s moment of grace is connected with her selfish tendencies, while complicating her redemption path.Bandy argues that the grandmother’s final act, which was reaching out to the misfit is a pivotal moment of potential redemption.However, he wonders if this gesture is driven by genuine grace or a desperate attempt to save herself.Bandy writes, “The grandmother’s act of touching the misfit may seem redemptive, but it is equally plausible that is is an instinctive act of desperation”(192).He contrast this with the misfit reaction, who says “She would of been a good woman if it had been Someone there to shoot her every minute of her life”(183), interpreting it  as a critique of the grandmother’s superficial morality throughout her life.According to Bandy, the killing changes the grandmother’s redemption into a brief moment influenced by both violence and spiritual enlightenment.This emphasizes O’Connor’s thesis that redemption is often messy and ambiguous, attained only through the crucible of suffering and death.

The grandmother’s self-centered insistence on seeing an old plantation leads to a car accident, which sets off the violence, which intensifies when the family runs into the misfits.O’Connor illustrates how violence compels an encounter with spiritual reality through the grandmother’s contact with the misfit while the murders take place.For example, the misfit explains his philosophy of life, stating, “No pleasure but meanness”(183), as he justifies his actions and his existential struggles.The grandmother, desperate and terrified, asks the misfit, while crying, “You would shoot a lady, would you?”(183).However, the killing leads her to a moment of spiritual clarity, as she continues and faces her own mortality.In her final moments, she reached out to the misfit.This moment of grace only happened because the violence removes her self-centeredness and forces her to recognize their common humanity.

Stephen Bandy highlights the central role of violence in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”by Flannery O’Connor, arguing that it serves as a catalyst for spiritual and moral awakening.Bandy claims that the story’s killing is not a random act of cruelty, but rather important to the grandmother’s moral journey.He observes how the violence exposes her pretences, pushing her to confront her shallow morality.Bandy writes, “The Misfit’s violence is the vehicle, through which the grandmother is brought to a moment of clarity”(190), emphasizing that her shift is only due to the trauma she endured.He examined her plea of what she said before she died as a direct response to the immediacy of violence, suggesting that this moment of grace could not have occurred without the threat of death.Bandy also points out the misfit’s thoughts on violence, stating, “It’s nothing for you to shoot a lady”(183).This shows how the misfit sees violence as an unstoppable and leveling force.According to Bandy, the progression of the killing reveals how violence can be both destructive and revelatory, removing illusions and revealing deeper truths about morality and salvation.

In Conclusion, Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” portrayal of killing shows the readers the contradictory and unpredictable nature of grace, proposing that only the moments of crisis and violence can give someone a true search of meaning and redemption.The story uses the act of killing to question traditional ideas of morality, allowing the audience to see the shallow nature of the complicated relationship between violence, personal beliefs, and the quest of redemption.The Grandmother and The Misfit meeting serves as a pivotal moment where her lack of understanding goodness is stripped away, forcing her to confront her own hypocrisy.Stephen Bandy’s essay “One of My Babies” goes deep into questioning The Grandmother’s final actions, proposing that even in her last moments, her behaviour was selfish rather than her acting with grace.O’Connor portrayed the idea that true moral clarity can come from violent actions to challenge your understanding of good and evil.

Works cited

Bandy, Stephen C. “One of My Babies: The Misfit and the Grandmother.”Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 33, no. 1, 1996, pp. 107-117.

O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Faber and faber, 2019.

Peters, G.D. “Killers Stories: Killing in Short Fiction.”, City University Of New York, 2023.