Nabela HasnainProfessor ShapiroEnglish 301March 18, 2014The Grace of GodFlannery O'Connor is a renowned Southern author known for her violent and shocking stories. She was raised Catholic, which influenced most, if not all, of her fiction. O'Connor believed that his writings were inextricably linked to his Christian beliefs. She concluded that without her beliefs, she would not be able to write (O'Connor 6). Although much of his work is gruesome and brutal, his stories are deeply rooted in belief in faith and God. O'Connor generally depicts salvation with the use of violence and death through his characters. The characters are often confronted with a distressing situation which awakens or even alters their faith in the event of a crisis. In "A Good Man is Hard to Find", one of his well-known stories, demonstrates this principle when the grandmother has a revelation after being shocked into the spiritual consciousness by the murder, The Misfit, who kills her and her family. Since the grandmother had a revelation, she received God's grace. Stephen Bandy, author of "One of My Babies: The Misfit and the Grandmother", said that "God is God: he can do whatever he wants, even save people like Grandma and The Misfit" ( Bethea 246). This means that even evil people still have hope of entering heaven if God grants them this grace. This is also the theme of this short story; despite humans who have sinned, who have weaknesses and faults, God always grants them salvation by his grace. The point of view and tone of this story help connect to the theme. The narrative is in the third person point of view with limited omniscientity. This means that the reader can enter the grandmother's mind and know what she is thinking and feeling. The only ot...... middle of paper...... allowed him to pass peacefully. God has the power to grant grace to a person, even if they are not fit to be blessed. The grandmother and The Misfit were not capable of an opportunity for salvation because the grandmother was manipulative, selfless, and a liar while The Misfit was a murderer. So even though Grandma was petty and The Misfit was cruel, together they found valuable lessons, meanings, and moral good that went beyond the world of goods and means (Link 125). The grandmother gains grace at the very end because, even though she was insane, she was able to experience a revelation that resulted in her salvation (Keil 45). The Misfit does not fully have God's blessing but appears to be on the verge of obtaining it. Ultimately, everyone has the ability to receive God's grace and go to heaven..