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Temptation In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

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The road to salvation is full of many obstacles and temptations. It is a journey that is an everyday battle between what is right and what is wrong. As St. Cyril of Jerusalem states, “The dragon is by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the father of souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon.” St. Cyril describes temptation as a dragon that can ruin a person if that person is not careful. The author, Flannery O’Connor, takes this idea of how temptation can swallow a person whole to heart, inspiring her to write about characters that have lost themselves to temptation. Through the grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Tom Shiftlet in “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, and Mrs. McIntyre …show more content…

McIntyre allows her pride in her farm to grow into selfishness, resulting in the death of others in “The Displaced Person”. Mrs. McIntyre, a widow, hires the Guizac family as more help for her farm, but other workers, particularly Mrs. Shortley and her family, are skeptical of this new family due to their nationality. However, Mr. Guizac proves himself to be a productive worker, and Mrs. McIntyre buys new machinery “…because…for the first time, she had somebody who could operate it” (217). She takes pride in the developments of her farm due to Mr. Guizac, and decides to increase his wages by dismissing the Shortleys, but the Shortleys leave the farm before Mrs. McIntyre can do so, resulting in Mrs. Shortley’s death. Mr. Shortley returns to the farm with contempt for Mr. Guizac, the man Mr. Shortley believes is responsible for his wife’s death. Mrs. McIntyre decides to give Mr. Guizac his notice due to Mrs. Shortley’s death and the Guizacs’ plot to have their cousin marry one of her black workers. However, Mrs. McIntyre never delivers this notice because Mr. Guizac is killed by a runaway tractor, an incident that Mrs. McIntyre, Mr. Shortley, and another worker could have stopped, but are all “…in collusion forever…” instead (263). Stemming from her pride for her plantation, Mrs. Shortley and Mr. Guizac die at the hands of Mrs. McIntyre, which leaves her bedridden and without the source of her

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As you can see her stories are surrounded by her belief. In today’s world societal morals and values have drastically crumbled making the world an unacceptable place. Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” moves from a family comedy into a brutal revelation while on a family vacation. While on the way to find the homestead where grandmother grew up, she puts them down the wrong path right into a murderer’s escape route.

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