Dr. Joan Buckley’s Contemporary American Literature class was not the first place I’d encountered Flannery O’Connor’s story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”It was upon this reading and discussion of the story, however, that I became intrigued by O’Connor’s writing style.As is quite noticeable in “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O’Connor often uses shocking and gruesome situations to convey moral lessons.My interests in both art and religion led me to explore the similarities between O’Connor’s literary technique and grotesque medieval artwork and literature.As the paper illustrates, O’Connor’s use of grace in the midst of violence can be better understood when compared to similar themes from the Middle Ages.

The Paradox 

of the Grotesque and Grace 

in Flannery O’Connor’s

“A Good Man is Hard to Find”:

A Casebook Study

Katie Pence

Upon initially reading Flannery O’Connor’s work, one would have no problem recognizing her use of shocking, violent, or despairing themes.It may not be as easy, however, to completely accept or understand her style.According to Patrick Galloway, one must be “initiated to her trademarks when reading any of her two novels or thirty-two short stories (1).In many of her works, she paradoxically uses styles that are grotesque and brutal to illustrate themes of grace and self-actualization.As O’Connor herself says, “I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace” (qtd. in Hawkins 30).Although at times disturbing, O’Connor’s paradox is an effective literary technique, deepening the meaning of her stories.Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” can be used as a tool to become ‘initiated’ to this unique style. 

Few critics would deny that “A Good Man” is a grotesque story: A grandmother and her son’s family on vacation are ruthlessly killed by an escaped convict.Some O’Connor critics are taken aback by this grotesque aspect because the family and elderly woman seem so innocent.People do not want to imagine their quiet and delicate, “gray-haired” grandmother standing in the face of a murderer, so they sympathize with O’Connor’s Grandmother as well (Bandy 2).This gruesome scene does not, however, serve as senseless violence.Beyond the disturbing imagery is a story that makes poignant religious and philosophical claims (Galloway 6).Pat Galloway analyzes this technique as the way O’Connor’s characters receive the grace they may not have otherwise received.The grotesque, life-threatening scenes also allow readers “to peer into the souls of the character” (Galloway 3).As O’Connor writes, “Distortion in this case is an instrument; exaggeration has a purpose, and the whole structure of the story or novel has been made what it is because of belief.This is not the kind of distortion that destroys; it is the kind that reveals, or should reveal” (qtd. in Enjolras 14).Therefore, despite the violence and death, O’Connor does the grandmother a favor by allowing her a moment of self-understanding and grace (Galloway 3-4).

Author Anthony Di Renzo notes the effectiveness of O’Connor’s use of thematic revelation.Rather than opposing one another, good and evil instead exist as “equally odd, equally absurd, and equally shocking” (122).The good and evil ironically converge to relay the message of grace, common throughout her works. O’Connor wanted her stories “to reach the unbelieving reader,” and the shocking aspect of the grotesque was the most effective way to reach him/her (Hawkins 28-29). 

In “A Good Man,” even the physical appearance of the characters contributes to this grotesque reality.In Flannery O’Connor’s Characters, Laurence Enjolras analyzes the fictitious personalities O’Connor has created.His chapter entitled “Physical Portrait: The Ugly Human Body” looks specifically at characters in “A Good Man” (5). Enjolras emphasizes that O’Connor does not present glamorous, idealized characters.Instead, she depicts the “ordinary” human being, notwithstanding flaws or deformity (Enjolras 6-8). O’Connor describes the appearance of Grandmother’s “leathery thin face” and the trousers of Red Sam whose “stomach hung over them like a sack of meal swaying under his shirt” (“A Good Man” 34, 37).The characters appear this way to foster the shock that O’Connor intends, and Enjolras notes it as the hallmark of her writing (8-9).

Critic Joann McMullen is in the minority believing that this grotesque style becomes the antithesis of O’Connor’s religions claims.In her opinion, O’Connor’s writing is excessively distorted and destructive.McMullen also notes John Hawkes’ view that O’Connor’s writing is blasphemous, disputing O’Connor’s personal affirmation that her work accurately portrays Christian beliefs (60-61).For one thing, McMullen is quite critical of O’Connor’s use of symbols.She claims that because O’Connor offers no explanation of symbols carrying through each story, she “places an added burden upon the reader to decipher her actual intent” (McMullen 31). 

McMullen follows this statement with a discussion of the symbols she finds most troubling.She believes the hats in “A Good Man” symbolize the characters’ rejection of grace.With the Misfit specifically, his black hat (the color being associated with evil) blocks out the sun while he murders; and this is symbolic of him “blocking out” God as he unabashedly exhibits vengeance (34-36).Similarly, the Misfit’s eyeglasses are a barrier to God’s grace.McMullen observes that the Misfit takes off his glasses after his final murder, realizing only for that brief moment that “he has denied God” (46).Cleaning his glasses consequently symbolizes a brief attempt to clean his soul (45-46). Overall, McMullen finds little religious hope in most of O’Connor’s writing.She believes O’Connor offers no promising future for her characters, but instead only emphasizes the “miserable present” (119). She also sees that O’Connor distorts the Christology of the Church and that her grotesque imagery is quite unsuccessful in relaying messages of grace and salvation.

Regarding McMullen’s criticism about symbolism and imagery, O’Connor herself responded to similar claims during her lifetime.A teacher once inquired, like McMullen, about the Misfit’s hat, and O’Connor replied, “. . . Most countrymen in Georgia wore black hats.” She responded further that “its significance . . . was to cover his head” (O’Connor, Habit 334).In addition to the comments O’Connor herself makes, authors like Peter Hawkins counter the anti-religious views as well.He remarks that the true nature of the world, including the reality of violence, cannot be denied or ignored.“For O’Connor,” Hawkins claims, “the ordinary vulgar world is sacramental: it is the place where God is present. . . . This world is profane only when it is viewed as independent of its source. . .” (23).Pat Galloway refers to O’Connor’s worldview as well, and he sees her work emphasizing the mystery of God.She doesn’t give direct answers through her theological claims, and she admits there are some things we aren’t supposed to understand. This “mystery of existence” can only be analyzed from a religious standpoint (Galloway 4).

Other critics note that religious messages like O’Connor’s were portrayed similarly in the sixteenth century.In his book, American Gargoyles: Flannery O’Connor and the Medieval Grotesque, Anthony Di Renzo compares her work to the paintings of the Flemish painter Hieronymus Bosch.Like Flannery O’Connor’s writing, Bosch’s art is confusing, distorted, and disturbing.His most famous work, The Garden of Earthly Delights, is a prime example of the grotesque becoming satirical (25).Di Renzo further hypothesizes that O’Connor might have liked Pieter Bruegel’s art.His Procession to Calvary—grotesque yet religious in nature—has no portrait or image of Christ in it. Some people of Bruegel’s time saw his supposedly Christian work as sacrilegious, presenting a paradox between religious symbolism and the grotesque (18-20).In addition, artist Albrecht Altdorfer portrayed Christ in a realistic, earthly setting.This approach is similar to O’Connor’s approach at understanding the brutal reality of the world.Altdorfer’s tactic was the opposite of traditional religious iconography of his time where the heavenly had been quite separate from the earthly.Di Renzo observes that this indirect and alternative way of making religious statements is quite similar in the literature of Flannery O’Connor (32-33).

O’Connor has also been compared to Geoffrey Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales.Di Renzo remarks that Chaucer describes the humor found within the turmoil, suffering, and sin of the earthly world. He justified his writing through the Christian beliefs, which he believes ultimately take us past anything in this present world (151).Some stories of Chaucer’s seem crude and blasphemous, when in fact they include underlying religious themes.As Di Renzo says, “Religion takes on a bawdy dimension, but bawdiness takes on a religious dimension” (80). Also, like the physical appearance of O’Connor’s characters, Chaucer’s characters were flawed, distorted, and exaggerated in order to prove a point (63-64). 

Critics Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet make more specific claims about parallels between O’Connor and Chaucer.They point out the son’s name, Bailey, and note the possibility of O’Connor deriving it from Chaucer’s Harry Bailly in the Canterbury Tales (1).They go even further to suggest that “A Good Man” is, in fact, a modern version of “The Pardoner’s Tale.”Blythe and Sweet note that greed for the “hidden ‘family silver’” causes O’Connor’s characters to take the path of their accident, and greed for gold leads Chaucer’s characters to death as well (2).The Medieval tales eventually offer “spiritual renewal” for Chaucer’s characters, and “A Good Man” results in grace for the grandmother.Similar again to O’Connor, Blythe and Sweet recognize the reality of violence in the modern world and, therefore, account for O’Connor’s gruesome ending (2).As Di Renzo emphasizes, like the grotesque art and literature of the Middle Ages, the grotesque writing of Flannery O’Connor aims at paradox, and becomes “that strange passageway between the sacred and the profane, heaven and hell” (15).

As mentioned earlier, most critics adapt O’Connor’s statements that the violence in “A Good Man” is a path toward grace and self-understanding.It is generally accepted that the moment of grace occurs as the grandmother reaches out toward the Misfit, calls him one of her children, and then is shot three times.According to Hawkins, the reader could see this as a breakdown or as a breakthrough for the grandmother (44-45).Understanding it as a breakdown looks at the brutal reality that the grandmother is staring death in the face and that the Misfit is an escaped convict. Therefore, by human nature, she was frightened and truly believed the Misfit (who was wearing Bailey’s shirt) was her son; and likewise, the Misfit was killing the grandmother out of pure vengeance (44-46).Understanding it as a breakthrough, on the other hand, examines the line in the story where “‘her head cleared for an instant’” (Hawkins 45).In this case, Hawkins claims, the grandmother must have finally realized that nothing was going to stop the Misfit.She reaches out anyway, however, and poses a threat to the Misfit.His acceptance of compassion would “mean death to his life as The Misfit” (46). 

Terry White explains further how the Misfit offers the grandmother a choice, which can lead to grace.While her family was being threatened, she prayed constantly to Jesus.Now that they’ve all been killed, she realizes it won’t do much good to pray for her own life.She finally realizes that her past understanding of faith has lacked substance and the only thing she can turn to now is love.Her maternal instinct causes her to be selfless and reach out toward the Misfit (White 386-388).Hawkins compares this seemingly irrational act of love to God’s love, which often comes without reason (47). 

Within a few pages, Flannery O’Connor creates a story that is comic and tragic, redeeming and destructive, mysterious and forthright—”A Good Man is Hard to Find” is full of paradox.Aside from the interpretations O’Connor herself made about her work, the numerous critical analyses of her writing reveal several common literary practices and themes within her work.Comparing her writing to the literature and art from the Middle Ages, for example, offers additional ways to understand her use of grotesque imagery and violence among characters for the purpose of examining the mystery of grace.Although some view her work to be quite heretical, an overwhelming majority of critics commend Flannery O’Connor for her unique and effective use of violence to make theological claims, and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” offers a prominent example of O’Connor’s theme of grace working through the grotesque.

Works Cited

Bandy, Stephen. “‘One of my Babies’: The Misfit and the Grandmother.” Studies in Short Fiction 33 (Wntr 1996): 107-117.

Blythe, Hal and Charlie Sweet. “O’Connor’s ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find.’” The Explicator 55 (Fall 1996): 49-51.

Di Renzo, Anthony. American Gargoyles: Flannery O’Connor and the Medieval Grotesque. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993.

Enjolras, Laurence. Flannery O’Connor’s Characters. New York: University Press of America, Inc., 1998.

Galloway, Patrick. “The Dark Side of the Cross: Flannery O’Connor’s Short Fiction.” 1996.http://cyberpat.com/essays/flan.html (10 Nov. 1999).

Grossman, F. Pieter Bruegel: Complete Edition of the Paintings. New York: Phaidon Publishers, Inc., 1955.

Hawkins, Peter. The Language of Grace. Cambridge: Cowley Publications, 1983.

McMullen, Joanne. Writing against God: Language as Message in the Literature of Flannery O’Connor. Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1996.

O’Connor, Flannery.“A Good Man is Hard to Find.”Ed. Frederick Asals.New Brunswick, New Jersey:Rutgers UP, 1993.31-51.

O’Connor, Flannery. The Habit of Being. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1979.

Snyder, James. Hieronymus Bosch. New York: Excalubur Books, 1977.

White, Terry. “Allegorical Evil, Existentialist Choice in O’Connor, Oates, and Styron.” Midwest Quarterly 34 (Sum 1993): 383-397.

Wood, Christopher. Albrecht Altdorfer and the Origins of Landscape. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Works Consulted

Bloom, Harold, ed. Flannery O’Connor. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.

Hagen, Susan. “Team Teaching Middle English Literature With Flannery O’Connor.” http://panther.bsc.edu/~shagen/oconnor.htm (10 Nov. 1999).

McMillen, Jenny. “Short Story Reviews.”http://www.geocities.com?Athens/Troy/2188/reviews.html (10 Nov. 1999)

Owens, Mitchell. “The Function of Signature in ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find.’” Studies in Short Fiction 33 (Wntr 1996): 101-106.

Schilling, Timothy. “Trying To See Straight: Flannery O’Connor & the Business of Writing.” Commonweal 122 (Nov 3, 1995): 14-15.

Sloan, Gary. “O’Connor’s ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find.’” The Explicator 57 (Wntr 1999): 118-120.