Inhumanity in Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find and Shirle

In Flannery O’Connor’s, â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† and Shirley Jackson's, â€Å"The Lottery,† both short stories deal with man’s inhumanity in different situations, and ending with a similar consequence. Jackson and O'Connor both use two characters to depict man having the power to manipulate truth and objection into something people accept. In O’Connor’s’ A Good Man is Hard to Find, the Misfit is a character in need of desired assistance, troubled and confused he wanders savagely murdering strangers. On the opposite side of the ring, you have a seemingly traditional early 1900’s Caucasian senior citizen traveling with her family. Hasting to waste time, the grandmother drives her family all through the Southeastern states. The two meet in a tire blow out, and for the grandmothers’ wicked mouth this will be the end for the entire family. In a haste reaction trying to spare her own life other than her already dead family, she extends her arm towards the cold killer trying to unravel the slightest last bit of morality the Misfit has. At that moment, her Christian morals are revealed, but sadly the old woman finally was silenced. The Misfit fired his g un, scared and just in awe at the hope and desperation the grandmother had in her Christian hopes of saving her life. Humorously towards the killing the Misfit quotes, â€Å"She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." â€Å"In Matthew 10:39 Jesus says, â€Å"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.† O’Connor delves into this paradox in several of the short stories in A Good Man Is Hard to Find. For instance, the grandmother in â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† loses her earthl... ...er not using her voice caused her to lose her life; by not speaking she already had placed her hands into blind obedience resulting in her stoning. Being very inhuman, these stories tackle the very essence of inhumanity in tradition. Are you willing to play the lottery? Works Cited Hooten, Jessica. Comp. Baylor University. "EBSCOhost: Individualism in O’Connor’s A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND,† (2008). EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. Connors, Flannery O' "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Pegasus Web Server Home Page. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. Shields, Patrick J. "EBSCOhost: Arbitrary Condemnation and Sanctioned Violence in Shirley Jackson's "the Lo..." Vol. 7.No.4 (2004): 411-19. EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. Dec. 2004. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery--Shirley Jackson." Classic Short Stories. Web. 15 Nov. 2010.