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   mrs-campbell Teacher
   High School - 11th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   There are several similarities between the stories.  They are set in the south, deal with some shady characters and murder, have threads of Old Southern classes and lifestyle throughout, have a strange, eccentric old lady as the main character, and end badly.

   The themes are more difficult to compare.  You see a theme of prejudiceness, cruelty, and characters who miss out on love because of their own eccentricities. In "A Rose For Emily", you have a lady who is driven to murder in order to possess love forever.  In O'Connor's story, the grandmother is rather selfish and whiny, and willing to put other people's lives at risk to save her own.  So both ladies possess a closed and selfish perspective of the world, that lead to harm for other people.

   It's an interesting question, and I hope this helps a bit.

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/good-man/summary

   http://www.enotes.com/good-man/themes

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   Posted by mrs-campbell on Tuesday November 25, 2008 at 1:27 PM