by Tricia Hayner

Created on: May 20, 2008

Flannery O'Connor was an only child, born and raised in the southern state of Georgia. Throughout her upbringing, O'Connor, a devout Catholic, often felt out of place amongst the Protestant majority. As a writer, O'Connor repeatedly incorporated her religious beliefs into her stories, and often wrote about people who are considered to be "different", in a world full of people who are "normal". Much of O'Connor's stories highlight the struggle between good and evil. This struggle is often portrayed in a gothic style, and her characters are frequently faced with violent situations. In each of her stories there is an element of evil that can be interpreted as a representation of Satan.

In the short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find", O'Connor takes a vacationing family from Georgia on the road. This family, whose choices are influenced by the words and actions of the grandmother, ends up directly in the path of an escaped convict known as the Misfit. The Misfit eventually kills the entire family. The Misfit is a man of pure evil and is an obvious choice as the representative of Satan. However, by looking more closely at the story, it can be seen that the grandmother, who claims to be a pious woman, is actually hiding behind a faade of religious devotion. The old woman wants to be seen for her Southern grace and charm, but beneath her religious exterior there is a woman of many judgments and prejudices. The old woman at first tries to appeal to the Misfits good senses, and when that doesn't work she pleads to Jesus to save her. It is right at the grandmother's last moment of life that she looks at the Misfit and claims him as one of her own children. It is not until the last moment of the old woman's life that she becomes the woman of spiritual greatness that she has always claimed to be. This is a somewhat ironic twist, because it is the pure evil of the Misfit that allows the old woman to finally see God.

Each piece of work written by Flannery O'Connor, including other well known works such as "Everything That Rises Must Converge", "Good Country People", and "Revelation", all incorporate her devout faith and her deeply religious upbringing. While her works my be different than those that are normally considered to be Christian literature, her style of writing and her depictions of the struggle between good and evil are an interesting and important contribution to the literary world.

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