Examples of characterization and biblical allusion

In this group project, you will explore together themes of justice, mercy, goodness, and grace in the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by the Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor.
Upon successful completion of this assignment you will be able to:

• Identify examples of characterization and biblical allusion.
• Explain how various literary devices are used to communicate truths about God and humankind in a work of fiction.
• Apply discoveries about human nature to your own personal and/or professional life.
• Analyze the message of a piece of fiction from a biblical perspective.
• Analyze the writing of your peers.

Resources

• Bible: https://www.biblegateway.com
• Textbook: The Pearson Custom Introduction to Literature

Instructions
Read the headnote for Flannery O’Connor (pp. 245-247).https://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find/
Read Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (pages 249-261) in The Pearson Custom Library of American Literature.
Answer all of the following questions and post your answers to the discussion board by the fourth day of the workshop.

1. List two character traits possessed by the grandmother at the beginning of the story. Explain your answer with specific reference to the text.
2. What is different about the way the grandmother perceives herself and what is actually true about herself? Support your answer with at least one direct quote from the story.
3. How would the grandmother define a “good man” at the beginning of the story? Support your answer with specific reference to the text.
4. What kind of person does the grandmother seem to represent? Explain your answer with specific reference to the text.
5. What kind of injustice does the Misfit think he has been dealt?
6. According to the Misfit, “Jesus threw everything off balance.” What does he mean by this?
7. Do you think that O’Connor wants us to view the grandmother or the misfit in a more positive light? Explain your answer and support it using at least one direct quote from the text.
8. In what way might Jesus himself be called a “misfit?”
9. When the grandmother pleads with the Misfit, she calls him a “good man” and “one of her babies.” Do you think she is sincere? Why do you think she calls him “good?”
10. Does the Misfit seem to live according to a moral code? Explain your answer.
11. Does the grandmother seem to live according to a moral code? Explain your answer.
12. Has the grandmother changed or learned anything by the end of the story? If so, how has she changed or what has she learned?
13. At the end of the story, the Misfit says that the grandmother could have been a good woman if there was “…somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” What does he mean by this?
14. Write a thesis statement for this story using the format you have learned in this class.

Read and respond to at least two of your peers’ posts by the end of the workshop. Your replies must add to the conversation by pointing out additional support for the things you agree with, by asking a question that shows critical thinking, or by explaining why you disagree with points made in the posts