Introduction
Flannery O’Connor works is a masterpiece not only in content but also in terms of its subject matter. O’Connor uses the grandmother as a character who demonstrates the evils and incidences of corruption with society. The grandmother as a character is a bully who has no respect for the norms within society. Her stubbornness lands her own son in trouble. O’Connor seeks to explain the fact that human nature is generally evil. Humans cannot naturally work in orderly manner unless they are in constant supervision. This paper centers of the central thesis that O’Connor views the perfectibility of man as a steady challenge in a slowly corrupted world.
Body
Man thinks he is perfect at everything despite deficiencies
First of all, it is evident from O’Connor work that man is constantly under competition with each other. Every man seeks to be better than the other. One of the weaknesses about human nature that O’Connor presents is the idea that man hardly acknowledges the idea that he is not perfect in everything. Most people fail to acknowledge that they cannot be able to perfectly accomplish all tasks. Some people are talented in conducting some activities better than others. For instance, when O’Connor describes the grandmother within his work, he argues that grandmother and the family believe that they are more capable of achieving specific tasks while this is not the case. It turns out that grandmother thinks that she really knows and understands issues, but in reality it is not how things are (Bolton 116). Through this description, O’Connor brings out the idea that most human beings lack humility. Many people lack the capability of being humble enough to accept the fact that they cannot be able to accomplish something. This in most cases results into the undertaking of important tasks by people who lack the perfectibility to perform those tasks. It is through grandmother’s stubborn nature and her lack of humility that she lands her own son into trouble.
Man sets perfectibility standards that are in some cases unachievable
O’Connor brings out the idea that man in many cases views himself as being perfect and incapable of error. Many people do not like to associate themselves with failures or defeat. This self-perfectiveness that characterizes human nature and behavior causes human beings to have very high expectations in life. High expectation in many cases may create a situation whereby human beings are expectant of perfection levels that many people cannot be able to meet. In most cases, high expectation of others results into disappointment because not everybody can be able to meet the high standards. In O’Connor piece, grandmother and the family demonstrate this trait. Despite efforts by other people to please them, the end result is that this family is always difficult to please. Despite the amount of time used in doing good to them, and the kindness of other people the fact remains that grandmother always finds a flaw in the actions of other people (O’Connor 16).This brings us to the third important idea that humans in most cases are critical and judgmental of the actions of others; despite the fact people in some cases dedicate themselves to serve other people out kindness.
Man is critical and judgmental
In his piece of work, O’Connor presents the idea that man is inherently judgmental. Man in many cases does not see the motives of other people as being genuine. It is human nature to always view the actions of others as having the likelihood of inducing harm or reducing the relative capability of another person (O’Connor 21). Criticality and judgment, as part of human behavior is caused by the fact that man is in constant competition. Man sees fellow men not as compatriots but as a threat to his or her accomplishments. This creates a phenomenon whereby man is in constant suspicion against the actions of another because ideally there is a thought that the actions of a given person has a motive behind. This is not to say that man is always wrong by thinking this way, but the fact remains that man is a rational actor.
Works Cited
Connor, Flannery. The complete stories. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971. Print.
Connor, Flannery, and Frederick Asals. A good man is hard to find. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1993. Print.
Connor, Flannery. Collected works: Wise blood; A good man is hard to find; The violent bear it away; Everything that rises must converge ; Stories and occasional prose ; Letters. New York: Literary Classics of the United States:, 1988. Print.
Bolton, Betsy. "Placing violence, embodying grace: Flannery O'Connor's 'Displaced Person.'" Studies in Short Fiction 34, 1 (Winter 1997). Print.
Desmond, John. “Renascence”. 56, 2, p129-137. (Winter, 2004). Print.
