O'Connor Questions

O’CONNOR QUESTIONS


“A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
1) How early in the story does O’Connor foreshadow what will happen in the end? What further hints does she give us along the way? How does the scene at Red Sammy’s Barbeque advance the story toward its conclusion?

· O’Connor predicts what will happen in the future of the story by emphasizing the character Misfit in the story. Throughout the story the grandmother is always talking about Misfit and what he does. Even at Red Sammy’s place the grandmother has feelings of running into the bad guy misfit sooner or later.
2) When we first meet the grandmother what type of person is she? What do her various remarks reveal about her? Does she remain a static character or does she in any way change as the story goes on?
· The grandmothers is very observant, she talks a lot and thinks she knows it all. She makes a lot of remarks in the story about the misfit which tells that she has some type of concern about running into him.
3) When the grandmother’s head clear, what does she suddenly understand?
· The grandmother understands that her life is about to be taken from her and that the Misfit has no feeling.
4) What do we learn from the conversation between the misfit and the grandmother while the others go out to the woods? How do you describe the misfit outlook on the world?
· We learn that the misfit and the grandmother have a mutual type of respect for one another. The misfit is not religious, he blames God for how thing s are in the world.

“REVELATION”
5) When near the end of the story, Mrs. Turpin roars, “Who do you think you are?” and echo “returned to her clearly like an answer from beyond the wood” (Explain)
· At this point, I think Mrs. Turpin has lost it. In the paragraph I think Mrs. Turpin in letting out all of her anger. She seems to be questioning God at this point
6) What is the final revelation given to Mrs. Turpin? ( To state it is the theme of the story) What new attitude does the revelation impart? (How is Mrs. Turpin left with a new vision of humanity)
· The final revelation was about whites, blacks, and cripples descending into heaven together. I think it means every one is equal. It shows Mrs. Turpin that everyone is equal and that God loves everyone no matter what color , shape, or form.



“PARKER’S BACK”
5) “Long Views depressed parker. You look out into space like that and begin to feel as if someone were after you, the navy or the government or religion” What insight does this statement give us into Parkers character and consequently in his behavior?
· Maybe that he was running from himself. He is always running from church or from the navy.
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6) What motivates parker to get the tattoo on his back? How does he expect Sarah Ruth to respond to it?
· Parker is motivated to get the tattoo because Sarah is always talking about God and judgment. He wants Sarah to “heel”. He wants Sarah to respect his tattoos
7) While waiting for the artist to finish the tattoos Parker feels that his sensations of the day and night before were those of a crazy man and that he would return doing things according to his own sound judgment. How much self-awareness does this observation demonstrate?
8) When the artist asks him if his gone and got religion Parker says I ain’t got no use for none of that. A man can’t save his self from whatever it is he don’t deserve no of my sympathy. What does the attitude illustrate about parkers personality? By his own standards how much sympathy does he deserve?
· Parker does not seem to care. Judging by his own standards parkers deserves no sympathy at all.

9) Why does Sarah Ruth refuse to recognize Parker by his initials? What is the significance of his whispering his name through the keyhole and what effect does doing so have on him?She probably thought that it was someone else imposing Parkers name. She knew he was the only one that knew his own name. She was the only one he t