Symbolism in A Good Man is Hard to Find and Araby Essay -- Flannery O

Symbolism In the short story, â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†, by Flannery O'Connor, every object including the characters are symbols. The Grandmother for example is the one and only dynamic character, represents all of us who have had to feel grief or needed to ask for forgiveness. As Flannery O'Connor has suggested, the story is a spiritual journey because of the Grandmother's quandaries. In the beginning of the story the Grandmother is obsessed with everything worldly and superficial. She cares only about how others perceive her, â€Å"Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady† (O'Conner 413). She gets dressed up for a car trip so that, on the random chance that they would be in a car accident and that in that wreck she would be thrown from the car and laying on the pavement, she would be happy because the people passing by would think that she is a lady. This represents us as humans because daily we choose to be way too self-conscience. We care what people think whether we admit it or not. The first thing that comes to mind is me and my make-up. Make-up is a perfect example of us women caring a great deal about what others think of us. She is also very selfish in her activities. Instead of caring about what is best for the family, she wants to go to Tennessee because she has friends there whom she would like to see. There are three stages of thought for the Grandmother. During the first stage, which is in the beginning, she is completely focused on herself in relation to how others think of her. The second stage occurs wh... ...hat in just reading it the first time I looked right past. It wasn’t until my dad made me actually read some parts out loud that I understood. Even in these short stories, there is so much meaning packed into them. It shows how intelligent these writers actually are. In the beginning I didn’t care too much for this quirky little love story â€Å"Araby† yet after analyzing it, it has become one of my favorites and has inspired me to go back and re-read a few of the stories in this book that I may have just brushed past. Symbolic representation has become very interesting to me and both of these stories among many others are filled with it. Works Cited O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." 1955. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. 4th ed. Ed. Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1998. Joyce, James. â€Å"Araby†. Kirszner and Mandell.