"Jesus Thrown Everything off Balance": Religious Crises and Agents of Grace in Flannery O'Connor's Short Stories Anna Woodiwiss '03

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1 "Jesus Thrown Everything off Balance": Religious Crises and Agents of Grace in Flannery O'Connor's Short Stories Anna Woodiwiss '03 Flannery O'Connor's short stories are, at first glance, small in scope. They describe a baptism, a trip to Florida, life on a farm. Each of them, however, centers on a moment of crisis and revelation that bears enormous implications for the individual and that is evidence of a sweeping religious vision that O'Connor sees intertwined with the bread and butter of everyday life. Faith for O'Connor is an absolute, totalizing force. One has it or one doesn't, and the transition from one state of belief to another often comes as a shock to the person experiencing it. From her vantage point as a reclusive Catholic in a largely evangelical Protestant, sociable culture, O'Connor crafts a scathing critique of self-righteous, complacent, well-intentioned people, the people who populate most of (white) Southern society. At the same time, she offers a constructive, though disconcerting, idea of the nature of belief. She chooses marginal characters as her representatives and suggests that God does the same. The mere presence of freaks, as she terms them, in people's lives serves to burst the bubble of their self-satisfaction and offers them the chance to view life with newly-opened eyes. The major themes in O'Connor's workcrisis/revelation, the need for true awareness of reality, and the use of children and freaks as Christ figures or agents of redemption in the elaboration of her religious visionpoint to the omnipresence of grace. Her characters cannot escape grace, try though they might. In O'Connor's literary theology, the attributes and workings of God are incomprehensible to ordinary people. The salvific work that characters like The Misfit, Harry/Bevel, Mr. Guizac, and others perform for themselves and others often occur against their will. Frederick Crews characterized O'Connor's writing as "not finally about salvation, but about doomthe sudden and irremediable realization that there is no exit from being, for better or worse, exactly who one is" (Crews qtd. in McMullen 58). I would argue instead that O'Connor's idea of salvation is "being exactly who one is." Her characters are often shocked into recognizing unpleasant or difficult realities. Grace serves to bring about recognition of things as they are. O'Connor alluded to this when she wrote, "We should not be so prone to ignore how very divisive grace is; we should not so often forget that it cuts with the sword Christ came to bring" (O'Connor qtd. in Muller 100). Freaks, criminals, foreigners and childrenpeople on the margins of societyintroduce crises of grace into everyday life and provide those around them with the opportunity to recognize the presence of something Other than themselves. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," one of O'Connor's best-known works, describes a family on a trip to Florida and their encounter with an escaped criminal called The Misfit. The family members are a normal, instantly recognizable group of charactersthe loud, fussy kids; the overworked mother with a baby; the sullen, distant father; and the nostalgic, interfering grandmother. Their lives seem insular, but no more than ours. They are jolted out of their everyday existence, however, when, after an accident caused by the grandmother and her cat, they encounter the Misfit and his henchmen. The criminals threaten their lives, but they are oddly courteous and friendly while doing sofar from the monsters portrayed earlier in a newspaper story. The Misfit creates a dual crisis for them: the physical crisis of survival and a spiritual crisis for the grandmother, as she pleads with the Misfit to spare their lives and change his ways. She tells him that she knows he's a good man at heart "I can just look at you and tell" (128). While she is saying this in a desperate attempt to save herself, her words force her to pay attention to the 1

2 Misfit as a person, not just as a stereotype of a hardened criminal on the loose. She urges him to pray, saying that Jesus would help him, to which the Misfit responds that he doesn't want any help. The Misfit then launches into an extraordinary monologue about Jesus. He says that Jesus threw everything off balance and that, except for the proof against him, his case is the same as Jesus'. He had said earlier that he was the kind of child who had to know everything, and he explains that not being able to know whether Jesus did what people claim for him has made him (the Misfit) like he is. The message of Jesus is portrayed here as one that requires absolute devotion or absolute rejection. The desire of the Misfit to know everything and his inability to confirm or deny Jesus' story has created an intractable dilemma that consumes him. He is on the verge of tears when the grandmother, through the miasma of fear that consumes her, experiences a moment of clarity and revelation. "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children," she says (132). This strange acceptance is too much for the Misfit to take and he recoils and shoots her. The grandmother's acceptance of someone so different from her is wrenched out of her by extraordinary circumstances, and she is only partly conscious or rational as she expresses it. It forms the climax of the story and is the culmination of the interchange between the grandmother and the Misfit. This interchange incorporates all the themes of crisis, the need for perception, and the freak as teacher. The Misfit, in a sense, is the good man that's hard to find and an instrument of clarity, even as he is also a murderer. The grandmother's death is an example of another O'Connor trademark: the dramatic and irreversible consequences of revelation. In the religious drama within the story, the Misfit acts as both Christ and anti-christ figure. He compares himself to Christ, saying, "It was the same case with Him as me, except He hadn't committed any crime and they could prove I had committed one because they had the papers on me" (131). Even though the Misfit cannot dedicate himself to either path, he recognizes that there are really only two alternatives in life: belief and disbelief. Inattention and indifference to faith, the position held by most of the characters in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and many in O'Connor's other stories, are unacceptable and ultimately untenable responses. The Misfit has named himself aptlyhe believes and yet cannot accept the message of Jesus. Gilbert Muller suggests that since the Misfit finds himself unable to attach his loyalties to an overriding ethical or theological position, he finds his consolation only in amoral acts of violence (85). The inability of the Misfit to live by a faith he believes to be true makes him a surprising vehicle for grace. There can be no question, however, of O'Connor's intent. The Misfit and his gun create a moment of redemption for the grandmother, albeit against her will. Despite his amorality, his actions extract from her a recognition born out of compassion, one that invites, simultaneously, her salvation and her destruction. Source: 2

3 Flannery O Conner s A Good Man is Hard to Find Posted on Monday the 23rd of April, 2007 at 10:33 pm in Literature In Flannery O Connor s short story A Good Man is Hard to Find a typical Georgia family go on vacation to Florida, but are murdered by an escaped convict named The Misfit. In the following quote the protagonist explains why he calls himself The Misfit. Jesus thrown everything off balance. It was the same case with Him as with me except he hadn t committed any crime and they could prove I committed one because they had the papers on me of course they never shown me my papers. That s why I sign myself now. I said long ago, you get a signature and sign everything you do and keep a copy of it. Then you ll know what you done and you can hold up the crime to the punishment and see do they match and in the end you ll have something to prove you ain t been treated right. I call myself the Misfit because I can t make what all I done fit what all I gone through in punishment. The quote can be taken to mean many things, but there are two possibilities that are the most convincing.either The Misfit was not guilty of a crime when he was punished or was indeed guilty and did deserve the punishment, but, as a psychopath generally does, he reasoned that his crime was not a real crime. The most obvious option is the first one which, if you know Flannery O Connor s writing, makes it the most questionable. The Misfit says that when he was sent to the penitentiary he was buried alive. Because the atmosphere of a penitentiary in the time the story is set (1940 s rural America) was like that of a medieval dungeon men would be sentenced to prison for years to live with abuse guards and inmates alike and suffer the mental trauma of living in a stone box often men would come out worse than they went in, and the effects on a innocent man would be compounded even further. The Misfit never admits to committing a crime, but he also never denies it. This can be explained away by assuming that he was not actually guilty of a crime, but spent years in prison with people telling him he was guilty. Eventually, this would have worn down his own mental defenses and convinced him that he was guilty; however, his inability to name this crime could be his way of denying a crime took place while appeasing the head doctors who would do their best to convince him of his guilt. However, some psychopaths would do anything to convince themselves that they did not commit a crime. In the very beginning of the story, the grandmother reads a news article and comments that her son should read what it says [The Misfit] did to these people and comments that I couldn t take my children [anywhere] with a criminal like that loose, so it seems that The Misfit is not innocent, but a rather vicious killer. Further, The Misfit comments [it] ain t right I wasn t there [when Jesus raised the dead] because if I had been there I would have known [if it was possible to raise people from the dead and] I wouldn t be like I am now. He did not really think murder was a crime because death is the end and there is no heaven or hell. He also mentions that he was an undertaker for a time, and says to the grandmother that there was never a body that gave the undertaker a tip. This (aside from being part of Flannery O Connor s black humor) is his way of rationalizing what he is doing: he is just an undertaker. 3

4 Another piece of evidence that suggest he is guilty is his comment that Jesus thrown everything off balance, which could be taken as Jesus was innocent but people said he was guilty, and punished him as such. The Misfit acted in a calm and dispassionate manner until he began talking about religion and forgiveness, so he may have been innocent of the crimes he was punished for, and sorry for the crimes he had committed after escaping. However, this comment can be taken to mean many things, including that Jesus allowed the thief on the cross to be forgiven of his sins and made him innocent rather than guilty, but this leads to the possibility that The Misfit was indeed guilty of his original crimes, but in The Misfit s mind he was not guilty because Jesus made him innocent again. The biggest piece of evidence for The Misfit s guilt is how easily he seemed to send the family to their deaths. However, his comment when the grandmother recognized the was it would have been better if you hadn t [recognized] me and he told her he would hate to have to [kill her]. O Connor describes his eyes as being red-trimmed and pale and defenseless looking signifying that maybe he was not a cold blooded killer, but would just do anything not to go back to the penitentiary. The Misfit was not a good person, that much is certain, but the question is was he driven to be the way he was because of his own experiences or was he just a cold-blooded murderer who thought he was an undertaker killing people to balance out the ones Jesus raised from the dead. However, with no direct evidence of the original crime the reader is left to guess endless possibilities and scenarios including things as absurd as having The Misfit kill his father who was dieing from the flu in the hopes he would be raised from the dead. Although The Misfit did not look like a killer (described as hiving a scholarly appearance) and obviously did not enjoy killing the family, he was a murderer regardless of whether he became one from ones committed to him or his own inability to grasp the finer points of being human. The original quote by itself seems to say The Misfit is innocent, but in the context of the story it could mean anything. As the story unfolds it is left up to the reader to decide whether he became a killer because of his own unjust experiences or his nature. Then to decide if it even matters. Source: 4

5 The Power Of Good And Evil---Kalli Margaritis Good and bad. Right and wrong. Guilty and Innocent. These are just a few of the many themes that surround everyone s life. Everyone has their own opinion about certain issues, and they depend on their values, judgment, and beliefs to see them through their difficulties. Flannery O Connor was quoted as saying "I see from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. This means the meaning of life is centered in our Redemption by Christ and that what I see in the world I see in relation to that" (Contemporary Authors 402). These themes are present in O Connor s story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." The story is about a grandmother, a "good" woman who goes on vacation with her son and his family and suffers terribly due to her poor judgement, and beliefs, but learns the true meaning of "good" in the face of something "bad." The grandmother lives with her only son, Bailey, his wife and their children. The beginning of the story the grandmother is preparing to take a trip with her son s family to Florida; a place where she doesn t even want to go. She wants the whole family to go to Tennessee to visit relatives (O Connor 907).This is the first example of the egocentric ways that lead her to her demise. She wants to uproot the whole family,only for her benefit. She also does not want to go to Florida because there is a escaped convict, an evil man, on the loose. She says, "The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to those people" (O Connor 907). Critic Richard Spivey explains the use of violence in O Connor s work: "O Connor dealt with violent and grotesque people because "man has in his soul a powerful destructive element, which often makes him behave in a violent and grotesque manner.... Her writing is about the existential struggle with the principle of destruction traditionally called the Devil" (Contemporary Authors 403). The day of the trip Grandma is the first packed and ready to go. She does not want to leave the cat because as she says, "he would miss her too much" (O Connor 907). This comment would suggest that the grandmother thinks highly of herself and is believes she is the most important person in the family. While everyone else is in comfortable travel clothes, Grandma is dressed formally. She had on a "navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy dress with a small white dot in the print" (O Connor 907). Both incidents are prime examples that show the grandmother s behavior. We see that the grandmother is selfish and uncaring. She claims that she is a "good" person, yet she criticizes everyone and always wants to get her way. She hides the cat and lies about it to her son; she did not consider how anyone would feel about her bringing the cat. Yet, on the other hand she is very concerned with social opinion. She is dressed nicely, her excuse is that "in case of an accident anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know that she was a lady" (O Connor 907). This shows that the grandmother was very concerned with people s opinion. She acted proper, had strong virtues, values; a good woman in her view. But she was a self- centered person who judged others harshly, so that she would look good. She felt that the Misfit was a "bad" person who did horrible things and was going to suffer because of the decisions he had made in his life. 5

6 Here, again we see the paradox of good and bad. Literary critic Abigail Ann Hamblen discuses this theme. "We see it to be a confrontation of the Christian with the non-believer. They (the family) are constrained to be "good" because they believe Jesse s words, and the Misfit, a doubter, is free to be bad" (Hamblen 295). Everything changes when the family gets in an accident. She doesn t worry for the other family members. She tries to act hurt because she knows that her son is upset with her because she is the one who caused the accident She tries to divert attention to herself by saying that "I believe I have injured an organ (O Connor 913). A good person would try to offer assistance, but the only thing that concerned the grandmother was once again, herself. Problems are also evident when some men come to their aid and she recognizes the Misfit. Here is where Good and Evil meet. The forest that surrounded them a few hours before was "full of silver- white sunlight, now is "tall, dark and deep" (O Connor 912,913). This suggests that the "bad" criminal has finally met the "good" grandmother. She quickly points out to him that he "wouldn t shoot a lady" (O Connor 913). She casts aside the family s safety to benefit hers. She tries to convince the Misfit that he is in the same category of people with her. "You don t look a bit like you have common blood" (O Connor 913). The grandmother tries to convince the convict that he isn t just anyone, but a "good man," something she does not believe but tries to get the misfit to believe so that her life can be spared. As the tension rises the grandmother turns to religion to guide her during this ordeal. She asks the Misfit if he has ever prayed, hoping that by mentioning God he will not kill her. Critic Martha Stephens explains the Misfit s point of view, "We learn that the center of the Misfit s life has always been Jesus Christ, and what we see by the final scenes is that the Misfit has, the distinction of having at least faced up to the problem of Christian belief. And everything he has done proceeds from the inability to accept Christ, to truly believe" (Stephens 205). Quotes from T.S. Elliot s essay on Baudelaire also tie into the theme of this story. Elliot states "so far as we are human, what we must do must either evil or good; so far as we do evil or good, we are human; and it is better, in a paradoxical way, to do evil than to do nothing; at least we exist. It is true that the glory of man is his capacity for salvation; it is true to say that his glory is his capacity for damnation" (Stephens 189). The Misfit has come to terms with the choices he has made concerning religion, and is facing the decision he made. When the grandmother notices that her son and family have disappeared into the woods she quickly tries to manipulate the criminal s mind by getting him to talk to her about his life. The Misfit believes that God is to blame for all the evil. "Jesus thrown everything off balance" (O Connor 916).When the grandmother makes repeated attempts to get him to pray, he states that "I don t want no he", "I m doing all right by myself" (O Connor 915). "He has met the issue head-on, though; unlike many people and unlike many of Miss O Connor s villains, he refuses to pretend the issue- and the choice- do not exist" (Drake 183). Her repeated attempts at mentioning God suggest that she is trying to get the Misfit to look at his life. She believes that by mentioning God he will try to "save" himself and not commit anymore crimes. Another critic of O Connor s work H. Muller Gilbert wrote that the "Misfit is a memorable antagonist is an astute madman who deliberately places himself in opposition to 6

7 Christ. The Misfit is cast into a hopeless situation because of the demonic aspects of the world, and his sense of alienation has intensified by his belief that God has abandoned him" (Gilbert 125). That is why the Misfit commits these crimes. This is the first example of the grandmother s apparent transformation. She no longer looked down on the Misfit, but saw him as an equal. It also suggests that by finding God it gave her a chance of cleansing the evil within her. She finally realized that in God s world everyone was looked at the same, regardless of their imperfections. Drake observes that in O Connor s view, "physical or mental deformity of the outward and visible sort always suggest inner, spiritual deformity. And when she compares man to the non- human, she is suggesting that his efforts to assert his own will, to provide his own "savior," make him into just that non-human, sometimes even inhuman" (48). The Misfit has given up on everything, including God and feels that there is no purpose to his life, "no pleasure in life," "no pleasure but meaness" (O Connor 916, 917). It was at this point that she stated "why your one of my babies, your one of my own" (O Connor 917). At this moment the grandmother s true colors came out as she finally saw the error of her ways, she finally saw the "light".at this instance the Misfit realized too, that he was also a person with feelings and was frightened by the grandmother s influence on him, and shot her. Critic Robert McCown analyzes the final scene in terms of the colors of black and white. "The fierce contrast of black against white or very light gray has its purposes. In two or three pages we see the horror of a soul, blasted by the sin of despair, a soul which, we feel had at one time had a glimpse of the light and a way of peace, but rejected it" (McCown 285). In the end the Misfit, Darkness and Evil, was responsible for helping the grandmother find the Goodness and Light. This is an ironic end to this story because one would think that Good would prevail in the face of Evil. Sometimes it is the less likely person or idea that has the greatest effect rather than the strongest. Not everything is black and white, good and bad. There is always a middle ground, a gray area that is overlooked. Works Cited Contemporary Authors. New Revision Series. Ed. James Ethridge and Barbara Kopala.. Gale Research Company. Detroit Drake, Robert. "The Bleeding Stinking Mad Shadow of Jesus in the Fiction of Flannery O Connor. Comparative Literature Studies. University of Illinois Vol Gilbert, Muller, H. Nightmares and Visions. Flannery O Connor and the Catholic Grotesque. University Press. University of Georgia Press Hamblen, Abigail Ann. Flannery O Connor s Study of Innocence and Evil. University Press. University of Mississippi McCown, Robert. Flannery O Connor and the Reality of Sin in the Catholic World. Missionary Society of St. Paul, NY Vol O Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man is Hard to Find." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York. HarperCollins, Stephens, Martha. The Question of Flannery O Connor. Ed. University Press. Louisiana State Press,