O'Connor, Flannery - Kathleen G. Ochshorn (essay date spring 1990)
Kathleen G. Ochshorn (essay date spring 1990)
SOURCE: Ochshorn, Kathleen G. “A Cloak of Grace: Contradictions in ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’.” Studies in American Fiction 18, no. 1 (spring 1990): 113-17.
[In the following essay, Ochshorn explores the contradictions between readers' interpretations of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and O'Connor's intentions regarding the story.]
Flannery O'Connor was often shocked to find how people interpreted her stories. Some readers of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” believed the grandmother was evil, even a witch. Soon O'Connor set out, quite explicitly, in letters and lectures to detail the theology of the story and the importance of the grandmother as an agent of grace. In a letter to John Hawkes, she explained how violence and grace come together:
More than in the Devil I am interested in the indication of Grace, the moment when you know that Grace has been offered...
[The entire page is 2585 words long]
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