A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Title: Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find": The Moment of Grace

Author(s): Michael Clark

Source: EXPLORING Short Stories. Detroit: Gale, 2003. From Student Resources in Context.

Document Type: Critical essay

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[In the following short essay, Clark discusses the moment of grace in O'Connor's story, when the Grandmother reaches out to touch the Misfit. Though O'Connor has repeatedly explained the ending to her story, many critics remain confused about the her intentions, particularly those who do not agree with or understand her strict approach to religion. ]

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is one of Flannery O'Connor's most discussed and most problematic short stories. The major difficulty involves the story's climax. Should the Grandmother's final act—her touching of the Misfit—be taken as a token of true, divine grace and spiritual insight? Or should the story be interpreted strictly as a naturalistic document? Perhaps the Grandmother achieves no spiritual insight. One can find critics on both sides of the argument. Since the issue is central to O'Connor's work at large, it is worth further examination. While this question may ultimately be impossible to resolve with certainty, further light can be shed upon this critical gesture.

In Mystery and Manners, O'Connor asserts that the Grandmother's final act is a "moment of grace." Critics, though, have not been convinced. While acknowledging Flannery O'Connor's reading, Madison Jones prefers to stress the "realistic explanation" of grace—a "naturalistic" grace which may be "spelled in lower case letters." Stanley Renner is also uncomfortable with the "religious" explanation and describes "the vague touch" on the Misfit's shoulder as "a parental blessing" or "the ceremonial dubbing of knighthood." Thus the Grandmother's response not so much reflects divine grace as it "touches her almost instinctive springs of sympathy and human kinship." Leon Driskell and Joan Brittain seem...