Metonymy, or The Husband's Revenge
Metonymy, or the Husband's Revenge Rachel de Queiroz Metonymy. I learned the word in 1930 and shall never forget it. I had just published my first novel. A literary critic had scolded me because my hero went out into the night “chest unbuttoned.” “What deplorable nonsense!” wrote this eminently sensible gentleman. “Why does she not say what she means? Obviously, it was his shirt that was unbuttoned, not his chest.” I accepted his rebuke with humility, indeed with shame. But my illustrious Latin professor, Dr. Matos Peixoto came to my rescue. He said that what I had written was perfectly correct; that I had used a respectable figure of speech known as metonymy; and that this figure consisted in the use of one word for another word associated with it—for example, a word representing a cause instead of the effect, or representing the container when the content is intended. The classic instance, he told me, is “the sparkling cup”; in reality, not the cup but the wine in it is sparkli...
This one was pretty entertaining. I was immersed by halfway. The grandma seems to be a person that thinks people are “good” based on their appearance. She assumed and asserted that The Misfit was good even as everyone else was being killed. The grandma also seems to be pretty carefree because she wanted to track their miles and would remember her past a ton. She also didn’t deviate from her belief that The Misfit was actually a “good person,” and I’d say that shows her carefree-ness approaches or is actually ignorance.
ReplyDeleteBailey wanted to get everyone safely from point A to point B and did heed the grandmother’s warning. He shows that he doesn’t care about the feelings of others, but when he scolded his grandma and made her cry, that showed that he cares for himself and everyone else. By accepting to drive down that road, and by seemingly being the only person to realize the dire situation they got caught in, he must have been putting everyone’s best-interests first. Only because he was not vocal about his thoughts and actions did it seem like he was distant toward or annoyed by the grandma. If that is the case, the reason he didn’t want the grandma to dance would be because he did not want them to stay in The Tower for too long.
The mother and baby had almost too little characterization. It seems like the mother is a generic mother, then.
The Misfit seemed to be open about telling the grandma everything he could remember. He didn’t react with extreme emotions until she touched him, and he said he saw a bunch of messed up things and couldn’t remember his crimes. The Misfit came to a few conclusions that “the crime [doesn’t] matter” because he’d just forget it anyways and that knowledge is important. He doesn’t state that second conclusion, but he explained why he changed his name and that he would keep track of what he did in order to not be accused of killing his gold-hearted father. Additionally, he says, “[i]t ain’t right I wasn’t there because if I had of been there I would of known,” which supports the fact that he seems to prefer to know information than not know information.
The theme seems to be that God can save everyone. I think it might be this because the grandma and The Misfit kept talking about Jesus and God. Additionally, everyone dies and God’s saving usually comes into effect when people die; furthermore, The Misfit reacted to the grandma touching him “as if a snake had bitten him,” and snakes are all over the Bible.
The start of the story is full of color diction. The variety, frequency, and brightness of the colors decreases overtime until no colors are said near the end. Black is on the valise that let the cat out and made them crash, and it is on the things the killers had; therefore, black probably represents sources of problems. Orange doesn’t seem consistent (cat nose and sports section). Green and yellow aren’t consistent either. Red could represent disbelief if you ignore that the clay bank was red and the “red depression.” Every other instance of red was on people that felt disbelief if one also ignores that red was on the fat boy’s sweatshirt. Gray could be animal-related since it is on animals, on things made by animals, and on animal-like (cruel) people (The Misfit). Pink, brown, silver, and gold also don’t have enough occurrences. Blue also doesn’t have consistency that I can see.
Bailey’s bald head could represent that he’s often in deep thought. The chained monkey that avoided the kids and ate its fleas could represent how The Misfit is avoiding his own problems and just passing time by accepting it all and living a bad life, even as the grandma tries to offer solutions.
Upon now reading this essay, I agree with many of your points. What stood out to me was your connection with snakes and the Bible. I am pretty sure snakes are only mentioned at the beginning of Genesis and possibly a couple times in the New Testament. But in Genesis, the snake is deceptive and cunning, bringing sin into the world. The grandmother is also referenced to be deceptive and cunning (in a very slight way). I'm a bit confused as to why the CommonLit questions make the grandma out to be so cruel. Obviously she isn't bringing sin into the world or anything but there is that connection with deceptiveness. But the grandma and The Misfit are both human beings and she recognizes that when she is talking about "common blood" or whatever. She tries to use the commonality of them to persuade him to think he is good. But she couldn't really save the guy because he is too far into his deeds. Proof that only God saves
DeleteGrandma = Snake
DeleteThat's all
I disagree with the content on the "Epiphanies Good Man" pdf file. A theme in a story is a message that can apply to everyone or that everyone can learn from. "A moment of clarity only lasts a moment" does not apply to everyone—it's just that grandma. That grandma was selfish for the entire story by tricking the kids and making everyone do what she wants. As I recall, the villain in most children's stories is an old lady that tricks younger people. She's the real villain. Sure, you can say that by her being the villain a theme of her changing for the better would stand out more; however, that theme still doesn't apply to everyone. Last year in AP English with Mrs. Carcelli, we learned about Tom Shadyac and his revelation. Basically, he destroyed his legs and learned to be a very generous person and made a documentary about that. His epiphany/moment of clarity lasted years at least and is probably still continuing. That situation changed him. The grandma died at the end "A Good Man is Hard to Find," too. Who knows if her epiphany would've changed her from then on or just for a "moment"? In real life, we know; and this theme doesn't fit because it doesn't apply in real life.
DeleteI agree with the things said in the video. They make sense and the themes work too. The motifs also made sense. This video is all correct as far as I can tell.
I assume this is just supposed to be analysis similar to previous posts.
ReplyDeleteThe grandmother is characterized as slightly obnoxious. She figured Red Sam is a good guy yet he really isn't. He's just dumb. Then she tries to "persuade" The Misfit that he is a good guy but she probably knows it won't work. Also, she talked about marrying Mr. Teagarden simply because he was rich.
Theme is kind of hard to pick out and difficult to explain
There was loads of color diction. Particularly with description of the old lady herself. She is wearing a lot of white and purple clothing (very fancy stuff). White can be symbolic of purity and purple could be symbolic of wealth. The Misfit, donning some black apparel, could be symbolic of death or just overall negativity (he's evil).
The watermelon that said E.A.T on it could possibly be symbolic of Christianity? You can share it with people but it could be misinterpreted or ignored. Idk something about grace? Extending grace to someone but that person is devoid of the ability to accept it? Also the woods were an obvious symbol of death, as it was referenced to appear like a gaping mouth and the family dies inside of it (except for the grandmother)
I agree that the grandma is slightly obnoxious. I mostly didn't like that she made everyone have to do what she wanted by manipulating them, but I do agree with those other situations being obnoxious. I guess if you're thinking white could be purity, "purity" could extend to relying on Jesus/God, as she does that in the end. That interpretation of the watermelon is probably the case since this story already has Christianity all over it at the end and nothing at the start. Putting some Christianity at the start would balance it out and make it not seem like it came out of nowhere. Grace giving/accepting might be the theme rather than what I thought cause that is more specific and still makes sense as a potential theme that this could be trying to push.
DeleteI don't agree with the idea of white representing purity on the old lady. I believe the white represents more emptiness and a lack of compassion. I also saw on your comment on Kyle's post that the old lady tried to save the Misfit. I believe that the old lady only tried to save herself. Not the Misfit, nor her family. I also believe that religion and Jesus were solely brought up to show the grandma's hypocrisy. Like when she agreed with the Misfit that she believed that Jesus didn't raise people from the dead. Everything she said to the Misfit was to appeal to him in an attempt to save herself. That was it.
DeleteI agree with Ben. It's not super clear whether the old lady is being a selfish worm or is very weird by feeling compassionate for the criminal just because he gave off an impression of being a "good person." Considering the fact that she was selfish earlier, she probably is being selfish again at the end and might be saying those words just to appeal to him yeah.
DeleteYeah fair enough. Good analysis Bej. I agree with all that you said.
DeleteI will add to this:
DeleteI've been to a church where this is prevalent, but she seems to only care about Christianity when it fits her narrative of life. The "off balance" quote from The Misfit might highlight this in particular. While it is about something else, it applies to the seemingly "lop-sided" life that your average "devout" Christian might lead. Perhaps my cynicism is leeching into this forum, but I got that out of it.
I find your religious analysis quite interesting. The grandmother irked me so much that I honestly barely focused on all the religious references in it, so I didn't really pick up any importance in them besides the grandma trying to use Jesus to manipulate. I think explaining the watermelon that way is very outside of the box. I don't know if I would look that much into it though. Most of the things she said I just assumed it was to get something she wanted or to make her feel better, so I did not look for much deeper meaning.
DeleteMy takeaway from this story is that selfish people will always be selfish no matter what happens. For most stories, the main characters are normally round characters who change throughout the story and normally become better people. The grandmother, however, is a static character. I believe it might be a stretch to say she was unaffected by her family's death, but it is obvious she values herself more than them. The grandmother is also a hypocrite. She denounces the Misfit in the beginning of the story but swiftly changes to seeing him as her own child when her life is in danger.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I want to talk about is how unexpected the story turns out. While reading the end, I'm sure most people would assume that both the Misfit and the grandmother grow as people and become better people by the end of the story; but that just isn't the case. The Misfit is just a murderer and the grandmother is just selfish. Neither of them change.
The last thing I will talk about is the question that this story seems to present. "Can bad people change?" I think it would be easier to talk about this in class than on the blog. So that is what I hope will happen.
I agree with your analysis that the Grandmother is a static character as well as a hypocrite. I also talked about her denouncing The Misfit in the beginning, but then trying to make friends with him.
DeleteI thought that she acted as if she cared about her son's death, but knew he was gone, so she focuses on trying to save herself. I did think she was pretty selfish in general though.
In the end, it did almost seem like The Misfit was going to change and suddenly realize he didn't have to kill them (I was hoping he would), but then he abruptly killed the Grandmother, and the story ended.
That's an interesting question to ask about people changing, and I'm sure it will cause a debate, so I'm also interested to learn our classmates opinions.
After watching the video, I agreed with some of the stuff said in it. Specifically being the symbols presented. I found it interesting when they talked about the hat, and it sort of reminded me of the conch from Lord of the Flies. As the story progressed, each respected items condition worsened and that symbolized the unfolding events in the story as well. I did not think of the hat in that way; however, looking back at it makes a lot more sense.
DeleteI enjoyed this story, and did not see the ending coming at all. For me, the most annoying character was the grandma because of her manipulation and the fact that she never seemed to stop talking. I did, however, also think the children were spoiled and rude. I feel like in most stories, the main character is someone who the readers are supposed to relate to and like, but that is not the case in "A Good Man is Hard to Find." I personally viewed the Grandmother as being a hypocrite because she tries to use "The Misfit" and his terrible criminal past to get out of the vacation to Florida in the beginning of the story, but then turns around and tries to make friends with him when her life is in danger at the end.
ReplyDeleteThe ending was the most entertaining part for me. When I first started reading, I expected it to be a story about a family who goes on a chaotic vacation, or something similar to that. However, before I knew it, they were in a car crash and then a criminal is taking them off into the woods to murder them.
I thought the theme might have something to do with the morals of a person because the Grandmother and Red Sam kept going on about what things used to be like and how people used to act. In their present, people's moral seemed to have declined. Also, when they get into the wreck, it's not a nice family that helps them, it a group of killers.
I also enjoyed the story a lot! She was indeed very annoying rude and manipulative. Her entitled mindset was disgusting and as you said, the kids were beginning to reflect that attitude. I don't necessarily believe she was trying to become friends with the misfit but instead was trying to convince him to become a "good Jesus person" like her. To address your theme part, while I think morals are important, I feel like them talking about how good things were was supposed to be somewhat ironic. She was talking about how amazing it was while also bringing in her racist ideals like the sentence later to sort of pose the question on if it was really better or. do they just miss being awful.
DeleteAs I was reading the story, I at first thought it was going to be a boring tale; however, when the grandmother mentioned the trees where the "meanest of them sparkle" I knew there would be a hidden motif. Throughout the passage, the grandmothers manipulation, hypocrisy, bigotry, and racism became more and more present. On of the most striking example of her hypocrisy came after the accident where she told the misfit, "You could be honest too if you’d only try" even when she had been dishonest the entire trip. The ending was very chaotic and the old lady trying to plead the Misfit to just pray to Jesus after she's been committing numerous sins is laughable. Even as ALL of her family died, she did nothing to stop them other than sit there and plead for her own life. As the Misfit says "she would of been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life," it truly reflects that not even a murderer thinks she is a good person. Although she was dressed up, trying to look sweet, she still was mean inside.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you! The story is saddening all around, but it is incredibly hard to sympathize with the grandmother given all of her actions in the story.
Delete“A Good Man is Hard to Find” was a very eventful short story. The grandmother, a selfish hypocrite only cared for herself for most of the story. Irony prevails as she mentions how people “used to be good” and the importance of “honesty.” A manipulative, dishonest character, finds herself face-to-face with the very criminal she was afraid of in the beginning. Additionally, the grandmother, a woman of the past, is superficial in her clothing. The other characters in the story are more flat: Bailey, a tempered man; the wife, a caring, quiet mother; and the children, who make nasty remarks about any observations they make. In the end, the grandmother’s obsession with goodness is incredibly ironic when she comes face-to-face with a federally charged criminal. Additionally, her acceptance of faith is a character change that only occurs when she is near death with the Misfit.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed this story, and though the grandmother was not a likeable character (in my opinion), her actions and morals were the obvious driving point of the text. The way she consistently called herself a "lady" throughout the story is just one example of how her pompous, superior attitude is expressed. Even when the Misfit was killing off her family, she believed there was absolutely no way he could kill a "lady". Furthermore, the way she criticizes her family (John Wesley for not respecting Georgia, Bailey for taking his family to Florida, etc.) proves that, at times, she does not approve of their way of life and believes that she is better/superior. When June stated toward the beginning that, although the grandmother wanted to go to Tennessee, she would still go wherever the family was going, I knew exactly the type of character she was going to be.
ReplyDeleteDespite this, there is an obvious shift in her characterization once she has her face-to-face with the Misfit. As she constantly was oblivious to her own faults, seeing how the Misfit was so accepting of himself and how he admitted he wasn't "a good man" drastically changed the grandmother. Sadly, this self-realization did not happen until her entire family was dead, but it happened nonetheless. She did not lead as good of a life as she made it seem, and her toxic superiority and bad morals came to light moments before her death. When she declared that the Misfit was one of her own children, this was clear. Accepting as her child, she unintentionally admitted that she relates to the Misfit as she is not a good person after all. Sure she isn't a killer but she was definitely blinded to her own mistakes.
I found the way the author used this contrast between the grandma and the misfit interesting. She was a "proper lady" on her exterior but a cold hearted, lying, shrew at her core; however, eventhough the misfit was a killer, he was an honest man who owned his actions. Moments before her death she was murmuring "Jesus... Jesus" which the author said sounded like swearing to people listening. I though this too hinted to her shallowness. She was preaching to the misfit about praying to jesus, but she herself didnt seem to be extremely practiced in her religion. And yeah the way she called the misfit her child confused me at first, but then i realized that she kinda took off her mask and realized that she wasnt perfect, so she fogave him for being the same as her (nearly a product of her).
DeleteFirst off, I will say that this story definitely piqued my interest. Something I noticed right off the bat was that the grandmother, the children's mother, and Red Sam's wife are never given a name, which adds to the more "old" interpretation of society (with children and men being important, and women being more as caretakers). I loved the characterization of The Misfit, as he truly feels like he is suffering from confusion and life and it interests me greatly. The last line is particularly striking, as you would usually expect a "hardened criminal" to revel in chaos of life. Nevertheless, the main focus is on the grandmother. She sucks. What an awful woman who cares only for herself. I agree with several others above in this regard, so I will not add to that abundant harvest. I will say that I enjoyed the last story more, but the most impactful part of this story is how the grandmother, as her entire family is killed, is trying to convince The Misfit to pray to Jesus. How vain. I have no more, but look forward to discussion.
ReplyDeleteThe main thing I focused on was the grandmother since I did the commonlit first. So i'm just using my response from that because I felt it was a good question that covered pretty much the whole point of the story.
ReplyDeleteThrough the grandmother's self absorption and obsession with her old-timey ways, O'Connor makes it clear that the character is hypocritical and superficial. She is quick to judge other people and only cares for what she wants, something that is evident even in the first paragraph. She frequently calls herself "a lady," exemplifying her refusal to adapt to more modern times and exhibiting her haughtiness. These traits display the idea that a person's morality cannot be determined by personal appearance. The grandmother sees that the criminal looks decent on the outside, he even has nice teeth. Because of this, she thinks he has good in him that she can manipulate out. The difference between "The Misfit" and the grandmother is that the criminal recognizes he has done wrong , while the grandmother ignores the errors of her morals. This is why she is not able to manipulate him. He may be a bad person, but he is better than the grandmother in the sense that he does not pretend he is good. The statements about his parents being "the finest people in the world" also add on to the theme of deceiving appearances because good people produced ugly offspring; furthermore, when she realizes he is her child (which I don't think he is. This is just another one of those moments where she told a lie, wishing it to be true so she could get what she wanted), it speaks volumes because "a lady" wouldn't produce criminal offspring. But in her mind, in that moment, she did, affirming that looks don't reflect morality and showing a possible realization of her errors with a desperate grasp for a chance to live on.
Basically she only cares about herself and what she wants because she thinks she is the greatest thing since sliced bread and can't do anything wrong because she's "a lady." The criminal is bad, but I think we all can learn that it is better to realize when you are at fault then the be a hypocritical bigot. In that sense, we can learn from "The Misfit."
I agree with you! The grandmother is extremely narrow-minded and really needs to just open her eyes and take a look around. She is manipulative and attempts to guilt those around her into giving her what she wants. In comparison, The Misfit is probably no worse than her, though he isn't blindly walking around with the belief that he is superior to everyone else. He accepts his faults and, honestly, I can respect that.
DeleteThe grandmother's characterization is that of a woman from the upper middle class. She prides herself on her appearance, dressing in a way that any dignified lady of the time should, prioritizing her outward appearance over comfort. Quite naive for her age, she believes that The Misfit will spare her simply because she is a woman; this hints at a life of privilege as well as to her standards of morality. Her skin color and social status may have granted her certain protections in life, but around this time, women were typically coddled despite their responsibilities, for they were seen as weak and fragile; because of this, she assumed that she would be able to find her way out of the situation, complimenting The Misfit on just about anything she could. What this represents for the text is the meaning behind the title. The grandmother's morals are blatantly skewed, so her definition of "good" already has less impact; however, as she pleads for her life, it loses meaning altogether. She is selfish and hypocritical, telling The Misfit to pray as she sits there without a care for her family members, putting her life over theirs. In her last moments, she realizes that a good man in indeed hard to find.
ReplyDeleteIn summary, the grandmother is an old woman stuck in the past and refusing to change. She sees herself as above those around simply because she is a proper "lady." However, on the inside, she is quite the opposite. She has no care for others, doing whatever she wishes in order to please herself. Honestly, despite being a murderer, even The Misfit is seeming better than her. He at least acknowledges that he isn't perfect or "good."
I agree with the fact that The Misfit seems to better than her in some ways. While they both are terrible people, I appreciate the fact that The Misfit is not intent on deluding himself and others into believing his behavior is acceptable.
DeleteThroughout "A Good Man is Hard to Find," it is clear that the grandmother is delusional in her belief of being morally superior. She judges the world by claiming there are very few good people residing in it, but she refuses to acknowledge her tendency to judge others for no reason other than the way she perceives them. Her selfishness is also apparent as she appears to show no concern for anyone other than herself. Though her family is in danger as well, she continues to only attempt to save herself while at the same time claiming she is a great person. Her behavior clearly undermines everything that constitutes as being a good person and even the religion she seems intent on associating herself with. I am left to wonder how she justifies her judgmental nature and superiority complex while at the same time claiming to pray to Jesus.
ReplyDeleteI agree, her pleading with Jesus at the end really interested me. She did not think to pray when she recognized him, when he took individual members of her family off to be shot, or even outright when she heard them being shot. She only started praying once she knew she was next.
DeleteThe grandmother's character is one of a self centered woman. She is prejudiced and shallow, putting herself above all others, including her family. This is reflected all throughout the text, only choosing to go on the trip in fear of missing something, rather than going simply to be with her family. At the diner, she complains to the man how the current generation ruined the world, how it was so much better when she was young, and ignored her family. After the accident, she immediately throws her son and grandson under the bus. She wants to save herself, asking that he would never shoot a lady, since he seems like such a fine young man! Once she hears her entire family get shot, she continues to beg for her life with no regard and almost no reaction at all to her family being murdered.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your take! Like who hears two gunshots in the woods and says "hmm this is wild, im going to let the mother and her child go into the woods now too to be shot" without a single protest! She figured that she was safe as he WOuldNt sHooT a WomaN (when spoiler alert - he DID) so she didn't say anything, costing her the lives of her family and herself. Like she even saw this dude walk out of the woods with her son's shirt, but she was so wrapped up in herself that she didn't even recognize the unique shirt he was wearing or the fact that it belonged to Bailey. Girl, cmon. I think she only realizes that she was a terrible person mere moments before she is killed and when it is much too late.
DeleteFirst of all, I thoroughly enjoyed this reading, but there is a lot to unpack here. I'm going to first address the use of characterization throughout the story. The characterization we get for most of the characters (the mother, father, sister, and brother) is short and holds true until their death in the end; however, the only character which shifts by their time of death is grandma. She is shallow, manipulative, and unbearable for the most of the story, but in the very end, she has a sort of epiphany and refers to the misfit as her metaphoric child. However, in my favorite line, the misfit points out that this was probably only due to the fact that she was staring death in the eyes, so “she would of been a good woman… if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” This line and the entire ending is very powerful and ties together the thematic idea that a person’s morals shouldn't and cannot be determined by their shallow facade.
ReplyDeleteMoving away from characterization and theme, color diction and symbolism were also quite profound. The color diction was overwhelming and nearly annoying; almost everything in the story’s color was described in great detail. In the beginning the grandmother’s outfit and all of its colors are described to the readers. Her clean white cloves, blue hat, and purple flowers are so important to her as she sits in the car, seen by no one but her family. O’connor stated that she dressed this was so if they got in a crash it would be clear that she was a “proper lady.” However, no color is described about her when she is lying in a pool of her own blood, because none of that matters anymore. All the things she found so important were worth nothing in her death. As for symboles, the easiest one to spot was the black (more color diction) hearse-like automobile the misfit pulled up in. Hearses clearly being connected with death, it was easy to conclude the family was not going to make it out alive.
I really liked this story and found the message quite profound. People should live their lives with more authenticity, meaning, and compassion.
I feel like this was so predictable and not really that exciting (whoops?). The theme revolves around the exploration of ethics and morality as a family decides to go ona vacation and encounters some dangerous individuals. As I was reading, two major things stuck out to me. Firstly, the idea that the grandmother has a very misconstrued idea of what a good man truly is. It seems she decides in her mind who is a good man and who is not based on appearances. Using it first to describe the gullible Red Sam (who was too quick to blindly trust people) then to describe the Misfit himself, the grandmother also only seems to define "good" as something that aligns with what she believes in, rather than the meaning of being morally good or kind. However, her actions and decisions are far from her own perception of what a "good" person is. She lies to her children, manipulates her son, and even pokes fun at those who are less fortunate than her (such as the little country boy). Another thing is the religious aspect of the story. The grandmother, and the Misfit, seem to be unlikely recipients of God's grace. However, it is discovered in this story that even the most unlikely people have the opportunity to be saved by God. After listening to the Misfit's dialogue of wishing to witness first-hand what Jesus did and did not do, the grandmother has an epiphany, exclaiming that the Misfit is "one of [her] own children." Of course, he really is not her child, but rather she realizes that they are both human beings and are supposed to care for one another. God has graced her with clarity she did not have before her death. Not only that, but the Misfit seemed to have a change as well. As soon as the grandmother touched him, he recoiled and shot her. Before this, he stated that there was "no pleasure but meanness" in life; however, after the grandmother's death he changes his mind and finds that there is no pleasure in life at all. The Misfit kind of had a big realization and hopefully can move forward and change his ways. All in all, this be wack.
ReplyDeleteI suppose upon more consideration, grace might be a theme that exists. However, I still hold that hypocrisy and deception based on things look good is more prevalent. The existence of the epiphany of the grandmother shows true humanity, but I disagree that the Misfit saw this or was going to find grace eventually. The Misfit has chosen his path, and actively rejects any form of salvation from either God or the grandmother. Perhaps I just did not get the story, but the Misfit, while a very interesting and deep character, remains largely unchanged by the end, and most likely will stay that way until he dies. The Misfit sees life as a pit of suffering and injustice due to some "injustice" against him. Maybe I'll get it more after another conversation, but again, I found this story to be fairly one dimensional.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of the ideas presented in both the video and article, but I found the idea about epiphanies to be the most influential and eye-opening. It can be difficulty to see the grandmother's actions and behavior at the end as an epiphany as we so often expect someone to have a radical change in personality once they are confronted with reality. Though the grandmother does seem to have an epiphany at the end, it does not necessarily change her selfish personally; and if she had lived, she likely would not changed much as a person. As the article states, just because someone is confronted with their faults and realizes the negative aspects of their personality does not necessarily mean they will consistently do the right thing afterwards. No longer being in denial about rather judgmental and hypocritical nature does not mean the grandmother will change, though that is often what is expected in situations such as this.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked the additional article provided. It helped me to further understand the Misfits final words in the story --- "She could have been a good woman...if it had been someone there to shoot her every minute of her life." The commentary given in the article was thought-provoking and helped me to understand the meaning behind these words. It was clear that the grandmother was a hypocrite and an awful person throughout the entire story up until the moments before her death; what I did not understand was that the short story was commenting on how anyone is capable of becoming better, yet they will not remain that way naturally. Really the title of the article sums up the article: "epiphanies aren't permanent." The article and the short story are criticisms on human nature and selfishness.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with some of the ideas presented in the video and the article. With the article, I agree with probably 98% of it. But, like my opinions on the video, I have a hard time seeing the grandmother's final actions as a moment of clarity or grace. I suppose she did realize how big of a hypocrite she was, but I don't think she cared, or would have if she lived. I just see her trying to save herself, even up to the end. When the guy from the video said the grandmother's epiphany caused her to reachout to The Misfit, I disagreed with it wholeheartedly. I don't think her intent was ever to show him salvation or help him be a better person. It was only a desperate attempt to save herself. I also disagreed with the video's assessment that Bailey didn't care much about his family, and he was bad to his mother. He clearly just had different values than her and knew what she believed would get them into trouble. It's like being nervous for your homophobic grandparents to meet a friend that is gay. You know that their personality flaws might cause offense or problems, so you don't want to deal with it. Just like Bailey didn't want to deal with his mom. But he did because it's the right thing to do. And as far as the guy from the video acting like Bailey is bad because he wouldn't have done what his kids wanted if they hadn't have been pestering him, DuH! Those kids are lucky. If my kids would have pulled that on me, I would have threatened to pull the car over and give them a reason to whine. Those kids are brats. It's not that Bailey doesn't care what his family wants. He's just a dad who is trying to follow through with plans because that's what you're supposed to do when you make plans.
ReplyDeleteI quite liked the article though. To quote Brock's speech, "growth is not linear." But just because we will revert back at times doesn't mean we shouldn't try to grow or that learning lessons is impossible. And it's true, those little moments of grace and human goodness do mean a lot, even if we can't reflect them all the time. I liked the article's analysis of that, even if I don't agree that it has anything to do with the story.
Upon further analysis, it appears the grandmother perhaps had an epiphany. But given how we can not actually go into the mind of the grandmother, it is merely guessing. Also she's dead so you really don't know if she would've changed or not from all of that. But she probably would've changed her ways and became a better person mostly because her entire family is now dead and she can reflect upon her life. She said "I'll give you all the money I've got!" This is an obvious sign she just wants to stay alive. She died smiling which probably means she was satisfied with her ending. She spent her last breaths attempting to save the guy who was going to kill her which is commendable as a religious person. According to the book of Acts, Christians have a task of making disciples of Christ, and the grandmother probably thought she succeeded from this or at least realized that this is the goal. But she failed so it ties back to the irony of the story.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I liked the video a lot. Maybe that is due to speech bias, but he was cool. I thought his approach to the animals mentioned was very interesting and I never would have thought of it on my own! However, there are some aspects to it that I kind of disagree with for example, why was BAILEY wearing the shirt when he did not follow his own animal instincts? Overall, I thought it was a smart approach but there are some flaws like that one. Additionally, both the article and video brought up the aspect of grace that the grandmother went experienced towards her final moments but I particularly like the articles analysis about not all epiphanies being forever and the fact that even if the grandmother lived, she would most likely return to her hateful, hypocritical self in two days.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the man speaking was odd, I enjoyed the video and the animation which went along with it. One point brought up in the video that I didn't really touch on in mine was the hypocrisy of the grandma and Red Sammy Butts. In the beginning when they are in the car the grandma talks about how people used to have so much respect in her day... and proceeds to call a young Black child a racial slur... Furthermore, at Red Sam's, he and the grandma (of course) are talking about the old days and he says that a good man is hard to find... and then proceeds to tell his wife to stop talking with them and get back to work. I don't know why but this point stuck out the most to me. Clearly I agree with the video that this is seriously messed up. But yeah I also just think its funny because it just makes us hate nana even more.
ReplyDeleteWhile I liked both the video and article, the article provided me with an interesting idea on the story that I hadn't thought of before. If humans are so capable of being the best of themselves when they think it's going to benefit them, why can we not act like that all the time? The article even mentioned how the Grandma would have resorted back to her old ways soon after if she managed to live. With the video, my perspective of all of the characters remained as it was. The only part of the video I liked was the end where the guy explains different literary parts of the story. The two I found most interesting was the use of animals in the story, and the symbol of the hearse. Although I noticed the use of most of the animals, (there were some he listed that I didn't remember) I never thought to look further into them as symbols. Especially not them representing the behaviors of the humans. I did also thought it was weird that The Misfit was driving a hearse in the story, but for some reason I didn't connect it to the symbol of death, which now that I think about, it's pretty obvious.
ReplyDeleteI had very mixed feelings on the video. I didn't like the way the guy spoke -- he sounded like a sports announcer and it did not match the vibe of "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and was a bit distracting. But aside from that, I found the visuals to be really helpful with distinguishing characters, and his perspective on the story was a bit different then mine. For example, his connection with the animals was not something I would have made myself. However, something that both the article (which I liked more than the video) and video mention is the theme of grace, which I just do not see. Yes, the grandmother had an epiphany as she was faced with the threat of death, but I really don't believe that she would have maintained that mindset if she were to survive. As The Misfit said, "she could have been a good woman...if it had been someone there to shoot her every minute of her life." It took the pressure of a highly unlikely situation to get her to even consider that she may have been in the wrong, so without that pressure, there is really no guarantee that she would continue to change for the better. Because of this, it is my belief that, were The Misfit to spare her, she would quickly return to her original selfish and hypocritical ways.
ReplyDeleteThe most surprising thing to me was that the man in the video focused so closely on how she was "redeemed" right before her death. I do agree that she saw clearly for the first time in a while, but I don't think she had any character development other than no longer existing after she was shot. She still had little to no reaction when her family was killed, and only saw clarity moments from death because she begged for her own life so profusely she saw the futility in it.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the ideas presented in the article and video. We both agreed on the idea of grace and the grandmother's epiphany, as I already touched base on that. The one point he had that I really did not notice before was the comparison to animals. Although, I don't really understand the point of it, for none of them really seemed to listen to any of their animal instincts and just accepted death (except for the grandma). Another thing that stood out are the symbols, such as the Misfit's car! I didn't really even think that much into the car, or that it could possibly be a symbol. There were a lot of little things the author wove into the story that, upon further analysis, I missed out on.
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