Spirituality Versus Evil By O`Connor Essays -

Spirituality Versus Evil By O`Connor Flannery O'Connor's use of the underlying theme, spirituality-versus-evil, is represented in the short stories ?A Good Man Is Hard to Find?, ?Everything That Rises Must Converge?, and ?Revelation?. Flannery O'Connor's Success comes from the use of her beliefs in religion and God, and from the Women's College of Georgia, where she studied social sciences (Friedman and Clark 38). O'Connor expresses God in all three of these short stories, however she also writes about ?the intoxication with God?is Satan? (Hyman, pp.32-37). In this critical essay over the three works by Flannery O'Connor listed above, I will discuss the formal commonalities of spirituality-versus-evil and how O'Connor's background in religion impacts ?Revelation?. In Flannery O'Connor's ?A Good Man Is Hard to Find?, one is struck by the unexpected violence at the end of the story. No one would expect to read ?the worst of O'Connor's tragic events?the extermination of an entire family? (Pawlson 86). However, if one re-reads the story a second time, one will see definite signs that foreshadow the grotesque ending. In ?A Good Man Is Hard to Find?, O'Connor demonstrates the natural forces of spirituality-versus-evil; the grandmother reacts in a kind manner when she is threatened with sheer terror by the Misfit (Friedman and Lawson 34). O'Connor uses the symbolic character Jesus Christ, to equal the amount of evil in this story. ?Jesus! You've got good blood! I know you wouldn't shoot a lady!? (O'Connor 362). The story begins with the typical nuclear family being challenged by the grandmother who doesn't want to take the vacation to Florida. She has read about a crazed killer by the name of The Misfit who is on the run heading for Florida. Unfortunately, she is ignored by every member of the family except for the little girl, June Star, who can read the grandmother like an open book. The fact that she admonishes Bailey, her son, of this Misfit and "what it [the Journal] says he did to these people" foreshadows the evil actions that will happen to them (O'Connor 352). Additionally, the morning of the trip the grandmother is the first one in the car ready to travel as June Star predicted she would be, "She wouldn't stay at home for a million bucks. She has to go everywhere we go" (O'Connor 118). This can be read as a direct foreshadowing of the grandmother's death. As one reads the story, one wonders why every time Bobby Lee and Hiram take someone into the forest, they never come back. Eventually, the whole family is taken to die. June Star's comment that the grandmother goes everywhere the family goes can be read as an indication that she will meet the same end that they did. Furthermore, although the grandmother did not want to go to Florida, she ironically dresses in her ?Sunday best?. It is ironic because when people die, they are often buried in their ?Sunday best?. She was dressed very nicely with ?a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress?Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace.? (O'Connor 353). All of the events that have taken place so far are foreshadowing evil directly on the family. As the trip progresses, the children reveal themselves as funny, spoiled brats. O'Connor's desire to illustrate the lost respect for the family and elders among the young is quite apparent in her illustrations of the children. One evidently notices another foreshadowing image when the family "passed by a cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island" (O'Connor 354). It is not an accident that the number of graves "five or six" matches the exact number of people in the car. There are 5 people and a baby. Since a baby is not exactly a full complete person, the obscureness of the number of graves being "five or six" is appropriate. The grandmother's reference to the plantation as "gone with the wind" can be seen as an image symbolizing the family's state at the end of the story (O'Connor 354). Their souls are "gone with the wind" as well upon death. Similarly, it is almost comical how O'Connor sets her readers up for the ending of the story. For example, the name of the town where the Misfit kills them is "Toombsboro" (O'Connor 356). The word Toombsboro can be divided into two words: Tombs and Bury. Put together with a slight southern accent gives the word "Tombsbury" which is very