She Had It Coming

Am I the only one that thinks that the Grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find had it coming? The entirety of the story she was completely obnoxious. She was one of the those "it's my way or the highway" kind of people.  She caused more distress and chaos than everyone in the family combined. She is the sole reason for why the family was even on the road when the Misfit came by. Then once he was holding them captive she kept calling herself a lady and brown nosing him hoping to keep him from killing her. She had no real regard for her family. It was all about her.  Eventually the Misfit got fed up with her and shot her. As far as we know, she's the only woman that we have proof that the Misfit committed. When it comes down to it though, I think I would  have shot her too. I agree with the statement that he made at the end of the story. The Misfit said that the grandmother would have been good if someone had shot her every second that she was alive.

P.S. I commented on Susan's Blog

Irony.

I'm a little surprised this wasn't discussed much in class--but I love Flannery O'Connor's sense of irony. There's always a good strand of it running through her stories. The reader gets wrapped up in the character's expectations of what will transpire, and consequently are able to be surprised by the endings. Unlike the characters, we as readers are ultimately able to appreciate the ironic events. Why is it that O'Connor promotes and creates irony so proficiently, though? Well, I think it has something to do with bringing the reader to a point of humility, and ultimately to divine grace. We must realize how ridiculously overconfident we are about our beliefs, or our situations, and have everything taken away from us in order to see where exactly we are. Only then can we see the need for grace and accept it. 


--Commented on Samuel's

Giant Rabbit Caves

Well, I was not in class on Tuesday to hear the discussion on O’Conner, and I hate a cold response to a work right after reading it.  I am sure Schuler is well aware of this after the reading journals he has to endure from me every MWF.  Instead of responding to the works, I would like to take this opportunity to tell all of you how much honors has meant to me—how much all of you have meant to me. 

It has not been an easy journey, nor has it been the most consistently joyful journey.  There are days I leave class wanting nothing more than to stay and chew the fat with you until we go mad, and then there are days I want to climb a tree and hide from the ideas and all of you and especially the professors.  But I say this: despite the fountain of emotions that spring forth within me when I think about honors, if I move all of my emotions aside to look at honors as clearly as possible, I see that the journey has been difficult but worthwhile.  I have heard the following phrase from three teachers over the course of my education (once in middle school, once in high school, and once in college):  “We are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants.”  Now, I cannot tell you who said that but I can tell you that explains honors very well in my mind.  I have not done anything revolutionary, new, or innovative with the thoughts that I have encountered, written about, talked about, dreamed about, or blogged about.  But together we have climbed into realms of thought I never believed possible.  I have been challenged and shattered and restored, only to repeat the process time and time again.  My opinions change with each rabbit we chase, and I have never felt so consistently inconsistent.  But I would not trade it in or change it. 

As my time in the honors seminar comes to a close, I think back to the Cave that Mashburn awakened me to, Mitchell coaxed me through, and Schuler pulled me out of…I think of this place I stand now, in the light by the reflecting pool with Abernathy, until Talmage under the shade of the tree reminds me I cannot stay here and reflect forever.  And so, I must return to the Cave to awaken others the way I have been awakened, to take what these giants have shown me—shown us—and chase rabbits with a new crowd.  Note that I did not say a better crowd, but simply a new and different crowd.  As you make your way through the Cave, keep in mind that you must return to the Cave again one day to tell others what you have learned.  So learn, and learn well by not studying and instead encountering.

It has been fun chasing rabbits with you all, and I hope that we shall do so again one day even after this semester is over.  Do not fear the giants.

Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit.

Conversations With Crazy People

In A Good Man is Hard to Find, the misfit shows some very interesting insight when he talking to the grandma. "If He did what He said, then it's nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn't, then it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can." This statement holds true for us as Christians in a sense, but at the same time is also one of the most common arguments not necessarily for atheists, but simply for those wishing to live their lives as they prefer. "If He did what He said," then the misfit is exactly right. Why in the world would we do anything else if we knew that Jesus was who he said he was? On the contrary, "if He didn't," then we Christians have a serious problem.

This is where things get interesting. Science claims its victory over religion in the issue brought up by The Misfit. It does so by saying that empirically, we cannot prove that God exists or that Jesus is who the bible says He was. This thought is why we so often hear the question of "how do you know God is real?" Here is the dilemma, unless I am completely ignorant of some new evidence for God, in which case I apologize, then the simple fact is, I cannot prove the existence of God to someone else, but I know beyond any doubt that He does. Although others may never believe me, God has proved himself to me time and again. The change I have experienced in my own life is proof enough. In the same way, our very lives should be proof of who we serve. So, like The Misfit said, "If He did what He said," or in our case, if we believe that He did what He said, then we have nothing else to do but follow Him.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find? More Like Impossible...

Let's face it.  There is not one man, living or dead, who has ever lived without sinning at least once.  I doubt that the misfit can ever be seen as good again.  He murdered an entire family.  But even the family is not truly good.  They have all sinned.  I also do not see the grace at the end of the story.  He still murdered the family and he will most likely murder again.  The only grace that came to mind was how Jesus died for our sins and saved us from eternity in Hell.  God is the only one who can offer us grace.  Even though the grandmother seemed to have given him grace, God is still watching the misfit murder a family.  The only one who has ever been truly good is our Lord.  When we die, we face His judgement.  Only can He forgive us and grant us entrance into Heaven.  We should still strive to be more like God everyday and live for Him.

P.S. I commented on Jamie's post, "No one is good."

In Defense of Machiavelli

Before I begin, let me just say that the colloquium last night was incredible. Hats off to Ms Amy Wright and to Ms Kala Holt. I couldn't help but think the whole time of a quote by John F. Kennedy: "There has never been such an extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."


Now that that's over and out of the way, I wanted to elaborate on something that Dr. Talmage said in class on Tuesday. We were discussing the borderline between exegesis and eisegesis. Let me define this first. Exegesis is the critical interpretation of a text.  Eisegesis is the gross misrepresentation of a text, essentially "drawing something out of a text that wasn't there at all." 


Let's look at an example. During the abolitionist age that predated the American Civil War, many Abolitionists used the Bible to point out that Slavery was wrong. These abolitionists said that the verses to "love one another" were a direct command against slavery. After all, who could enslave a brother or sister in Christ. However, on the pro slavery sides, numerous passages in the Bible were mentioned that referenced slavery and the treatment of slaves. 


What is true about each of these sources is that while, yes, the Bible tells us to love one another it does, in fact mention slavery as well as how CHRISTIAN masters should treat their slaves. However, to look at the real meanings behind this, we need to look at outside sources. The slavery as seen in the Bible was often referred to as 'Debt Slavery' in which one person took out a loan with the promise to repay it under certain circumstances. If those circumstances were not met, then that person was the legal property of the one to whom he owed money. The first instances of this are mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi. So, it would seem that the Bible condones the Southern slaveholders.

The form of slavery in southern America seen in the 1800s is much different than that seen in the Bible. The slaves in what would become the Confederate States of America were not debt slaves. They were often descendants of African prisoners of war, or even taken captive by slave hunters in the mid 1600s on up to the early 1800s. They were by no means placed into slavery by taking out loans and failing to meet circumstances. Therefore we can conclude that the slavery of the southern states was wrong.

Now, on to my main point. A text that often falls under criticism is Nicolo Machiavelli's The Prince. We often take Machiavelli at his word that "It is better that a prince should be feared rather than loved." However, we often forget the life of the man who wrote such a work. I won't go into the details, but I will give the basics in bullet points for your convenience.

• Machiavelli was a Representative in the Florentine Congress (which stood for political freedom) during the political usurpation of the Medici family.
• When the Medici regained power, Machiavelli was put in prison for his political stances in favor of Freedom as opposed to totalitarian rule.
• After the torture ended, Machiavelli was put on house arrest until the end of his life, it was during this period that he wrote The Prince.

Now there is a movement among many nowadays that says works like The Prince and other of Machiavelli's writings were satirical. While I endorse neither side, I will say that this modern movement makes much more sense than taking Machiavelli at his word.

I will end with a quote by the French Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

"Machiavelli was a proper man and a good citizen; but, being attached to the court of the Medici, he could not help veiling his love of liberty in the midst of his country's oppression. The choice of his detestable hero, Caesar Borgia, clearly enough shows his hidden aim; and the contradiction between the teaching of the Prince and that of the Discourses on Livy and the History of Florence shows that this profound political thinker has so far been studied only by superficial or corrupt readers. The Court of Rome sternly prohibited his book. I can well believe it; for it is that Court it most clearly portrays."

~Cody Martin

PS- I commented here

This weeks reading selections were great, I loved Flannery O'Connor. At first, I wrote her off as weird because of the dark humor. I realized though that there was so much more to her writings though, A Good Man is Hard to Find was so good. The grandmother believes that she has it all right, she is a good person and there is real lack of people like her in the world. Juxtaposed is The Misfit, who understands his own depravity but has no idea about redemption or whether or not Christ did what He said He did. I loved this stories ending because it gave grace or the shadow of it to The Misfit. Something changes when the grandmother touches him, there is a noticeable shift from his desire for "meanness" and the subsequent shift to his belief that this no longer brings him pleasure.

P.S. commented on Thorn in my Side

Are You My Mother?

Listen lady," he said in a high voice, "if I had been there I would've known and I wouldn't be like I am now." ... She murmured, "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!" The Misfit admits that he has no faith, but that he might have faith if he could back it up with reason. The grandmother has faith with no reason, her "faith" is solely based on her upbringing and the values of her southern culture instead of a relationship with Christ. She refers to him as her  child figuratively because he is the child of legalistic religion. The Misfit is the result of dogma that takes Scripture, removes Christ's love and sacrifice, and replaces it with judgment and wrath.  When he was sent to jail for a crime he couldn't even remember, O'Connor was demonstrating judgment of the lost souls who can't even name their own sin. If they don't have faith and knowledge of the Scripture, how can they know that they are in the wrong? But the "papers" that the police had in him with his signature proved that he deserved punishment, not that he repented after this punishment. How could he if he didn't know why he was condemned? This is why he sought revenge on society. Condemnation does not save lost souls, redemption and an encounter with God does, even if they don't deserve it.  But wait ... Isn't that grace? ;)

Misfit vs Grandmother

Some of this may have been discussed in class. Fill me in on anything I'm missing.

O'Connor seems to be illustrating both the problems and benefits of modernist thought. She provides two contrasting characters as the illustration.

The grandmother, a religious woman, claims a relationship with Christ. Her nature is like the pre-moderns: faithful and unquestioning. Unfortunately, as the occasion arises where her faith should be most helpful, she fails. Her faith and moral standard collapse. This is a common belief about the religious. They are often considered hypocritical.

The Misfit is modern. Although he challenges religion and the beliefs, he is unchanging. Unlike the grandmother, his actions are consistent. To him, they hold more value. Because he admits that all actions are subjective, he is able to live as he truly is, unlike the religious grandmother who attempts to live as someone she is not.

His behavior results in murder, but a modern would say that this is actually more acceptable than a false self that the grandmother has.

Ad augusta per angusta,
Will

P.S. I commented on Mallory's "hermeneutics."

Grace Where?

In class we were discussing that at the end of A Good Man is Hard to Find there is grace.  First I just want to ask, without the notes from the author, would we have seen that?  If we weren't told that there was any grace, would we really go fishing to find where it is?  I think that if we never knew what Flannery O'Connor said about this short story, we would never even talk about the Grace.  However, since we did, I find it really hard to see the Grace at the end of this story.  I mean, the whole family is dead and the Misfit is still a murderer who will continue to kill, steal, and commit other felonies.  Yes, the Misfit may realize that doing injustices to other people doesn't bring him happiness, but does that mean he will stop? Is he going to turn himself in to the police and confess for all of his crimes? I doubt it.  It seems like we are just trying to find something good at the end of a story which is so bad.

I commented on Autumn Jackson's blog

Sincerely,
Susan Berner

It's a Slow Fade When Black and White Have Turned To Gray (First Long Post Ever) #excitement

 Let me begin by saying that I absolutely love O'Connor. Her stories always have a great message and irony in them. One of the things that I loved the most about all of her stories is that there are no absolutes. I don't think that O'Connor intended for there to be good guys and bad guys in her stories. It seems like all of her characters are flawed. These stories are not told in black and white, but instead it explodes with color since the characters are written with depth instead of being merely morally just or morally unjust.

Primarily let's look at "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Since the grandmother and her family are introduced first, they are seen as the good people. However, they are not absolutely good. It seemed like the grandmother and the father of the children were constantly in conflict. First, they conflicted about the destination of the vacation, then they fought about whether they should go to the house with "the secret-panel". I think it's safe to say that if it weren't for the grandmother's idea to go to that house, or her verbal recognition of the Misfit, the family would still be alive. I think the two morally questionable people in this story are the grandmother and the Misfit. You can't say that the Misfit is all good because although he doesn't know why he was in the penitentiary, he was punished for some crime, and he had a direct role in the murder of the family in the story, and murdered the grandmother. However, he was not all bad either because he showed a moment of weakness in killing the grandmother. He was at the point of almost crying before the grandmother was killed by him. He said that if he knew Jesus had raised from the dead, maybe he wouldn't have to resort to the criminal lifestyle. The grandmother also isn't all good or all bad. She isn't all bad, because she truly had not done anything wrong, except attempt to hug a criminal! But however, she was not all good either. She kept trying to reason with the criminal. Trying to say that he came from nice people and such. She was trying to weasel herself out of a situation she created. She took it a step too far when she tried to compare the Misfit to her family, and her slyness is what led to her destruction.

The same can be said in Good Country People. You cannot assume that Hulga is a morally just person just because she was introduced before the bible salesman. I honestly could not stand Hulga. I thought she was a genuinely evil person with her Atheistic beliefs. Then, I was introduced to the bible salesman. I said to myself as I read for the first time, "Finally! A voice of reason!". My mindset of the salesman changed when I found out his true intentions. As he seduced Hulga, and stole her leg (still funny), my thoughts of them reversed. Suddenly, Hulga was a character I pitied. She was so helpless and defenseless stuck up in that barn, and the bible salesman was pure evil. He did not believe in what he was selling and only was interested in Hulga for her legs (so to speak). O'Connor did a great job of making us believe one way of the two characters, then completely changing our opinions of them.

You will see similiar things in The Artificial Nigger. It appalled me when the grandson ran into a woman, and a swarm of people comes around her wanting to know who is responsible for him. Then, the grandfather denied knowing the boy. He was obviously with the child, because he and the grandfather were the only non-African-Americans in the neighborhood. He did not fool any of the people, and the woman in which he ran into was more resentful of the old man for denying knowing his grandson than of the boy for running into her. You would think that a grandfather was tender-hearted, a loving figure, and would cherish his grandchildren, but this man broke those barriers. However, the boy seems a little naive in my opinion. He      feels betrayed and resents the grandfather at the time of the betrayal, but instead of keeping that betrayal, he had forgiven the man. I know that Dr. Abernathy spoke of grace in "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", but it is a bit more obvious in this story.  The grandfather did not deserve forgiveness. He denied knowing the child and that should not be forgiven. However, the child did. I might be wrong, but I think this is a loose-allusion to Peter's denial of Christ. Peter denied Christ, and Peter did not deserve to be forgiven, but he was anyway. They were shown mercy by not being punished, but they were shown grace, because they were given what they did not deserve: forgiveness.

This moral gray area that I'm rambling on about is also present in Revelation. Mrs. Turpin is a terrible lady. She enters the doctor's office and immediately labels everyone in the room. She is the type of person who will judge you before you've said a word to them. Then you read of the magnificent Mary Grace.  Honestly, because of the acne, I instantly disliked Mary Grace, yet she let that mean old Mrs. Turpin know what she really was: an old wart hog that deserved to go to Hell. I had some respect for the pimple-faced girl after that. However, the point I would like to make through this story is through the actual revelation that Turpin has. She sees countless souls ascending to Heaven. First, the freaks, the lunatics, the white trash, and the Negros. Then, the "good country people" like herself bringing up the rear. It reminded me of the  "First shall be last, and last shall be first" verse in Scripture. The lowly and worst of the citizens were the first that were ascending into heaven. Those that are looked upon as the socially shunned and bad people (i.e. the negroes and white-trash) are equal in Heaven.

In conclusion to my post, I would like to bring together my point: there is a moral gray area. There is no one that is all good nor all bad. The only person that was all good died on the cross. However, the rest of us are flawed. Although, this is nothing to fret about. The reason that I love O'Connors works is that her characters have depth. You see her characters flaws, and we can relate to them. If you see a morally perfect person, you cannot relate to that because you are a morally imperfect person. The person that I believe most of us relate to is the Misfit. We are constantly fighting this battle for good and evil. He seemed to be losing his battle, but we are fighting this battle so that our good side triumphs over bad. And with that I bid ado.

Commented on Hunter's "Grandma Got Run Over By The Misfit"

Thorn in my side

     Something that has come up a lot lately has been the issue of pride. The main thing that stood out to me was the part at the end where the misfit shoots her and says "She would have been a good woman had he had someone there to shoot her every day." We talked in class about her head being cleared right before he shot her - she came to some sort of realization. She realized that she was the same as him. She had been living her life in this sort of bubble where her and her family were "good people." This experience humbled her. It took someone putting a gun to her to make her get to that point. The misfit's statement about needing someone to shoot her every day reminds me of Paul saying he had a "thorn in his side." It is the analogy of having something there to remind you, in Paul's case, of your need of a Savior. She needed this thorn in her side. Too bad it had to come at the end of her life in the form of a gun.

I commented on "Invisible Grace?"

No one is good

I first read A Good Man is Hard to Find in high school, and although I thought it to be quite strange and disturbing, I loved it. Not necessacerily because it was particularly entertaining, (although it was) but because I saw something. I wasn't quite sure what that something was at first, but it was there nonetheless. This was a rare occurrence for me prehonors. I always loved to read, but usually I was content with the face value of the story and maybe the obvious meanings. Partially because of this story, literature in general began to really make sense to me. I cant explain it, and I can't put it into words, but it's clicked. The conclusions I came to then about this story have not changed, and most of them were discussed yesterday in class. One thing that I dont believe was mentioned in class and actually just hit me is the central idea of a good man being hard to find. In Mark 10:18, Jesus says that no one is good except God alone. Every character in the story, unless I'm mistaken, (except maybe the baby) has some type of noticeable flaw. A good man is hard to find, because there are no good men. This, to me makes the dialog between the grandmother and the misfit regarding Jesus stand out a lot more. And whether or not o'connor actually intended to say this, I think that a good man is so hard to find because there is so little effort put forth in seeking the only one who is good. Ps. Commented on Autumn's "Hell is... Not other people"

Hell is…. not Other People?

Listening to the thesis presentations last night really started drawing lines and connecting some of the stuff we’ve read this semester. One thing that really stood out to me was something Kala said about one of the characters in… Decent Into Hell, I believe it was, who withdraws from everyone. The further he withdraws, the deeper he goes into hell. That hit me like, “Whoa! So hell is NOT other people??” And then I thought about Hulga (ugh! That name!) from O’Connor’s Good Country People. She basically withdrew from the world to live out the remainder of her life in her mother’s house: caring for nothing, believing in nothing, and being quite nasty to those around her. She seems to be in a self induced hell. She says she wants to be out at a university discussing the things she knows with people who care and know what she‘s talking about, yet she removes herself from the possibility of that situation by isolating herself at her mother’s house, then shunning her mother as well. She is left utterly alone in the world. I think Sartre had it wrong-- well not wrong, but maybe there’s more to it. This is going to sound a little weird, but is it possible for hell to be both other people and no people? Perhaps it’s hell only when the other person proves to be our doppelganger, but otherwise it’s hell without other people. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just talking in trapezoids. Blah…


P.S. I commented on "Invisible Grace" by His Beloved

hermeneutics.

After reading A Good Man is Hard to Find, I honestly thought it was grotesque. I had to read it in high school and I remember thinking it was sort of, well, gross. Class on tuesday helped me see that is redemption in it, which is comforting in light of the fact that I don't really... like it. But when Talmage said he didn't see the grace, I really thought that was okay too. I started thinking about the beauty of literature as an art form- how the interpretations are really just interpretations. They aren't the art itself. If someone walks away with grace, that's what we hope for, but if someone doesn't- that's okay too.

For me, the hardest part about this semester in Honors has been that we always interpret the text. I know that sounds silly, but when you have grown up just reading books, and not having to think much past your own personal opinion, to be forced into constant dialogue about it is... exhilarating, exhausting, awesome, and exhausting. I was reminded in class that in the end, it really is okay if we all see this art differently. We all love to read, that's why we're here. We all love to learn, and sometimes we can pull apart the text like a math problem when what we need to do is let it work on us. It's good that there are people who see different things in this work. That is what makes it art rather than algebra.

Misguided Misfit

During class we were talking about where and if grace is evident in A Good Man is Hard to Find. It's hard to tell, especially since I haven't read a lot of Flannery O' Connor's works, but I think in the end directly after the grandmother touches the Misfit and he recoils, that is where grace is seen. Before, the Misfit talks about how one should "enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can-- by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness," but after the grandmother touches him and he shoots her he said (about killing her), "It's no real pleasure in life." He admits that now he finds no pleasure in what he previously said would bring him pleasure. This transition happens because the grandmother touches him, but also because of the conversation they have directly prior. They are talking about Jesus raising the dead and the Misfit wishes he had been there- he doesn't know whether or not Jesus raised the dead because he wasn't there. Maybe that's why the grandmother was able to call him her child- they were united by their doubt, but they handled it in different ways. When the Misfit recognized his doubt he recognized his reason for his outlook on life. He says maybe if he had been there (when Jesus raised the dead) he wouldn't be like he is now. The Misfit found pleasure in meanness because he didn't see the value of good and the value of grace. Receiving grace requires faith -which is the unknown. When the Misfit realized that despite his meanness he still did not have pleasure, I think that's when the evidence of grace is seen- he knows he has to have something more in life than the fame and fear inspired by being a serial killer. Death is part of his constant reality- maybe it finally hit him that he didn't know if Jesus raises the dead- then or now. Since he doesn't know, he has no hope unless he turns to a higher Being. However, I don't think at this point he is willing to do that. Grace is offered... but refused... leaving a bitter and broken misguided Misfit.
P.S. commented on

Grandma Got Run Over By The Misfit

"Grandma got run over by the Misfit

Driving down to our house last summer.

You may say there's no such thing as good men,

But as for me and Ruby, we believe."

-Hunter Joplin, Grandma Got Run Over By The Misfit, Integrity Music, Inc.

Now that I've blown your minds with my incredible song parody skills (just eat it, Yankovic!), I shall now blog on the differences between The Grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find and Ruby Turpin in Revelation. Flannery O'Connor famously stated that all of her characters receive grace but are not well-equipped to support and nourish it. It has also been said that grace is supposedly "irresistible" but I wonder how well that theory holds out in O'Connor's writings, for these women both find grace but in different ways. 

For those among us taking Schuler's Medieval Lit/Lyric Poetry class, both the Grandmother and Ruby represent the archetypical "proud lady peacock", a word which here means they walk along strutting their brightest feathers for the world to see, i.e. they are prideful. Upon hearing that her family will be traveling to Florida despite the threat of The Misfit, she dons her most beautiful clothes and does her hair up nice so that if and when she dies, she'll look like a lady. For Ruby, she is constantly comparing herself to the rest of society and looking as mankind as though they were all in one big layer cake, praising God for giving her her position in life (in public, I might add) and debating whether it would be better to be a nice black woman or what she calls white trash. They both claim to be Christians but it is fairly obvious that they are just a might twisted in their doctrine. Oh, sure, they're nice enough people-Grandma's pretty annoying but she's not a demented heathen and Ruby wouldn't hurt a fly-but everything about their characters, from their descriptions to the way you read them, is very off-putting, mainly because they're supposed righteousness and joy is only self-importance.

They both meet a character that brings them to terms with their true nature (The Misfit, Mary Grace), and here's where the results are slightly different. Grandma contends that she is righteous and pure until her very last moments of life, when she stops making those ridiculous requests for the Misfit to start praying and actually extends forgiveness to him, accepting him as her own child and as a damaged, broken human being just like herself. Ruby, on the other hand, suddenly becomes much more misanthropic and hateful, as though Mary's rage had passed on to her, and the sham of Ruby's entire life appears before her. It is through this existential discontent, and a dramatic confrontation with God, that she understands that she is really no better than anyone else and yet just as beautiful in God's eyes as the dirtiest black woman in the world, and this is the grace that changes her life. Both are different from each other, and yet they're the same; likewise, I am different from these two women, yet I suffer from the exact same thing. We all have the same face with the same fatal flaw, and in need of the same grace.

Thank you for reading, please feel free to comment as you please, I commented on Joy Vigneulle's post.

Invisible Grace?

Reading "A Good Man is hard to Find" we brought up the point of there being grace shown at the end of the story. Ideas were being thrown around while discussing this and I feel like we came down to the idea that the grandmother gave grace at the end right before her death. I could not see that at first. She kept saying "Pray, pray, pray" as if she was begging the misfit to pray to save himself. We even brought up how the grandmother called the misfit one of her own son's. I can somewhat see it there, but still wonder. As Dr. Talmage said, he could see no grace in the end of the story. The misfit kills the grandmother, so no grace from saving her life. He does let her sit and talk to him before like her "last words." I can't help but wonder why he allowed her to say so much at the end compared to the others he killed. I feel like the misfit wanted to hear what the grandmother was saying, so that he could explain his reason for the lifestyle he is living out in killing. "to pay back" for the punishment he claims he unfairly served.
 Ps I commented on Joy's "O'conner"

O'Conner
So we read a good man is hard to find by O'Conner and one other piece which I can not remember right now because it is not in front of me. I find everyone's perspective on this story to be quite interesting. The grandmother and children are indeed quite annoying I must say. The misfit, if we are going to put the same emphasis as we did in class, is fighting his knowledge of a Divine Creator. It is a modern piece of work which aims at having humor. I do not see this grace that everyone was talking about in the story unless one is talking about at the end where the misfit says there is no pleasure in life which means he must abandon all to follow Jesus according to the statement he made just moments before.

Ps - His Beloved