Religion: One Way or Another
Andrea Morton
English 1301.A
1 May 2013
Religion: One Way or Another
Mahatma Gandhi once said “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Human actions that contradict what they preach are what have caused many disturbances in societies. For years artists, painters, philosophers and writers have been trying to portray in their art this human behavior. Flannery O’Connor is not the exception; “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People” are two examples that effectively portray religion can often bring out the best or, in some cases, the worst of every human being.
Flannery O'Connor was born on March 25, 1925, lived in Savannah, Georgia. During the great depression her family moved out to Milledgeville, where she earned an A.B. Degree. O'Connor was born to a very devoted Catholic family, fact that would later on become a label in all of her works; she portrayed the mystery of God's Grace through trivial things, often in grotesque and violent manners. After she was officially diagnosed with lupus she moved back to Milledgeville with her mother, where she continued to write and publish most of her stories, including Wise Blood, Good Country People and the short story collection A Good Man is Hard to Find. She died in 1964 of lupus-related renal failure ((Mary) Flannery O'Connor).
A Good Man is Hard begins when the Grandmother’s family decide to go on a trip. The Grandmother lives with her only son, Bailey, he wants to take his family on a trip to Florida, but “the Grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida” (O’Connor GMHF 352). She tries to convince her son to go to Tennessee instead. The children are rude to her, for they even suggest the grandmother can stay. “If you don’t want to go to Florida, why dontcha stay at home?” (O’Connor GMHF 353) The following morning they begin their journey to Florida. They stop to eat at Red...