Free Literature Review On “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”

The literary criticism for “A Good Man is Hard to Find” brings with it some interesting notions regarding spirituality, brevity of life, and concepts that concern typical presumptions of heroes and villains in fictional works. Fiction writing is always grounded in reality-based scenarios. Flannery O’Connor from the excerpt “On Her Own Work” points out that a good story leaves the reader with thought-provoking enjoyment that allows them to reflect on the themes read and discovered in the story. Literature is meant to get people thinking about issues in society that deserve attention and, thus, require a solution.
I thought the letter that O’Connor wrote about her Catholic faith gives precedence to her style of writing. From my knowledge and understanding of Catholicism, social justice is a primary cause that Catholics advocate as part of their lifestyles. Issues related to abortion, capital punishment, violent crime, poverty, disease and war can constitute burdens that conscious Catholics/Christians bear in their regular lives. Therefore, O’Connor alluded to the virtue of compassion in her letter because she said that “it’s to feel the contemporary situation at the ultimate level,” referring to the burden-bearing consciousness that Christians ought to experience in a suffering, terrible world.
According to O’Connor, the only true hope for a dying and lost world is the Church rooted and nourished in and as the Body of Christ. And it is from this spiritual standpoint that she articulates the moral lessons in her work. Even though the Misfit in the story is this evil man who committed a heinous crime, he still has a chance to redeem himself by receiving the grace offered him from Grandmother as she prepares to transition into eternity. Overall, I think that the author wants the reader to stretch his or her perception of the literal vs. figurative, human vs. divine. Our attitude toward literature will ultimately determine how much [wisdom] we gain from it.

Works Cited

O’Connor, Flannery. “On Her Own Work”: Insights into “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” 1963.
O’Connor, Flannery. “On Her Catholic Faith.” From a Letter In the Habit of Being. 1955.