O connery
...r mentions a religious figure is when The Misfit threatens her life. The grandmother attempts to convince The Misfit not to kill her by stating, ‘“Jesus!” the old lady cried, “You’ve got good blood! I know you wouldn’t shoot a lady. I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you out not to shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!”’ (337) She continues to be superficial about her beliefs not only by judging the different status of people along the ride, but also selfishly trying to save her own life, rather then the children’s. She thinks nothing of her grandchildren and son being destroyed by the Misfit and his associates. At the end of the story, the grandmother’s head clears. You see The Misfit’s and grandmothers intervention when the author states, “His voice seemed about to crack and the grandmother’s head cleared for an instant. She saw the man’s face twisted close to her own as if he were going to cry and she murmured, ‘Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!’” (337) She begins to understand the true principle that lies behind Jesus; they are both children of god. She sees the misfit as he truly is. At her point of redemption, taken back by the grandmother’s statement, The Misfit kills the grandmother. The story ends with The Misfit’s Friend Bobby Lee laughing about their most recent killing. The Misfit, realizing the pointlessness of his previous action, can only comment that there was no pleasure in shooting her. Both the grandmother and The Misfit’s accept some stage of religious redemption in the end. Violence is another prominent theme in A Good Man is Hard to Find. O’Connor uses violence as an attention getter, not only for the reader, but the character in the story as well. O’Connor quotes “I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace.” (Hawkins 30) The reality of violence, possibly resulting in death, allows the characters a different sense of the truth. The author’s purpose in supplying violence is not the take advantage of its powerful presence and long-lasting effects; rather to use them as subtly as possible. This allows the reader to use their imagination as to what really happened. The use of violence allows the grandmother and The Misfit to envision a new outlook on life. It took the death of an entire family for these two characters to realize they needed to change their lives. Revelations is another story where religion is constantly present. The main character, Mrs. Turpin is a Southern, obese, middle class women. O’Connor punishes this character by allowing her to live in two different worlds. In one world she believes that the less wealthy individuals should envy her, not only because she has money, but also because is such an all around exquisite religiously based person. Yet in the reality world, she is nothing but a hypocritical sinner, worth nothing more than the people around her. She passes the hours of her life by degrading people’s socialstatus to attempt to make her feel more important. Immediately after entering the waiting room with her husband, she begins to place judgment on anyone who she believes is of a lower class. She preaches to the entire waiting room, ‘“ If it’s one thing that I am,” Mrs. Turpin said with feeling, “it’s grateful. When I think who all I could have been besides myself and what all I got, a little of everything, and a good disposition besides, I just feel like shouting, Thank you, Jesus, for making everything the way it is! It could have been different.”’ ( 346) It is at this exact moment that one of the characters that Mrs. Turpin has been judging has had enough of her hypocritical blabbering. Mary Grace chunks a book into the eye of Mrs. Turpin. She then proceeds to attack and choke her. Subdued, Mary Grace sparks Mrs. Turpin’s revelation by this comment, “Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog.” ( 374). Mrs. Turpin, returns home with the young girls statement echoing in her ears. She comes to the realization that even if you are considered to be white tr...