A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Essay Example

The narration of ‘A Good is hard to Find’ analyzes the mind of its main character, the grandmother, to portray the mind of the entire society. From the beginning, the title of narration is very appealing to eyes of the reader. Flannery O’Connor is a humorous and yet an analytical individual. Firstly, the author portrays the mind of his main character, grandmother, to bring out the true meaning of the title. According to the narration, grandmother perceived that the definition of good man is one that does what she views as good in her eyes. She tells a story of Mr. Atkins who only brought her watermelons when she was a maiden and compared him to Mr. Teagarden who was a gentleman and brought her a stock of Coca-Cola. According to the grandmother, Mr. Teagarden was a good man because of his character and what he brought her. However, Mr. Atkins was not a real person as he only brought her watermelons. From the grandmother’s character, Flannery seems to be looking at how people’s minds function in today’s community in that that we perceive something good when it only aligns with our goodness. Additionally, the author uses humor to describe grandmother’s style. In the story, grandmother had an enormous dark valise that the author compared to the head of a hippopotamus. This description portrays how the grandmother took time in her appearance. She did not mind how others saw it so long as I made her look like a woman. She states that in her dressing will enable witnesses to describe her as a woman in case of an accident. Her main concern people’s perception of her appearance but not the safety of her relatives (O’Connor 137). This instance is symbolic of the society’s misconceptions. She is a good example of people who deem themselves good but have misguided behaviors.

‘Cathedral’ is a story that depicts the lives of many individuals in the society. The story utilizes two main characters who impact each other’s lives to bring out what lies within them. The narration involves a blind man, Robert, and Carver. Even though I found Flannery’s story to be appealing, I feel that Carver brought out a simple matter in a more complex but comprehensive manner which I found to be more attractive. In this story, Carver demonstrates how a person’s sight does not determine his ability to look at an individual. Even though he had his natural sight, he was unable to see the sufferings of his wife. The narrator’s wife is a symbol of his inability to see. His wife found it better to confide in Robert who was far away than her husband who lived with her (Carver). Robert, being blind, signified how a person’s blindness does not determine their ability to see. As the story continues, the narrator interacts with Robert and discovers so much about him and what he had missed in his life due to the narrator’s ‘blindness.’ The narrator realizes how his habits contributed to his blindness as fails even to describe a cathedral in the television. Robert convinces the narrator to draw it with his eyes closed and as he continued to do it, he discovers a new feeling in him, something unique. The narrator finally discovers what it means to see. The cathedral was a symbol of the true meaning of seeing through the inner eyes.

Work Cited

Flannery O’Connor. A Good Man is Hard to Find. Collected Works the Library of America. 1925-1964. p137

Raymond Carver. Cathedral. 1983.