The Theme of Death in Flannery OConnors Short Story A Good Man is Hard to Find - Essay Example

The Theme of Death in Flannery O’Connor’s Short Story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and Emily Dickson’s Poem "Because I Could not Stop for Death” A concept of death often appears before readers of numerous literary works, and in most cases its image is traditionally dark and gloomy. Nevertheless every writer and poet addressing the topic of death describes it in a multiple way. Due to this fact it becomes diverse, even if not in the same work, but in different. The consideration of death as a fatality is often used in the literature. Moreover, a great number of plots with death figure at the center doesn’t have a doubled depiction in two or more writings. Authors bring their audience to a particular idea of death, its nature and meaning. In that way death works in entirely different angles in a short story "A good man is hard to find" by Flannery O’Connor and a poem "Because I could not stop for Death” written by Emily Dickson, which open to the reader not only the contrast between life and death in that very final moment, but express its essence and the nature of its main action, when the last breathing-out flies of a human’s body. To begin with it must be said that for the whole understanding of the death concept represented in analyzed works, there is a great importance of comparison of two isolated examples of death depiction. Firstly, let’s see how it appears in Flannery O’Connor’s "A good man is hard to find". Seemingly its hard to predict from the title of the story that the final belongs to death, not just in the meaning of the debt of nature but murder of the entire family by the hands of the escaped criminal The Misfit and his accomplices. Through the whole narrative until the very last moment a central image of a noble lady, whom everyone called the grandmother, is passed. With her every posture, gesture, word and deed the grandmother manifests that she is a gentlewoman, and she is revolted by mores of the modern world, in which it is difficult to find a good man. According to her words and the opinion of Red Sammy, life was another, people were deeper, and the concerns were of a human nature in their days. The paradox of the story and a kind of confirmation of the words about mean people is that the noble lady and her family in their trip are faced with those ones who take away their life. The Misfit as well as his cronies is a personification of death and its executors. Death appears to the reader as emotionless and unfeeling. Although this is its almost usual presentation in many of literary works, here another characteristic is added to its nature, namely: curdling the blood composure with overtones of the senselessness of death, which kills the people full-brimmed with abundant life. Death in the face of indifferent killing machines with incredible ease takes the most valuable thing from humans, that is, life. This is the moment when the system of values and worldview are faced with the forced need to see the truth and to change under the pressure of facts, all of which boil down to the unexpected, unfair, and so quick end of life journey. In particular, death has features of brutality and realism, even a certain detachment and a complete lack of emotional involvement. Flannery O’Connor is seemed to give it the power over his characters without referring to his treatment of such a reality. In fact, the writer affords the readers an opportunity to experience the coming of death, virtually leaving them with peace of emptiness after colliding with the face of the fatal shears. Death represents the helplessness and hopelessness by demonstrating that everything in life is happened in an unfair, suddenly, and irrevocably way. Thus death appears in the shell of the indifferent skeptic with a creepy apathy. In this respect, The Misfit and the grandmother are the symbols of a destroying mechanism of death and an ideal flow of life, respectively. So O’Connor depicts death as a dispassionate fatal arbiter of people’s destinies, which comes at any moment of life and take it away in such a manner as if it is just its work demanding no emotions or feelings at all. Passing to the poem "Because I could not stop for Death” of Emily Dickson, we may mark the death presence starting from the very its title. Notably, the author’s treatment of death manifests in its appearance being written capitalized, that displays a kind of Dickson’s respect for the concept of the end of life. Furthermore, as it is shown in the work, the common perception of death is not colored in dark but is filled with emotions usually inherent not to the queen of eternity but the mistress of life. The key point to note is that death is depicted to be similar to a gentleman who invites a woman for an evening rendezvous, for its genteelness, elegance and modesty are awaking the very noble sentiments in narrator’s heart instead of horror and fear of facing with it. As we can see, death comes into view in absolutely non-traditional role. It carries purely positive nature with a subtle shading of sadness, as it is a moment of last respects for life anyway. Still somewhat patient and kind death allows running an eye over the past life being non-hurried, watching pupils flinging off the school after the last lesson, and probably the sweet home of the poem’s narrator. As a matter of fact, a chariot of death itself adds a particular charm to the image of fate, which even cannot be perceived in another way than positive one. Voiceless death with its every good feature is understood as a soft-hearted character, which takes a dying person in its affectionate embrace and careful supervision. This in turn means that the general effect of death is totally favorable. Moreover, it evokes the response of no less warm feelings on a ground of the total lack of scariness at the point of approaching dissolution. Still there is another hint at disappointment at the moment when the narrator realizes that the horses’ rush is running towards eternity. In such a way the whole noble action of the gentle death with its invitation for the last promenade can be perceived as a kind of deceit. But at any rate, there is any notion of the fright in the teeth of death, as it usually happens in the most examples of literary heritage. As a result Emily Dickson’s image of death appears to be a big-hearted character, which provides alleviation of the transition from our world of living to the hereafter. The above mentioned peculiarities of death depiction in the two different works make it obvious that the figure of the end of life is fundamentally contrasted there. It all starts from the root or rather reason of two deaths, namely: it is violent in "A good man is hard to find" and natural in "Because I could not stop for Death”. Probably, it is one of the points of notable difference in perception of death in two works, as it influences the common understanding of the meaning of fate set against the point of life. Nevertheless, there is another main idea of opposite acceptance of death concept in the short story and the poem, that is, the character of feelings, which are created by the depiction of death’s actions. In fact, coolness and aloofness of O’Connor’s image of the fatal shears is reflected in a totally negative response due to its evil nature, while the kind-hearted and gentle death of Dickson’s work finds the matching in the narrator’s mind as well as in a warm reaction of readers. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the theme of death, which is addressed by the short story "A good man is hard to find" by Flannery O’Connor and the poem "Because I could not stop for Death” written by Emily Dickson, gives a fresh perspective of perception of the end of life. Death can bear a totally negative and even evil character of a murderer or appear to be a gentle and noble companion who helps to cross the line, which separates life from another world. So in spite of the whole trivialness of death point it may be understood in this or that way, which depends on a particular treatment of death concept. Read More