In her short stories, Flannery O’Connor brings her characters to a moment of epiphany when it is no longer possible for them to return to the old ways of life.The proud are humbled, the ignorant are enlightened, and the hypocritical are forced to recognize that the discrepancy between their smug surface and its hollow spirituality is the proof of their inadequacy in the eyes of God. For O’Connor, this epiphanal moment can only be achieved by violence and destruction: “In my own stories I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace…. We hear many complaints about the prevalence of violence in modern fiction, and it is always assumed that this violence is a bad thing and meant to be an end in itself. With the serious writer, violence is never an end in itself. It is the extreme situation that best reveals what we are essentially” (“On Her Own Work”).
In the three stories we read (“A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” “Good Country People,” “Everything That Rises Must Converge”), can you find any “moments of epiphany” which are produced in extreme violent situations? How do these violent situations “reveal” the hidden message of God? What mysterious transformations have the characters undergone when they are shocked into an awareness of their smug ignorance? Write an essay of 250-300 words.
43 comments:
410302024 英美二 劉昀佳
In “Good Country People” the time when the hidden message revealed is when Hulga realizes that the Bible sellsman wasn’t a “good country people” as she thought. In the beginning of this story, Hulga thought highly of herself and thought herself was a nihilistic atheist. However, when the Bible sellsman revealed the dark side of his inner heart, Hulga said, “Aren’t you a good country people?” and “You’re a Christian!”. Which let us know that she’s not a nihilistic and to some extent believed in God. The boy totally overturned her definition of a good country and a Christian. Her Ph.D degree, which was her pride, was totally useless when she encountered this weird and scary situation. In this short story, Hulga loss her wooden leg which she regarded as a part of her spirit to understood how arrogant she was and knew that she wasn’t as smart as she thought.
And in the story, “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, I think it is when Julian’s mother has a stroke and was dying. At that time, Julian finally regretted and felt extremely helpless. However, it was just too late. In the beginning of this story, Julian show no politeness to his mother and even tried his best to make her feel uncomfortable. He imagined viciously that his mother would lying desperately ill. He thought his mother should be taught a lesson by him, but careless as he was, he didn’t notice that his mother’s high might kill her because of his stimulation. Unfortunately, the time when he knew that his attitude and hubris might hurt people is the time his mother died.
610302615 張珮郁
The grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is hypocritical. She pretends she is open-minded, however, her words reveal racial prejudice. She always talks about the good old day, and neglects the injustice of the old South. She is punished for her hubris in the end. The family meets Misfit in the forest and gets killed by him. Here is the moment of epiphany. Before being shot death by Misfit, she realizes what mistakes has she made. Like what Misfit says, “people forget what their crimes are”, the crimes are the value of old South and its insolence, “and they have to be punished for it”. She realizes it before she dies, but it is too late.
In “Good Country People”, Hulga always has conflict with her mother. She has a PHD in philosophy. She thinks she is far better than these country people. She just hates everything in country area. It is her hubris ruins her in the end of the story. She wants to seduce the young bible salesman, it turns out he is a swindler. Hulga isn’t that smart as she thinks she is. At the end the young bible salesman took her wooden leg. Watching his “blue” figure running away over the “green” lake, it is her epiphany. She knows she should be positive to her new life. It is a lesson, and she surely pays for her ignorance and pride.
Julian in “Everything That Rises Must Converge” is well educated. He always has sense of superiority. It is his attitude that leads him to the tragic ending. His mother comes from a noble family of old south. She always thinks of the glorious past. Julian hates his mother for she being a racist. However, he just wants to “revenge” her instead of making up for her “sin”. At the end, his mother is overwhelmed and loses her mind. She pays for her ignorance of this changing society. Julian, has nothing but his mother, pay for his arrogance with the price that losing his mother. Julian finally realizes what he has done but it doesn’t matter anyway.
JOSIE 410402011
In “A Good man is hard to find”, the grandma’s epiphany came just before she got shot by the Misfit. She thought herself a sophisticated lady and her mind was fixated on the idea of glorifying the old South. Her hubris led to catastrophe and she finally realized, in the face of her death, that she had never really practiced her religious beliefs and that she took gratification in pursuing material and physical desires. She reached out to the Misfit crying that he was her own child was her moment of grace. She had let go of her selfish ways and in this action she had experienced the duty of kinship to others. Her epiphany was her ability to see others as equals and vanquishing her own superiority. She had found redemption and grace in reaching out to the Misfit.
In “Good Country People”, Hulga’s epiphany came as she watched the boy disappear over the horizon with her stolen leg. Going to college and receiving a PhD had made her sure of her own wisdom and superiority. She thought she was above all else what with her intelligence and knowledge of the world. She had underestimated the boy and even wanted to “manipulate” him. She was condescending to good country people whom she deemed ignorant. This was a huge irony because she got outsmarted by the “simple” country boy. He had made her vulnerable when he insisted on her declaration of loving him and her removal of her wooden leg. He had shattered her confidence and destroyed her intellectual thoughts giving her the moment of grace and redemption.
In “Everything that rises must converge”, both Julian and his mother got slapped in the face by reality and experienced epiphany. For Julian’s mom, she got her rather brutal wakeup call by the gigantic black woman, who hit her after she offered a penny to the woman’s son. Julian’s mom had refused to acknowledge the change society was undergoing around her and chose to retreat into the past. Her refusal to let go of old regimes resulted in her naïve action of giving the boy a shiny penny. Back in her day, it was tradition for white people to give black children tokens or small treats. Even though she meant no harm, the black woman obviously saw this as an act of racial subordination and lashed out in fury. She was dying along with the old Southern privilege she had thought she still possessed. Julian’s epiphany came after her stroke. He was relentlessly cruel and ungrateful towards her until the end when he registered that she was dying. His epiphany was realizing the evilness of his actions towards her and how he was dependent on her. His cruelty had succeeded in killing her and also in opening his eyes to how much he needed her.
英美大一 410402061 林玥穎 zoe
A Good Man Is Hard to Find：The grandmother in this story is stand for a character of hypocritical and old-fashioned. She prefers to go to Tennessee instead of Florida,so in the begin of the short story, she mentioned Bailey（ her only son）that newspaper says‘Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida.’ ,This plot shows the woman tried to persuade her son change the direction as her wish, and it is also the important clues to this novel.
She pretends she is open-minded, but in fact, she has racial prejudice. During the time Bailey drove, she kept talking about the black race and neglecting the injustice of the ‘good old days’. She lied to the family about a house with the secret panel, because of her mistake,they had an accident and met Misfit. Then,her families were killed by The Misfit and his partners in the forest.The old lady cried‘Jesus’ and she murmured ’Why you’re one of my babies’ , but Misfit said ‘Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead’,‘people forget what their crimes are’ and shot the woman.Finally,the old lady lain in blood with smiling face‘up at the cloudless sky’,I think here is the moment of epiphany,the woman was been punished for the insolence as an old South lady.
Good Country People: Hulga ,who had a beautiful name,Joy,changed without telling her mother and aimed to make her mother unhappy.She has a contradictory character, she is self-contemptuous because her disability, but at the same time, she is very proud of her PHD in philosophy and despises the people in town, including her mother.At first, Hulga thought highly of herself and thought herself was a nihilistic atheist.However, she was been tricked by the Bible sellsman,’ tall gaunt hatless youth’ named Manley Pointer, who pretended to be a good country people and won the trust of Hulga and her mother.Finally, Pointer took her artificial leg and glasses away, and at that time, Hulga suddenly remembered ask help to god,‘You’re a Christian!’she hissed,it is completely useless. The time when the hidden message revealed is when Hulga realizes she was not as wise as she though and she deserved it because of arrogance.
Everything That Rises Must Converge:Julian is well educated. His mother comes from a noble family of old South and she not only cherish the memory of the glorious past, but also keep racial prejudice. Julian hate his mother’s attitude to black people, he was rude to his mother, he feel ashamed to took his mother downtown for a reducing class to cure her blood pressure. He imagined viciously that his mother would lying desperately ill and his being able to secure only a Negro doctor for her, he also imagined what will his mother react if he took a Negroid girlfriend home. At the end of the story, Julian’s mother was socked by the huge woman and has a stroke, finally she died in front of him , he shout “Help, help!” but, it is too late. The moments of epiphany for Julian‘s mother is she realized the attitude and hubris would hurt people deeply, and for Julian ,only his mother value him as treasure in this world,’ he entry into the world of guilt and sorrow’ .
410402037 陳瑀訢
A Good Man Is Hard to Find: "Why you're one of my babies." This is the sentence that shows the grandma got the epiphany. At first, she kept trying to change, influence, and persuade the Misfit not to kill her. She thought she was a lady----she was different from others----and she took a superior attitude toward other normal people. But at that moment, before the Misfit shoot her, she got a massage which revealed that her behavior all in her life was hypocritical actually. She realized it was her hubris(she just awakened) to bring her about the circumstance----going to died.
Good Country People: "Hulga, you ain't so smart." Hearing of the sharp negation, she saw his blue figure struggling successfully over the green speckled lake. The man grabbing her artificial leg off made her face herself naked. Then, she was aware of her self-righteous fancy, which was exactly childish. She had thought she was the smartest in her country, and others were mindless. She had recognized herself as the most intelligent one, it meant she was ranked higher than others, and nobody possessed the wisdom to discuss with her the philosopher.
Everything That Rises Must Converge: "The tide of darkness seemed to sweep him back to her, postponing from moment to moment his entry into the world of guilt and sorrow. The encounter with that black woman and her son, who meant the main characters' double, gave the young man epiphany. He gained the idea that he, in fact, couldn't live without his original mom. He was regretful about always attempting to revenge his mother. He didn't have any friend and any support, except his mother. He had viewed himself as a open-minded person, unlike his mother, whereas the fact was not like his imagination, and he had still had his limitation. He was a inexperienced young man relying on his mother.
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, things goes weird when the grandmother recognizes the Misfit. In most of Flanner O’Connor’s stories, there’s must be someone evil and must reveal an ignorant, arrogant person’s constantly bad behavior.In the story, Grandma is that kind of old lady who especially focus on the superficial outward appearance. And in that case, somebody needs to teach her a lesson. After the grandmother receives the “moment of grace”. She acts like God. She reached out to Misfit, the murderer who kills all her family members, as if he is her child. It seems that grandmother gets the epiphany about herself being so superficial all along after talking to Misfit.
In “Good Country People”, Hulga is the woman with PhD who seems to be the smart one. But, in the end of the story, she turns out to be the person who is tricked by a country boy. The country boy takes away her leg and leaves her alone in the barn. She has the epiphany after seeing the boy’s dark side, and knowing herself is just an arrogant, stupid, paralyzed woman. The moment of grace comes after the violence.
In “Everything that rises must converge”, Julian and his mother both receive the epiphany. Julian, a man just graduated from university, thinks his mother being ignorant in many ways, deciding to give her a lesson. The mother gets the epiphany after the big black woman slaps her down with a purse. She tends to live in the past, not in the present. When the reality crushes her mental mind, she has a deadly stroke. Then, it is Julian’s turn to get his epiphany; he is always alone with his “mama”. And now without his mother, he will have nothing left but a pathetic job about selling typing machine.
李糧羽Lillian 410402003
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the moment of epiphany is when the grandmother encountered the Misfit, and before the Misfit shot her. At this moment, the grandmother was going to die, she saw the man’s face and realized that God couldn’t help her, she regarded her as God before, and then she begged for the man didn’t kill her and asked “Why the man was her baby”, and said he was her own children. When she encountered death, She became very deranged. After she died, her face smiling up at the cloudless sky just like a child.
In “ Good Country People”, Hulga thought she had taken the Ph.D in philosophy so she was a upper class person, and even regarded her mother and Mrs. Freeman were very shallow. Her epiphany was that when the Bible salesman took her artificial leg away. The Bible salesman tricked on her, he treated her very well and even kissed her, these behavior made Hulga thought she found love and beloved by a good and naive country person. She even wanted to teach him about the world, but no wonder she was cheat by him at the end. She realized she was incapable of action originally.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, Julian’s mother was a noble family so she had racial prejudice. Because Julian didn’t like his mother’s attitude toward the black people, so he approached the black people deliberately. However, Julian’s mother seemed trying to determine Julian’s identity, and wanted to come home at the end. And then his mother died, Julian realized his mother was his all life, he couldn’t live without her. So he felt guilt and sorrow.
410402005 李玄晴
In" A Good Man Is Hard to Find", the grandmother's epiphany is---she told Misfit that he was her own child. She still thought she was a lady and her concept stayed in the past South. First, she tried to persuade the Misfit not to kill her with her own religion belief which was blind and hypocritical. When she got shot by Misfit, her hubris collapsed in a flash, facing her death, she realized that her religion belief built on material not psychological and that all of her selfish behavior to other people. Before she died, her face smiling up at the cloudless sky. It means she had a freedom.
In “Good Country People”, Hulga received higher education and got a PhD that made her feel wise and superior. She didn't like her country people because she thought they are stupid and traditional including her mother and that boy. The boy made her get into his trap step by step with his"loving actions". Finally, the boy persuaded her to let him see her artificial leg and steal it. This is Hulga's epiphany, she saw him disappearing with her leg. He had broken her arrogance and confidence that gave her chance to think about herself. "blue figure"and "green speckled lake" mean she should start a new life without condescension.
In “Everything that rises must converge”, Julian is well educated, and his mother is a lady of the old South. She couldn't forget the glory of past and racial descrimination. She was hit by a black giant woman because Julian's mother wanted to give the woman's son a penny. This behavior let the woman think they had racial subordination, so she had impulsion to hit her. Julian's epiphany is after her mother stroke. He realized how he revenge her with these terrible things and hoe much he needed her.
410402019英美一 王致雅
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the grandmother realized the harm caused by her hubris and no self-awareness until the Misfit had been around to shoot her every minute of her life. The grandmother considered herself surpass other by virtual of being an “old-south lady” that she had the power to make judgments on people. But she never turned her critical eye on her own hypocrisy, dishonesty, and selfishness. Only when facing death, she understood her superficial and blind of life and devoutness. The grace came to the grandmother called Misfit “one of my own children,” which showed her realization of finding herself equaled to others and the abilities of compassion and sympathy. Yet this epiphany followed by her immediate death.
In“Good Country People,” the epiphany was that Hulga watched the Bible salesman run off with her stolen leg and leave her behind the loft. Hulga had earned a PhD in philosophy, which made her an atheist and lack of faith in God. But when she hissed “You’re a Christian” to the Bible salesman, we could know she wasn’t a real atheist and she still had some belief in God. Hulga even thought she was in the upper position, having power to manipulate the Bible salesman, due to her high education.
Here was an irony that she was cheated by a person who she considered him simple, good, and not as smart as her. As the Bible salesman took away her wooden led, he also removed her confidence, intelligent, and protection, then made her vulnerable. Causing Hulga to think of her hubris and get redemption for new life.
In“Everything That Rises Must Converge,” Julian and his mother both had a severe epiphany. Julian’s mother paid dearly for her patronizing attitude to give the penny to the black woman’s son, which implicated the blacks’ dependence on whites and her old-south perspective of belief in segregation and racial division. Not until his mother been knocked down and got stroke, did Julian realize his indifference to his mother and how mean he kept trying to distinguish himself from his mother, and that his life center and his only company was dying. In the end, his whole world was filled with guilt and sorrow.
410402035 陳泰鈞
In“ A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the moment of the grandmother’s epiphany is when she faced the Misfit and said” Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” In the beginning, the grandmother thought she was a lady and superior to others. But actually, she was not only hypocritical but also selfish and dishonest. In the end, when the grandmother was in the face of her death, she suddenly realized that she was flawed just like others. When she said to the Misfit that he was one of her children, it showed that the grandmother was able to see others with compassion and understanding.
In” Good Country People”, the moment of Hulga’s epiphany is when she heard the young Bible salesman said “you ain’t so smart. I been believing in nothing ever since I was born!” and was left by him. Hulga was highly educated, and she even got a PhD degree which made her thinks she was a wise woman and superior to those country people. When she met the young Bible salesman, she thought he was a simple man and even wanted to control him. But not until the end did she discover that she was totally cheated by him. That is not only an irony but also a chance for Hulga to have a precious epiphany.
In” Everything That Rises Must Converge”, Julian’s mother had an epiphany after she was hit by the huge black woman. After his mother had a stroke, Julian also had an epiphany. Julian’s mother came from old south family. Although the society had progressed, she still looked back and was not able to accept the equality between white people and black people. Because she liked the boy, she wanted to give the boy a penny. But eventually, it turned out that she was knocked down by his mother and had a stroke which led to her death. As for Julian, he is highly educated but hypocritical. He espoused the progressive ideologies of racial equality, but he was unable to connect with black people or even engage in small talk with them. Besides, not until his mother had a stroke did he know how cruel he treated her.
410275040 陳湘妮
In these three stories, the main characters are transformed spiritually by going through violent situation.
In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, the grandmother lost her family. She is also threatened with death by the Misfit. Before encountering the Misfit, the grandmother is an arrogant and shallow person. However, at this violent situation, she reaches out with love to the Misfit who is about to kill her. At the end, the grandmother died with smile on her face. She is rescued from her sin because she overcomes the origin personality defect.
In Good Country People, Hulga is a cocky person because she has a college degree. She thinks other people are boring and foolish until she meets the Bible salesman. This innocent young man turns out to be a violent and evil person. He takes off Hulga's artificial leg and steals it. Hulga sees his blue figure struggling over the green speckled lake. By seeing this view, she realizes the haven and a new life. This is her transformation.
In Everything That Rises Must Converge, Julian has high-esteem. He looks down on his mother. Moreover, he tries to revenge his mother by making her angry. At the end, his mother loses her memory and becomes like a little girl. Julian enters into the world of guilt and sorrow. Eventually, he repent of his sin and aware of his depravity.
All these stories come to one end that God punishes the arrogant one. Arrogance is guilty to God. Therefore, characters who have personality defect will have violent punishment.
410102073 游佳洵
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the grandmother, which is the main character, is a person who likes to judge on other people. Also, she thinks everything has to be under her control, so if something is not happened based on her willing, she will comment and criticize it. She never turns her critical eyes to herself. This causes the unfortunate result to her family and herself. She believes that she is the real follower of God, but in fact she is just a selfish, hypocritical old lady. The grandmother gets the epiphany at the moment before she gets shoot, which is the violent situation. Facing to death, she finally knows the real world is not the ideal world she considers, and finally she can see others with compassion and understanding when she treats Misfit as her own child.
In “Good Country People”, Joy, the main character thinks she is knowledgeable because she has PhD of philosophy, and she always thinks her mother, Mrs. Hopewell, is a hillbilly. One day, a seller comes to their house for selling Bible, and Joy falls in love with the man. Although she is well-educated, she is tricked by the man. She gives her first kiss experience to the man, and lets him to put her glasses away. She even gives her most important thing----the wooden leg to the man she only knows for a few days. This shows that she is not really smart, and she finally realizes it after she gives her wooden leg to the swindler. Desperately, the Bible seller destroys Joy’s confidence and privacy violently. This is ironic because he sells the Bible in the front part of the story, and at the end there is no Bible in his suitcase.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, the main characters, Julian and his mother both have epiphany. Julian’s mother has a prejudice in racial equality. She thinks black people are at lower class. That is the reason why she does not want Julian to sit beside the black people. Her epiphany appears after she gives the penny to the black kid. She finally realizes although her intention is good, other people may be misunderstand it, and it attacks her seriously. Thus, she becomes unconscious. This is also the moment of Julian’s epiphany. He tries to use any ways to make his mom angry. However, at the end of the story, after his mother is attacked by the case, and faint, he suddenly realizes she is important to him.
410308026 華文二 梁存中 Chris
Flannery O’Connor use a neutral writing style to deal with the hubris of the protagonist. In her stories, the brutal actions bring the characters to the crucial epiphany.
In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the grandmother represent the old generation. She believed the white people was good than the black people, and she cherished the old times of South. Also, she thought she was a lady, and considered everyone should behave in a good manner. She received her epiphany on the time she met “The Misfit.” Everything collapsed when she was closed to death. She prayed and cried to the god, and finally found her grace of forgiveness. She said that everyone is her child, and this indicated that she realized everyone is equal, and a bad person should be forgive.
In “Good Country People,” the author deal with the complexity of generation conflict. The protagonist Hulga is an educated woman, and lives with her mother who seems always interrupt her life. Hulga loves philosophy but her mother doesn’t, and this becomes a major problem of theirs. Hulga receive her epiphany when she meet the young bible seller, who shows the irony of the title “Good Country People”. She believes this young stranger, gives her biggest secrets (the join point of her wooden leg) to him, but she was cheated by him in the end. Because of the evil and sick of this bible seller, Hulga ultimately knows how vulnerable she is. And this ironical ending gives her epiphany.
In “Everything that Rises Must Converge,” Julian and his mother shows a horror picture of generation conflicts. Julian’s mother lives in her own ideal tradition world, and didn’t know the world has changed. Julian is educated and have conscious about the real world, but he seems very awkward in the tradition world and new world. The two characters got the epiphany in the story of climax. For Julian’s mother, her tradition world collapsed when she was punched by the black woman, and her stroke becomes the final grace of her life. For Julian, he found his ignorance when his mother stroke on the street. He realized the lesson he gave to his mother was silly and childish, and he suddenly knew how important of his mother. This become a lesson to him.
410201006 中文三 曾政源 Abel
We can find that epiphany in "A Good Man is Hard to Find".The grandmother seem to be a good man in the story.She always said something made her predominant.When she encountered Misfit she still showed a sense of goodness until Misfit kill her family.We can find the author use two kinds of different main character to show two different main awareness.Finally,Misfit used violence to uncovered the a sense of the goodness of grandma.
We knew that the grandma kept praying in the story,and she thought she was a sincere christian.She asked Misfit to pray when he would kill her.I thought it is a ironic that pretending people.Even if they would die,they still to be.Thus,only when violence or ultimate way is coming,so that they know this warning and message.
Finally,we can find the change of the grandma when she would be killed.She said "why you're one of my babies.You're one of my own children!"We can find the attitude is different from previous her.Misfit said"She would of been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shot her every minute of her life."The moment the grandma didn't pretend goodness,instead of grace from deep mind.
林立 410402023
In “A good man is hard to find”, grandmother always saw herself as superior than other people, and kept talking about the old time and how she belittled other people who are different from her kind. But when she met Misfit, she knew that her religion didn’t work on that murderer, and she watch her son and grandsons were killed one by one. Grandmother’s moment of epiphany was when she said “Why you are one of my own babies, You’re one of my own children.” Before she die, she saw Misfit as her child, it mean she thought he is one of a normal people, and didn’t see him as a criminal and keep talking him to pray.
In “Good country people”, the epiphany of Hulga was when the young man ran away with her wooden leg, and abandoned her in that tree house. She always thought that she was better than anyone in this countryside, because she had PhD, so she supposed to smart than any country people, and looked down upon every country things. She even wanted to seduced the young man sell Bible and taught him knowledge. But in the end, after she learned that Bible boy tricked her, she discovered she wasn’t really that smart.
In “Everything that rises must converge”, the moment of Julian’s mother’s epiphany is when she was knocked down by the black woman, and this is because of her hypocritical sympathy to the woman’s child and gave him penny. And for Julian, he always dislike her mother because of her attitude to the black people, so after he saw his mother was beaten by black woman, he thought it was a lesson to her, but when his mother collapsed because of stroke, he began to regret he been so mean to her.
410301022 俞亭安
Flannery O’ Connor often uses extreme violence or dramatic ending to alert the characters who have been ignorant. In “A good man is hard to find”, the grandmother is so hypercritical that she pretends to be a kind person who cares about everyone, but in reality, she keeps trying to fit her own values the people she encounters, and she still consider she’s a merciful person. At the end of the story, the grandmother encounters Misfit, without understanding his background and life, she starts to tell Misfit to pray, so that God will help him. I think the author uses the most violent way to awake grandmother’s ignorance, right before Misfit kills her, grandmother said that he is one of her child, grandmother knows that she and Misfit are basically the same, and she also get her redemption through death. Flannery O’ Connor also considers that only through the frustration of ego can a person get mentally redemption. In “Good country people”, Hulga is a woman who has the highest educational background in her town, so she’s proud, but her wooden leg causes insecurity in her mind. When she dates with the bible salesman, she even wants to teach him a lesson, instead, she’s left at the loft and her wooden leg is taken. “You ain’t so smart.” the bible salesman tells Hulga before he leaves her. In my opinion, this action knocks down Hulga’s arrogance, makes her reconsider her previous behavior. In “ Everything that rises must converge”, Julian’s mother is a racist, she even doesn’t want to take bus with black people, same as the grandmother in “A good man is hard to find”, Julian’s mother is also have s sense of nostalgia for the past. In the whole story, Julian considers himself as a saint, and disdains his mother’s behavior, in the end, this sense of superiority leads him to guilt because his mother has a stroke after the black woman hit her. This sudden accident brings a lesson to him.
林旻萱 410402007
In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", the epiphany came when the gradma got shot by the Misfit. Before this crisis, the grandma is such a hubris person that she considers herself morally superior to others by virtue of her being a "lady" and often judges others as if she were always correct. And though she frequently judges the lack of goodness in people in the world today, she, herself, is not a devout Christian at all and even begins to question the power and divinity of Jesus when facing death. When the grandma tells the Misfit that he is one of her own children is the moment when she finally realizes that they are both human beings, and she has found the ability to see others with compassion and understanding.
In “Good Country People”, the epiphany came when Manley took away Hulga's wooden leg and made her realized that she had been tricked by him. Before this crisis, Hulga thought she was superior than others because of the doctoral degree she had got.On the contrary, she was tricked by the boy who she thought was inferior than herself and even wanted to "malnipulate" him in the begining. And this is a big irony since Hulga got outsmarted by Manley who she used to look down on, espacially when Manley said to Hulga:"You ain't so smart" and broke her intellectual and superior thoughts eventually.
In “Everything that rises must converge”, the epiphany came to both Julian and his mother by realizing the reality. For Julian's mother, her epiphany came when she tried to give Carver the penny and got slapped by the African American woman. This shows that Julian's mother still lives in the South of her ancestors, with strict social codes of conduct that determined the behavior of both whites and blacks. And the African Americanwoman lashes out to establish her status as an independent being and reject historical subservience to white patronage. As for Julian, his epiphany came when he realized that his mother was getting crazy and dying. He did not stop his constant cruelty toward his mother until her stroke which made him found out his own evil actions for treated his mother like that.
410401006 雷從漢
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the grandmother received her epiphany before she got shot by the Misfit in the end of the story. In the beginning, she thought she was a lady and was living in the glory of old South which only exist in her mind, believing that white people still take control of the world. However, when she encounter the Misfit, things totally changed and even a lady couldn’t control it.
When she faced the menace of death than she realized how selfish and hypocritical she was. “Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children! ”.When the grandmother said it, she had got the God’s epiphany then she was finally able to love and see others equally. In the end, the grandmother’s face was smiling up to the cloudless sky, showing that she was free from the fetters of her selfishness and hypocrisy.
In “Good Country People“, Hulga’s epiphany came after her wooden leg was taken by the boy and hearing that”Hulga, you ain’t. so smart” from him. Getting a Ph.D. degree made her believe in her own intelligence and superiority. She thought she was higher than others in psychical though she was physical injured.After the boy came in her life, she still thought that she is superior to him. However, when she thought she can manipulate the boy, she didn’t know that she was getting into a trap. Her wooden leg was taken from her and also her glasses. When the boy said that”Hulga, you ain’t. so smart”, her world already collapsed into dust. It was such a huge irony that after she found out that the boy was a liar, she can do nothing but asking him whether he is a Christian and good country people. Hulga’s epiphany came to make her understand the harm of condescendence.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge" , Julian’s epiphany came when his mother had a stroke and was dying and his mother got her epiphany after the black woman slapped across her face. Julian’s mother gave a penny to the black kids which implicated the black people’s dependence. After she gave the penny to the black kid, the black woman slapped her in fury. Julian’s mother realized that the old South’s glory(white people take charge of the world) is over, but unfortunately, she couldn’t. face the reality that the past is pasted which would never come back, so she chose to hide in her blocked mind instead of progressing with the time. To Julian, not until his mother had a stroke and was dying then he realized how cruel he was. His epiphany was realizing that how he depends on his mother and what he had done to his mother. In the end, Julian finally knew that his hypocrisy to others(black people) and cruelty to his mother.
Throughout these stories, the author tries to make the climax with the comparison of vulnerabilities of human beings and the dignities of God. Protagonists face the avalanche of their belief, but they also could reborn(or rest in peace) after they realized the epiphany from God.
英美一 蘇薇雅 410402025
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find “, the moment of epiphany took place when grandma was about to be killed by Misfit. Before this moment, when her family were killed by gun, what she does was pleading Misfit to pray for god. She was a lady who like being respected. On the road, she consistently talks about memories when she was young. Out of her upbringing, she was a racism, that’s why she looked a black kiss didn’t have any britches. After a string of violent case happened, she finally understood and mistook Misfit as her son. Subsequently, Misfit shot and killed her.
In “Good country people “, the moment of epiphany happened when Helga was discard by Bible man, Manley Pointer. She was a high-educated woman with an artificial leg. Constar to her educated degree, the people around her were normal. And she always ignored them, including her mother. What’s more this let she underrate him as a “good country people”. After realizing his true purpose, her confidence was broken into pieces. In the end, she just sat there and gazed him disappeared.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, the moment of epiphany occurred to when Julian’s mother was knocked by the black women to the ground.her arrogant attitude about the black because her background. She raised in old southern days. With her upbringing, she had strictly racism, that could have explained about her rude behavior-giving a penny to black kid. What push story to climax, the reality-the black women hit her-made her stroke, it was a giant bomb for such a woman who refused to accept reality and left her comfort zone. Eventually, her consciousness still stayed in her old days instead of the reality. She called out the people who gave her feeling of safety but were dead. And Julian also cried to ask his mom “came back “to him.
610302607 蕭峻閎
Epiphanies in three stories present a writer want to tell the people to reflect what people should know.
The grandmother in “A good man is hard to find” used to have a great live in American South. She is unwilling to face everything had changed. Her son invited her to go another state. She persisted in seeing her connections. Finally, she was persuaded by her family. She wore the formal suit to travel. When they passed the old cotton farm. The view led her miss old generation until they met Misfit who is the killer. He killed her all family even a baby. The grandma wanted to change his mind. Misfit still killed her after all. This is the moment of epiphany. The grandma always believed people with the kind heart will abandon to kill them. However, people didn’t always have the great heart. When she understood this, Misfit shot her.
In “Good Country People”, Hulga’s epiphany appears when Pointer stole her leg and ran away. Hulga’s life is dull. She has the artificial leg and the Ph.D. However, she stayed at home and she didn’t work outside. She knew her intelligence is above all the people. However, she was cheated by the boy who sold the Bible. She believed him and convinced him. She was tricked and take toward the woods. He kissed her and make her shy. When he take off her leg, she found his didn’t want to devote to the Christ. He opened the cover of Bible. It was a Whiskey. This is the moment of her epiphany. He said he want to collect her wood leg. He didn’t give it to her and disappeared.
In “Everything that rises must converge”, Julian has a great and well education. He knew his mother discriminate the Africa American. He always wanted to stimulate his mother. One day, his mother wore a dress and took a hat. They encountered the Africa American mother took her son in the bus. Her mother has old generation thought to give the penny to the black woman’s son. The black woman beat his mom. His mom was sitting on the sidewalk. When his mother said, “ Tell Grandma to come get me, he knew the bad thing happened. This is Julian’s epiphany.
410402029 王鈺雅
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” the grandmother has moments of epiphany when she got shot from Misfit. In that moment, she realized the real world and she cannot change Misfit't mind. She knew that she was not a true lady. She always said：pray, pray……but she still cannot change the situation. The true is that she is a murderer and killed her own family. Finally, she knew she was such a superficial woman. The character is very weird and hypocritical. The grandmother considers herself morally superior to others by virtue of her being a lady and frequently passes judgement on others. She need to bear the duty of her selfish intention finally.
In “Good Country People” the moment of Hulga’s epiphany was when she saw the valise being opened in front of her. She always despised other just like she saw the man at the first time. When she saw him disappeared down the hole, she found out that she was not smart as her imagination. Although she got the Ph.D. , it cannot mean that she was superior other people in this country.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge” Julian has the epiphany when he found his mother's face fiercely distorted. The moment he entry into the world of guilt and sorrow because his hubris. The moment of Julian’s mother’s epiphany is when she got hit by the black woman. At that moment she was conscious of the reality.
410001005 黃美嘉
In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, the old lady gets the epiphany before she knows she is going to kill. She was a person who claimed believed in God, but did not love other people in the selfless way. She holds the hubris until the moment approach the death. Then she says” Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” The epiphany turns her from a person judge other people to one know how to treat and love other people in a fair way. It makes her realize she just same with those people who she judges.
In Good Country People, the epiphany of Hulga comes after she finds everything is not what she thought. She is not so smart and the boy is not a person she can seduce. He comes to her not for what she thought that attracted by her, but for her artificial leg. The most important is she thought she will not believe everything, but she does. Her arrogance and ego are broken in that moment. She wants to give the boy a lesson, but actually she is given a lesson.
In Everything That Rises Must Converge, Julian’s mother is punched on her face; the punch totally beat her down, in both spiritual and real life. That makes her sink into her memory when she still was a young girl. In a way, that is because she understands that she is a person unfit with the society. Julian gets his epiphany when he finds his mother is really out of mind. He realizes how he need her and feels guilt for how he treated his mother. He finally finds his judge to his mother and other people is so wrong, but the mistake cannot be undone.
410302043 魏郅城
In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the epiphany happens as Misfit was about to shoot the grandma. Before the moment, the grandma saying that Misfit was not going to kill an old lady kept talking to Misfit about religious beliefs and trying to convince Misfit. Yet, approaching to death, she ironically realized that she actually was the person who kills her all family and that she ended up as the one her judged.
In “Good Country People “, the epiphany of Hulga came out when she saw the boy as a betrayal disappear with her prosthetic leg; at the moment, having considered herself an intellectual superior and thought she could manipulate the boy, Hulga found it ironic to be the one who was actually manipulated. The intelligence she was proud of caused her arrogance and the consequence she got so that she got the destruction of her confidence and her wisdom.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, the epiphany of Julian and his mother occurred when Julian’s mother was slapped through her face. Julian’s mother as a racist considered black people inferior in the society, so Julian in the bus tried to make her angry. Finally, Julian found how he was dependent on his mother, and he noticed it regretful that he had treated his mother and realized how he need her.
In the story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", the grandmother found that she led the family to a wrong way and saw the murderer. But for her hubris, she didn't tell them the truth and brought them including herself to the death. Before her death, she even tried to convince The Misfit that he's a good man and should prey for the God. But all efforts she made was in vain.
In "Good Country People", the Bible salesman was originally regarded as a good country person, simply because he is a Christian. In the end of the story, he closed to Hulga and allured her to remove her leg. the Bible salesman finally reveals his dark side, but it's too late.
In "Everything That Rises Must Converge", the generation gap between Julian and his mother makes them think and act in difference. The mother had been lived in the slave generation. She was taught to be proud of her identity since she was a little girl. On the bus, she tried to sneer at the black kid to show her nobility. Julian doesn't like these terrible behaviors. He despised his mother and show her his disgust. In the end, his mother was hit by Carver's mother. The sudden act of violence make her blood pressure rise to a danger high level. She collapsed on the sidewalk. Julian was shocked and cried out for help. He was so regret that he always opposed to his mother. But, it's also too late.
410302005 彭嘉偉
In “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, Flannery O’ Connor tends to present the dark side of human nature, intending to point out that people can be on the wrong path, even they seem to be on the right path. The family seems to be fairly normal in this story; an obedient son conforms to his conventional mother’s decision to head to Tennessee where is dominated by white people. However, the grandmother is wrong. She is so fixated on the past; thinking that black people dominate Florida, thus Misfit must appear in that state. Grandmother follows her intuition and old-fashion to do everything. Consequently, her conventional thoughts lead to a dramatic tragedy to her family. The epiphany of grandmother be “see everyone equally” and “ conquer the her sense of superiority. In the end of the story, she finds the grace and the redemption when she tries to use the religion, the Power of God to convince Misfit not to kill her.
In “Good Country People”, except Hulga, everyone believes that the one who is more religious to God, the one will be blissed for good. Nevertheless, Hulga is an atheist, getting a Ph.D. in philosophy makes she cultivate her sense of superiority. Her epiphany comes as a “simple” country boy steals her leg. This boy defeats Hulga confidence and makes she be vulnerable, feeling the moment of grace and redemption.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge” the epiphany of Julian and his mom is just like a slap in a face in this story. Julian’s mom is still live in the past. She always believes that she has the old Sothern privilege, following the convention to give a nickel to the black children. Unfortunately, she gets no nickels in her purse that day; thus she gives a penny to a black boy. And, her epiphany comes after slap from black boy’s mom, after she hit by a black woman; she gets a stroke. Eventually, she dies because of her insistence on possessing her past, and her privilege to be a racist. As for Julian, his epiphany comes after his mother’s death and dependence on his mother.
英美一 410402015 巫芷玲
In these three stories, there were a key role to make the protagonists realize how stupid they were. They all had smug ignorance. They just lived in their own world and thought they could judge everything without mistakes. However, when they thought there weren’t any problem with them, their biggest moral flaw was their smug ignorance.
In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, the grandma kept telling The Misfit to pray, and he thought that was really hypocritical just as the grandmother. She wanted to face the difficult situation and solve problems with her own way, but she failed. Moreover, the consequence of the failure was their end of life. At the end of the story, when the grandmother died with her face smiling up at the cloudless sky, this indicated that she was set free.
In Good Country People, Hulga considered that she was the only smart person in the place where she lived. Besides, her imagine about her and Satan in the storage barn also showed her smug ignorance. Satan was a messenger for Hulga from God. “You ain’t so smart. I been believing in nothing ever since I was born,” Satan said, and that gave Hulga epiphany and made her reborn.
In Everything That Rises Must Converge, Julian only focused on judging and looking down upon his mother, and he forgot to look inside. That's his smug ignorance. When his mother was dying in the street, she raked his face and still found nothing. That means he was ruthless just like a stranger, not her son. He definitely defeated her. However, he regretted after all.
410402001 張家慈
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the grandmother experienced a “moment of epiphany” right after the last member of her family was shot and The Misfit said, “Does it seem right to you, lady, that one is punished a heap and another ain’t punished at all?” The Misfit thought that he was wrongly accused of committing a crime and was wrongly punished. He believed that the grandmother, who actually committed the crime of glorifying the South of their racial prejudices, should be the one punished. The hidden message of God was that all criminals should be punished, no matter the size of the crime. In the end the grandmother transformed into a child with her face smiling up at the sky.
In “Good Country People”, Hulga experienced a “moment of epiphany” when Manley took away Hulga’s most private possession - her wooden leg. The hidden message of God is that one should not be overly self-absorbed and think of themselves as the most superior. In the end, Hulga transformed into a woman with no leg and shattered self-confidence and prejudice of the country people.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, Both Julian and his mother experienced “moments of epiphany”. Julian realized how much he needed his mother and that he was not more superior than her when he realized that his mother was dying as a result of his lesson on racial prejudice to his mother. His mother on the other hand realized that the society has changed, rearing away from racial discriminations during the time of integration when she was hit by a large black woman. The hidden message of God is that one should not think of themselves as superior in terms of education or race. In the end, Julian transformed into a child of his mother with no one to depend on and pay for his education. His mother on the other hand transformed into a woman who finally realized that she is no more superior than someone else in terms of race.
410302048 陳譽萱
In ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’, the author tells us the dark side of human practice. The epiphany of grandmother be ‘see everyone equally’ and ‘conquer’ of her sense of superiority. But, in the end of the story, she finds the grace when she tries to use the religion, the Power of God to convince Misfit not to kill her, but, in vain. Only her cat survived.
In ‘Good Country People’, everyone believes that the one who is more religious to God, the one will be blessed for good, except Hulga, she is an atheist, who gets a Ph. D.. in philosophy makes she cultivate her sense of superiority. Her epiphany comes as a ‘stupid’ country boy steals her prosthetic leg. This boy defeats her confidence that shows she is vulnerable, and she feels the grace and redemption.
In ‘Everything That Rises Must Converge’ Julian’s mom is still live in the past. She believes that she has the old Southern privilege, following the convention to give a nickel to the black children. One day, she gets no nickels in her purse; so she gives a penny to a black boy. Meanwhile, epiphany of Julian’s mother comes after slap by black boy’s mother, who is a black woman, and she gets stroke. She dies because of her insistence on possessing her past, and have privilege to be a racist. Julian’s epiphany is after his mother’s death that dependence and regret on his mother.
41020A039李季穎
In ”A good man is hard to find”, the moment of epiphany is that when the grandmother told Misfit he was her own child. When she really face the death, she has an epiphany about what she do before is wrong. At the first of the story, the grandmother is the woman who never turns critical eye on her hypocrisy, dishonesty, and selfishness. She never know what a person she is before. In the end, when she told Misfit he is her son, at that time, instead of being superior, she realize she is flawed like everyone else. She has found she has ability to treat everyone with compassion and understanding.
In” Good country people” the moment of epiphany is that when Hulgar saw the man who sale Bibles stole his artificial leg and run away her. He cheated her. She is desperate because before he met he man, she think she is superior to other people. She receive the PHD, therefore, she think she is smart. Nevertheless, when she is fall in love with the man and was cheated by her lover. She has epiphany about she is not a really smart girl.
In’ Everything is hard to find”, the moment of epiphany is that when Julian’s mother in a slap on her face by the black woman. She has been live in the slavery time and she still live in the past. She sneer on the black child in order to show how noble white person she is. Because of the slap, her blood pressure is risen. She die of heartbreak. Though her son is regretful how he treat his mom so bad, but it is too late.
410402017 陳怡君
In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", the major character, grandma, is a hubris woman who intends to consider herself superior to others. She insisits on maintaining the image of being a "lady". Moreover, she frequently passes judgement and critical on others, and she doesn't care about the opinion what other people possess at all. That is to say, she never turns her critical eye on her selfishness, hypocrisy, and misbehavior. The epiphany shows up when she faces the death, in the final moment with the Misfit. At that moment, she realizes what she lacks of in whole life. She uses religion to try to save herself, and keeps demonstrating her compassion and respect toward everyone. The Misfit tells her that if she carried out that way in her life, she would be a better woman and led a better life.
In "Good Country People", the main character, Hulga, who is well-educated and gets PhD in philosophy, yet she can't pursue a better life because of her health. However, the extraordinary degree makes her a sense of arrogance and pride of her wisdom and abundant knowledge. She thinks she is intellectual and smart enough to control her love with the man. The epiphany takes place as a result of salesman's betrayer. When there comes a man selling bibles, she falls in love with him. She is manipulated by him, even shows him where her wooden leg joins on. At first, she rejects to show him. Then later, she is persuaded into taking off her leg, which is stand for her privacy and soul. From the point of her view, she becomes dependent on him, and completely surrenders to him. She thinks this is the most"intellectual" decision. It tells the serious destruction by the one whom she believes in and faiths in.
In "Everything That Rises Must Converge", both Julian and his mother have epiphany. Julian's mother holds prejudice to racial equality, and believes in racial segregation. Later on, the epiphany emerges when she gives Carver a penny without realizing the meaning of racism. She thinks her attempt to racism is sincere, but the black woman views this as a racial insult and becomes furious. Then it makes her confused and even backs into the past, which is glorious and comfortable to her. This is the moment that Julian's epiphany shows up. He tries several methods to make his mother understand the real and true essence about racism. However, his extreme and unrealistic perspective and behavior make him more ignorant just like a fool, and far from the reality. In the end, he realizes how important his mother is, and how dependent he is to rely on her.
410402027 Susanna
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the grandmother’s epiphany happened before she got shot by the Misfit. The grandmother thought that she was a lady and morally superior to others. Her hubris, selfishness, and dishonesty caused all the accident. In the end of her life, she reached out and touched the Misfit on the shoulder, and she said he was her child. She realized they are all equal and they are all human being. She knew all her flaw in her characteristics.
In “Good Country People,” Hulga’s epiphany happened when the boy took her leg and left her. Hulga had taken the Ph.D. so she thought she was so smart and superior to anyone. She regarded those nice young men as stupid, and she thought those country people and her mother are ignorant. However, she finally realized that she was deceived by the “simple” country boy. Once Hulga admitted she loved the boy, she was manipulated by him. Because of the boy, Hulga knew that she was not the most intellective person.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” Julian and his mother both had their epiphany. Julian’s mother still thought she lived in her old day and couldn’t accept the changing society. She insisted on giving the Negro boy a penny, it’s a normal behavior would happen in the past. The Negro woman felt uncomfortable because it’s just like the continuation of blacks’ dependence on whites. Therefore, Carver’s mother hit Julian’s mother out of fury. In the end, she escaped the real world and went back to her childhood. Julian wanted to give his mother a lesson and he thought he was different from her mother. However, when his mother was dying, he realized how evil he was to treat his mother like that and the only person who he could rely on was dead.
410402049 蕭芊曼
In “A Good is Hard to Find”, the grandmother’s “moments of epiphany” is happened in the time she shot by Misfit, the heart-cold killer. She is arrogant and her ideology still keep thinking of the good and honor time of the old southern United States. When she knew that her family were all be killed and she would be the next one, she realized that she is not really a devout Christian and nobody can help her. As the time Misfit shot her, she smile in peace. I think it was an atonement for her.
In “Good Country People”, Hulga’s “moments of epiphany” is the young people’ betrayal. She always considered that she is distinguished and outstanding, but the artificial leg made her feel inferior. When the young man told her that the artificial leg made her special and he love her even kissed her, Hulga believed him but was cheated. It is a big irony that the smart and proud Hulga, who even want to seduce the young people, be cheated by a “good country people” that sold bibles.
In “Everything that Rises must Converge”, Julian’s mother lived in the glory days of the old south. She got the“moments of epiphany”, when she was hit by the block woman. She finally realized that the old time has gone and would never come back. So she choose to evade and got crazy. The moment of epiphany of Julian is her mother got sick. He always want to revenge his mother and want to see her getting in trouble. But when it really happened, he regretted. He rely on his mother for everything but hunted her that the one who really love him.
410402047 林汎諭
In a part of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, grandmother was going to dead, and it was at that time that she finally realized the generation she used to live had already faded away, all those different skin color, classes, and races seem to be so negligible in front of death. Her last word was for the murderer Misfit, she said: “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” She finally had an epiphany that every man in this world is equal; so no matter the man in front of her was black or white, he has the same right like her son.
In the story “Good Country People”, Hulga has her epiphany when the Bible salesman takes away her prosthetics and tells her that “You ain’t smart.” Hulga had got Ph. D of philosophy, had very high education but she is still cheated by a liar that comes from nowhere. She finally realized that her insight is still narrow, those thick philosophy textbooks won’t teach her how to know situation of this generation better. We still have to look it and feel it ourselves, human’s minds are hard to guess and be studied in books.
The protagonist Julian in the story “Everything That Rises Must Converge” had his epiphany when he found out that is mom had Dementia. He never thought of understanding his mom, on the contrary, he tried any methods that can make his mom mad. But when his mom finally went crazy, he can do nothing for her. He eventually realized that how childish is he these days, he thought himself a synonym of people from new generation, but the fact is, he is still an adult with an immature mind.
410302013 施采妤
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the grandmother thinks herself superior to others. She judges people at will, but she never looks into herself with her critical eyes. She makes great effort to tell people that she’s LADY. She has no consciousness that she has already been in a different generation; she keeps her old manner, always thinks of the past, and deals every event with her own way, even when she stands in front of the death. The epiphany comes when the grandmother is killed by Misfit. The grandma tries to convince Misfit, with God, not to kill her. However, it is not her past South anymore.
In “Good Country People”, Hulga possesses a PhD degree, which makes her think herself the smartest person. She despises all the town people including her mother. She meets the Bible salesman and falls in love with him. But how did she know it was all fake to the salesman? Her epiphany comes out when the boy takes her artificial leg away. At that time, Hulga realizes that she’s not that smart as she thought.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, Julian is mean to his mother, for he does everything he can just in order to make his mom get a lesson that he thinks she needs. He is so haughty that he thinks he needs to teach his mother where they are and who they are. Before the epiphany comes up, Julian acts like a jerk. He sits and waits to see what mistakes or jokes his mother will make, and even says something hurt and irritating to his mom. However, it’s too late when the epiphany shows up to Julian and his mother. The mother just can’t recognize her son anymore and acts like a child. And Julian drops deeply into the world full of guilty and sorrow.
410402031 英美一 楊子玉
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the grandma mistook a rural place in Georgia for an old plantation in Tennessee in her past. At that time, grandma was too afraid to admit her fault and mistakenly cause a car accident, leading the most terrified trouble that she had worried before the trip—the Misfit to them. However, if the grandma was not silly enough to reveal the Misfit’s true identity as a serial killer and shouted out his name, the Misfit might not have killed all of them. When the grandma found out she had made another terrible mistake, she tried to change the Misfit’s mind by her faith in religion. She seemed to be a noble lady, who asked the Misfit to pray and tried to persuade him to be “a good man”, but in fact she was selfish and hypocritical in her disguise. In the end, the Misfit shot the grandma when she touched him. It was not until the grandma died did she stop talking and become genuine like a child who raised her head smiling at the sky.
In “Good Country People”, Hulga was attracted by the young Bible salesman, who seemed to be curious and fascinated about her. With a Ph.D degree, Hulga used to think she was smarter than other country people and believed she could see through many things. However, when the Bible salesman opened his suitcase, there were not real Bibles but a pocket flask of whiskey, some obscene picture cards and a small box of condoms in a disguise of Bible’s cover. The epiphany dawned on Hulga when she asked the Bible salesman” Aren’t you just good country people?” In the end of the story, the Bible salesman said” You ain’t so smart.” to Hulga, and then escaped with a trophy of Hulga’s artificial leg.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, Julian was annoyed and irritated by her mother’s belief in the Old South Era, and he had always wanted to “give a lesson” to destroy her mother’s myth in Old South Era. When Julian’s mother gave a penny to a black boy out of condescending curiosity, the boy’s mother hit her with a fist in rage. At first, Julian thought the violence as a meaningful lesson to her mother. Not until he found out that her mother couldn’t recognize him anymore did he feel guilty and regretful.
410302049 洪子宸
A Good Man is Hard To Find: Grandmother is a hypocritical old lady, she believes that she is the one and only to control everything in the world. She deeply believe that she is the LADY of the old south, she thinks she is superior than anybody. But she definitely doesn't aware of that she is already in the modern time, and ironically, her lousy noises cause herself and her family's destruction.
Good Country People: Hulga got ph.D when she is still young, that makes her feel superior than any other people, but her artificial leg makes her feel inferior. For that, she must use her momentum to build herself up. When her mom falls in love with a bible salesmen, she assure that he is the fake one. But when she falls in love with the young fellow who take her artificial leg away, it is the moment that she finally realize she's not really that smart.
Everything that Rises must Converge: Julian is being not nice to his mother, he always wants to see her get into awkward situation. He think his mother deserve it, and he even say something rude to his mother. But when the epiphany comes up, Julian's mother start act like a child and can't recognized him, Julian turns out learned his lesson and regret for all his life.
410202072 吳婉君 Jill
In the stories “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, “Good Country People”, and “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, the lessons for the main characters are taught by epiphanal moment after violence and destruction.
In the story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, “moments of epiphany” of the main character—the grandmother—is at the moment before The Misfit shot her. And her last words “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children” and the scene after she was shot, the author describes her “…with her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky” suggest that she got redemption and the spiritual lesson from God by The Misfit’s shots to her families. The shots of The Misfit and his partners to some extent is the punishment of her weakness, thus the killings give her a chance to be aware of her superficial sense of goodness and evil.
In the story “Good Country People”, “the moments of epiphany” for Hulga happens when she sees the things hidden in the fake bibles and the fleeing of the bible seller with her legs. Such violence gives her a lesson that she was actually not less ugly than the bible seller; she is the one who wanted to seduce the seller and thinks she knows every single truth. Yet the seller let her knows that she isn’t good.
In the story “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, “the moments of epiphany” of Julian happens when his mother is dying. At the end of the story, “…postponing from moment to moment his entry into the world of guilt and sorrow” suggests he got the lesson from her mother’s dead and learn to introspect about his races discrimination.
In a word, these three stories present the violent and miserable ending provided the moments of epiphany to the main characters.
410402009 劉仁宇
In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", the grandmother met her “moment of epiphany” right before she got shot to death. She had been living in ignorance all her life, trapped in the old southern thinking that she grew up from. Her one sided, bigot perspective of the world, her annoyance, her stubbornness that enforced her will to all her family, her leading the whole family to the disaster, her blind, narcissistic religious believe that completely failed to touch the Misfit. All of these proves her as a hypocrite, rotten inside but act with all the grace and kindness she can muster up.
She remind me a lot of my own grandmother. Kind to her grandson, yet actually forcing her will onto each and every one of our family member. She has lived all her life up to her expectation, and now she wants every one else to meet her expectation. Everything she do is to persuade herself that "I did a good job as ___", not to actually be a good person. the grandmother did the same. As a grandmother, or even, as an Catholic.
Her feign of kindness sickens me, but along with her bigot, annoyance and mistakes, it fades away in the face of death. At the end of her life, when she realized that the Misfit will kill her anyway, she was finally released from her ignorance; she saw through all the acting she put up and embraced the Misfit as her own child. It was not long before death pierced through her body and left with her life.
There is a percentage of god I see in her last words. "You're one of my own children!".
410402039陳雋哲
In“ A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the appearance of the grandmother’s epiphany is when she met the Misfit and realized that he was one of her children. She thought herself still a lady in the south. She considered herself superior to others. In fact, she was hypocritical and selfish. At the beginning, she tried to tell Misfit not to kill her.
But in the end, Misfit killed her. Just at the moment, her pride faded away.
In” Good Country People”, Hulga was a highly educated girl. She belittled anyone in the world until the young Bible salesman appeared. But in the end, she found he cheated her. It shows that Hulga was not really smart as we saw.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, Julian’s mother was arrogant. She thought black people should on the lower position in this society. When she saw a black woman wearing the same hat get on the bus, there was an impact on her mind. She had a kind of racial discrimination rooted in her mind. Julian used all ways to let his mother angry. But when his mother ended up being faint, he found that he was wrong.
410402051 卓韋馨
In the end of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, grandma still think that she is a “lady”.
And she even wants to change The Misfit’s mind, but we can find the epiphany when The Misfit shot her. Before The Misfit killed her, she realized that she always takes a superior attitude to any others and keep “Jesus” on her mouth, but it is hypocritical and surface. She just ignorant to religion. So, some kind of level that grandma get rescue and redeem and she can get rid of her original circumstances through death.
And there is and hidden message of God in grandma’s word “ You are one of my own children.” That means whatever you did, you will still my child.
In” Good country people”, the fake Bible salesman always try to lure and break Hulga’s reason and pride. She think she was the smartest person and others who have no education were stupid because they can’t understand she like her mom. Finally, he got the victory (got her artificial leg) and told Hulga that” you ain’t so smart” which speech that waken her. That is all her self-righteous notion. Then she saw the man’s blue figure struggling successfully over the green speckled lake. “Blue” means heaven and “green” is positive color that imply Hulga can get a realization of new life.
In” Everything That Rises Must Converge, the main character Julian also an high educated person and his mom is a lady from noble family of old south America who still have racial prejudice. And Julian doesn’t like the way his mom to black people, then he just take opposition to his mother want to make his mother angry. He talk to black people who looks decent and take black girlfriend home. But when his life center disappear that his mom been killed, he knows he is helpless and lonely because he just have one person, his mom. Without his mom, have to face this world alone. That is his transformation to his attitude to his mother.
410308009 白昕平
In “ A Good Man Is Hard to Find” we can see that the noisy grandmother think that she was a lady and live in her own word till the last moment of her life. Did God really means a lot for her or she just want others think that she was an exalted lady? No matter what she thought, the things that she told in the end, truly planted a seed in Misfit heart, he said that he wasn’t afraid of anything and he didn’t do anything, other force him to do that. Was that a true? We can see that there were something sad in his heart, and the thing that grandmother said just saved him.
In “Good Country People”, we can see that the young man actually not Christian, but he use other people’s pity to treat the girls who think that they were the same disable person. Christian is an important religion in South American at that time, Hulga , a woman who have PhD and also an atheist were also got into the trouble. In the end, she realizes that she couldn’t be like before any more.
In” Everything That Rises Must Converge” we still can see the way that white people had some discrimination to the black. Julian think that his mother was so racial, and he is a highbrow that better than his mom. He keep thing ways to let his mom got angry. The truth was, he wasn’t better than his mother at all, and he even made his mom stroke. He have no right to point out others wrong at all.
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