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A Good Man is hard to find, Where Are You Going?
A Good Man is hard to find & Where Are You Going?
In the story “A Good Man Is Hard to find” The Misfit is
an ego-centric character. He has conviction of doing wrong but he never wants to be protected by God. The grandmother searches for redemption. Through the Misfit she finds it in the most bizarre way. The Misfit shows us the perspective of a man whose soul is tormented by the presence of God. O''Connor gives the reader a startling and surprising new outlook on life and religion through these two characters. The Misfit is a man haunted and confronted by God. In that one brief moment of grace, he has given the grandmother a deeper joy and satisfaction than she has ever known in her many years of being disconnected from the reality of life. He admits that he knows that if he prays Jesus would help him. It is possible that at one time he may have had a glimpse of what he needed to do, but rejected that path. The Misfit has been convicted every day of his life for the sins he has committed, but he chooses to live with his sins like any other unrepentant man. The grandmother’s emphasis on the importance of prayer symbolizes her realization of death she knew she was to endure. Through the conversation between the grandmother and the Misfit, we learn more about the Misfit''s perception of life. “He no longer knows human suffering or joy anymore. In her last attempt to eliminate the space between them, she reaches out and caresses him. He feels he is doing fine and continues to deny Jesus every time he is convicted. With the slow realization that she was to be killed, the grandmother suddenly understands and tells The Misfit, "Why you''re one of my own babies. The grandmother begs him to pray so that Jesus would help him. "He can kill without pleasure or remorse," meaning his actions are almost that of a god.
In Joyce Carol Oates story “Where Are You Going” Arnold Friend is also a symbol of devil. The whole terrifying episode involving Arnold Friend is itself a dream, a fantasy that Connie falls into on a sleepy Sunday afternoon when she is left alone in the house and decides to spend the entire day drying her hair. Arnold Friend was a conman and a cheat in trying to put up a kind of charade in front of the innocent and frightened Connie telling her he had special powers to safeguard her from the terrifying Ellie. In conclusion, the rather un-devil-like tribute that Arnold pays Connie as she finally yields to his threats against her family and goes out of the house to him. Oates describes “listening to the music from her radio and the boy’s blend perfectly”, and indeed Arnold’s voice is perceived by Connie as being the same as that of the disc jockey on the radio. f somewhat easier by imparting to her story a dreamlike, unreal atmosphere that makes it possible for the reader to view Connie''s scary encounter with Arnold as a dream-vision or “day mare”, one in which Connie''s intense desire for total sexual experience runs headlong into her fear of such experience. She is making a noble sacrifice, and in her dream she gives herself full credit for it. We should recall that Connie’s initial response to her first view of Arnold the night before, in the shopping center, was one of intense sexual excitement; now she discovers how dangerous that excitement can be to her survival as a person. Connie’s state of consciousness is being given physical form by her imagination. ” This is Arnold driving up, just when the author has described certain physiological sounds and motions that sound suspiciously like those of sleep. In both the stories booth men are equally cruel. But The Misfit was a little bit different because he was a well known criminal and grand mother had a doubt that he would caught them on the way to trip. Arnold friend behaves as a protector but was a criminal. He wins the faith of Connie and attacks on her. No one can guess a killer in the mask of a friend. Arnold friend is much realistic. Summarizing the two characters, it can be inferred that both the characters have ego-centricity, meanness, mental confusion in common.
This can also be seen as psychic disorder in humans, when they are in self doubt. This self doubt sometimes leads to great works, if taken positively but the two characters in these stories use it in negativity causing disturbance, crime and immorality in society. A criminal is more dangerous when he is intelligent and fearless. Both the characters are very intelligent as they know how to manipulate human psyche. Misfit is totally fearless by nature whereas Arnold has some fears but smart enough to camouflage his fears. Both the characters can be visualized as impressions of negativity on human psyche, which is sometimes guided by fear and sometimes by eccentricity. There is a continuous war of these two tendencies in our life and generally the tendency we nurture more wins. These tendencies have been shown beautifully in both the stories and devilish ones are shown stronger with the two characters Misfit and Arnold.
Published: November 02, 2007