Essay on Downfall of Major Characters in Flannery O'Connors Short Stories

Short stories by American author Flannery O'Connor may be known to explore Christian motifs. Ranging from narratives and ideas similar to those from the Bible to religious perspectives and death, her works refect her belief in God and religious fundamentals. However, OConnors stories are also known to follow a familiar path of individual grace to disaster. They depict a fall from grace whereby characters are manipulated by a deceptive antagonist who takes advantage of their human weakness. This essay looks at the downfall of major characters in three of Flannery O'Connors short stories: A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Everything That Rises Must Converge and Good Country People.

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In OConnors stories, the main protagonist is often a middle-aged female from the middle-class living alone and taking care of a farm. All main characters exude a well-defined view of themselves, of the world they live in, and of human nature, and try to abide by their perceptions. A Good Man is Hard to Find tells the story of a serial killer known as the Misfit who murders six members of the same family: two parents, three children, and their grandmother. However, unlike the other works by the author, this story does not exhibit strong religious suggestions. In Good Country People, the antagonist is a missionary Bible salesman called Mr. Pointer. It is revealed that his alleged profession is a cover to make the Hopewell family respect and accept him. Everything That Rises Must Converge looks at the racial integration of the public transport system in the Southern US states, and how people from different races react to it (Fowler, 78). In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, a family is planning a road trip to Florida. The grandmother, who is the storys main character, immediately voices her disproval of the trip as she is concerned about the safety of rest of her family: her son Bailey, his wife and their three children. She had read in the newspaper about a fugitive serial killer called The Misfit who had recently escaped from prison. Despite her misgivings, the family embarks on the trip the following morning. In the course of the journey, the grandmother misdirects them to a dirt road by claiming to remember a house in the area containing hidden treasure. They soon get into an accident when Bailey is distracted by a cat, causing the car to veer off the road, overturn and land in ditch.

Shortly after, a car approaches and three men climb out of it, one of whom the grandmother recognizes as The Misfit. The killer is angry that she recognizes who he is; something that spurs him and his accomplices to start killing the family members one by one. When the grandmother is the only one left, she begins begging for her life by offering money and trying to convince the killer to become religious and stop his evil ways. This strategy does not work as The Misfit shoots the grandmother three times in the chest, killing her instantly.

According to Driskell & Brittain (74), it is evident that the grandmother considers herself to be morally superior to the other family members due to her age; a trait that eventually leads to her downfall. For instance, she informs her son that her conscience cannot allow her to take the children on a road trip where the misfit is said to be lurking. However, the grandmother does not give a critical look at herself to see how hypocritical, selfish, and dishonest she really is. When The Misfit and his men are killing the family members one by one, she never once implores him to spare their lives. However, she has the nerve to beg for her own life, reasoning with the killer that he should never kill a lady. The tables are turned on her when The Misfits shoots her dead, thus completing her downfall.

Everything That Rises Must Converge tells the story of a young white man called Julian and his racist mother. Since Julians mother has been advised to shed weight by her doctor, she attends a weight reduction course at the YMCA on weekly basis. She always asks Julian to accompany her since the takes the bus and is wary of African Americans given that the bus system in the southern states has recently been integrated. One day, the two encounter a tough-looking black woman in the bus who is accompanied by her son called Carver. Julians mother immediately likes Carver as her racist attitude does not apply to children. It turns out that the four of them were exiting the bus at the next step. Julian suspects that his mother will try to give Carvel a coin as she always does with small children. He promptly warns her against it as it is an insulting and racist gesture. She goes ahead and offers the boy a coin, something that spurs Carvers mother to angrily knock her down with a handbag. It is revealed that Julians mother suffers a stroke as a result of the blow.

Julians mothers dislike for black people and her patronizing attitude towards them turns out to be her downfall. She is portrayed as a textbook example of white people from the southern states that harbor racist tendencies while at the same time maintaining a mistaken sense of social decorum. Her attitude prompts her to offer a coin to a black child without figuring out the patronizing and racist nature of what she is doing. Her action leads to her downfall as the blow from the boys mother triggers a stroke that ruins her health for the remainder of her life.

In Good Country People tells the story of a travelling Bible salesman called Manley Pointer who visits the home of Mrs. Hopewell. Although he does not manage to sell her any book, he stays around for lunch and manages to have a long conversation with his host. Mrs. Hopewell has a daughter called Hulga who is very educated. However, despite her high level of education, Hulga has a wooden leg that was apparently as a result of her getting shot in a hunting accident. According to Nadal (224), this condition greatly undermines her self-esteem, preventing her from having normal social interactions like other girls. She meets up with Manley and walk into the woods while chatting. The two discuss religion, God, and Hulgas wooden leg. They begin getting intimate, in the process Manley asking her to take off her leg.

When Hulga detaches her leg, Manley refuses to give it back, causing her to go into a panic. It is then revealed that Manley is not actually a Bible salesman but an imposter who used it as cover to get into the Hopewell residence. He proceeds to remove some playing cards, whiskey and condoms from a hollow fake Bible, implying that he was going to rape Hulga. He then informs her that, despite her advanced education, he is smarter than Hulga, having fooled her. It is apparent that Hulga, the storys main character, was manipulated by Manley into falling for his manipulative charms; something that facilitated her downfall.

Works Cited

Driskell, Leon V., and Joan T. Brittain. The eternal crossroads: the art of Flannery O'Connor. University Press of Kentucky, 2015.

Fowler, Doreen. "Aligning the Psychological with the Theological: Doubling and Race in Flannery O'Connor's Fiction." Flannery O'Connor Review 13 (2015): 78.

Nadal, Marita. "Jordan Cofer. 2014. The Gospel According to Flannery OConnor: Examining the Role of the Bible in Flannery OConnors Fiction." Atlantis. Journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies 38.2 (2016): 223-227.