Character Analysis Between Oconnors Misfit And Oates Friend English Literature Essay

In comparing and contrasting Flannery O’Connor ‘s “ A Good Man is Difficult to Find ” ( 1955 ) and Joyce Carol Oates ‘s “ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been ” ( 1966 ) the reader can happen many similarities and differences between The Misfit in “ A Good Man is Difficult to Find ” and Arnold Friend in “ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been ” . The paper will take a expression at these two characters and analyze their relationships with each narratives ‘ chief character every bit good as how they reflect certain facets of faiths.

In Joyce Carol Oates ‘s narrative “ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been ” Arnold Friend ‘s character shows up at Connie ‘s topographic point when she is all entirely, with his side boot and his aureate exchangeable. At first Arnold attempts to capture this immature miss into acquiring in his auto, but Connie rapidly realizes that Arnold is non the immature adult male she thought he was. She has noticed that his hair seems like it is a wig, that he may be have oning make-up, and that he is walking unusual. Arnold Friend continues to seek and smooth talk Connie into traveling for a drive with him, but when Connie insists she is non interested Arnold becomes more aggressive. When Connie says she is traveling to name the bulls Arnold threatens to come indoors. After some more of Arnold ‘s smooth talk Connie reluctantly agrees to travel with him and the narrative ends.

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When comparing the two slayers the one feature that seems to lodge out the most is that they both seem to be good at what they do. In Oates ‘s narrative Arnold Friend seems to hold a appeal about him in the manner that he talks. As we saw in the narrative his smooth talk seemed to involvement Connie, but even when Connie declined and Arnold ‘s tone got more violent, Arnold still got what he wanted. Although Connie is evidently uncomfortable and really inexorable on non acquiring into Arnold ‘s vehicle throughout his full persuasion, Arnold still manages to intimidate and wheedle her to come with him. In O’Connor ‘s narrative The Misfit ‘s endowments were a small less obvious. All in all when The Misfit got down to concern he was really unagitated and even was a gentlemen, apologising for being shirtless and dividing the males and females before they were murdered.

Another statement that could be made corroborating extra similarities is that both characters are sacredly related to their narratives. When actively reading between the lines of each narrative, you can observe each of the writer ‘s subtle but still noticeable undertones that link faith in both narratives. In “ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been ” it said that Arnold ‘s places did n’t suit, and it look as if he had stuffed shreds into his boots to do himself look taller than his really height. “ He was standing in a unusual manner, tilting back against the auto as if he were equilibrating himself. ” Arnold ‘s shoe was besides described as looking to non even hold his pes inside of it. “ One of his boots was at a unusual angle, as if his pes was n’t in it. It pointed to the left, set at the mortise joint. ” This could be interpreted that Arnold ‘s places did n’t suit because he had hooves alternatively of pess, mentioning Arnold to be the Devil as it is known that the Devil was said to hold had a brace of hooves that he took utmost steps to conceal. It has besides been noted by old readers who have identified spiritual intensions that if you were to take the “ R ” out of Arnold ‘s first name, his full name would state “ An old Friend ” , this being a mention to the Devil every bit good who is said to hold been the first being to befriend Adam and Eve upon their creative activity ( James ) . The premise can be besides made that Arnold is non a human being because he displays qualities that are unnatural to worlds, specifically his eyes. His eyes are much brighter than any other worlds ‘ and produce the image of his eyes glowing due to the light illuminating from behind them. “ aˆ¦She saw how pale the tegument around his eyes was, like holes that were non in shadow but alternatively in visible radiation. His eyes were similar french friess of broken glass that catch the visible radiation in an good-humored manner. ”

On the other manus “ A Good Man is Difficult to Find ” had many spiritual inserts, but The Misfits really compares himself straight to Jesus, saying he is like Jesus, except Jesus had n’t committed a offense. The Misfit is non merely slaying people for no ground ; he seems to hold religious or moral logical thinking for his violent deaths. The Misfit is cognizant of what he is making is incorrect, but thinks it ‘s all right because of the ethical motives he believes in. It is brought to the attending of the reader that The Misfit is really rather concerned with spiritual beliefs and Jesus after the grandma efforts to carry him to pray in order to happen his connexion with Jesus and save the aged adult female ‘s life. Much to the surprise of the grandma, although The Misfit has non of all time prayed, he has thought profoundly about Jesus and even provinces, “ It was the same instance with Him as with me except He had n’t committed any offense and they could turn out I had committed one because they had documents on me ” intending he experience there is much similarity between him and the Son of God. However, The Misfit so goes on to state the grandma in the clip predating her decease about his uncertainness in believing whether Jesus of all time really raised the dead. This uncertainness truly angers The Misfit, because he merely wants to cognize what truly happened. The Misfit feels that he can non believe that Jesus raised the dead, because he was non at that place to witness it. After saying this incredulity, the premise can be made that The Misfit feels that it is his duty to judge others and find their destiny as he does non cognize if Jesus has performed this judgement. He even states, “ If I had been at that place I would of known and I would n’t be like I am now, ” to foster solidify this premise. It appears that The Misfit blames Jesus for his actions and even penalties received for his offenses committed, doing him to judge those who are populating. This is exactly what The Misfit does with the grandma and her boy ‘s household upon happening them after the accident. After holding his two spouses kill Bailey and his household, The Misfit listens to the grandma ‘s suggested advice and supplications to last. All of the grandma ‘s speaking though does non aim this slayer emotionally, and he merely eventually becomes annoyed with her making his last nervus when she claims he is her “ boy ” . The Misfit takes this chance to find his concluding judgement of the grandma and decides she is non deserving life by hiting her three times.

It is easier to happen differences between the two characters because it seemed the ground why they were making these offenses are different. In Oates ‘s narrative, Arnold ‘s character seemed to be attracted to younger people, chiefly directed to girls. This can be concluded because of Arnold ‘s attempts to do himself look like a immature adult male. “ Connie liked the manner he was dressed, which was the manner all of them dressed: tight faded denims stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist and showed how thin he was, and a white slipover shirt that was a small dirty and showed the difficult little musculuss of his weaponries and shoulders ( Oates 997 ) . ” In O’Connor ‘s narrative The Misfit seemed to aim certain people. When choosing his victims he seemed to take people that he felt where traveling against his ethical motives. For illustration, when The Misfit discovers that the grandma is non the great “ lady ” she claims herself to be, it can be concluded as ground for the slayings. This can be backed up by when The Misfits provinces “ She would hold been a good adult female if it had been person at that place to hit her every minute of her life ” ( O’Connor 1050 ) , proposing that he may non hold killed her if she would hold acted like that when he foremost met the household. A major difference that was besides highlighted one time their spiritual dealingss were analyzed, gives the obvious decision that The Misfit is being compared to Jesus and Arnold Friend is being compared to the Devil. They are polar antonyms.

The relationship between the violent death and the victim in both narratives is besides an challenging factor to both narratives. The relationship between the grandma and The Misfits stands out the most. It seems as if they are wholly opposite. On one manus the grandma thinks she is morally superior and the perfect lady. When she is non and is speedy to indicate incrimination and do statements about her ethical motives that are non true. Now when you analyze The Misfits you can see that he does follow his ethical motives, although they may non be good ethical motives he does sticks by them.

When analysing the relationship between Arnold Friend and Connie it can be rapidly be decided that Arnold controls this relationship. Arnold does what he does best in the narrative, talk. When Arnold attempts to acquire Connie into his auto, it seems as if he knows all of her failings, her visual aspect, and her household life. In his attempt he continues to take pang at those failings. First noticing Connie on her visual aspect and when that does n’t look to work starts to pick at her household life, inquiring if they would salvage her and so on, this taking to Connie eventually giving in and traveling with Arnold Friend. Some readers may hold found this really controversial, Connie giving in and go forthing with Arnold Friend, but this is a perfect illustration of their relationship. From the beginning of the narrative Connie seemed to boom for attending and Arnold was giving her precisely what see wanted, it merely took some of his smooth speaking and picking at her failings to acquire Connie to eventually give in.

In decision, when comparing and contrasting Flannery O’Connor ‘s “ A Good Man is Difficult to Find ” and Joyce Carol Oates ‘s “ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been ” the reader can happen many similarities and differences between The Misfit in “ A Good Man is Difficult to Find ” and Arnold Friend in “ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been ” . The Misfit and Arnold Friend both proved to be effectual important marauders in carrying their victims to follow their directives which finally lead to their unfortunate deceases and abduction. Both characters in each of these short narratives besides exhibited insinuated spiritual deductions that related them chiefly to two major figures in faith, Jesus and the Devil. After analysing The Misfit and Arnold ‘s relationship with their several chief characters, many differences were besides noted that separated them as single operators that each performed their ain undertakings to acquire what they wanted. The paper took a expression at these two characters and analyzed their relationships with each narratives ‘ chief character every bit good as how they reflected certain facets of faiths.

Work Citied

James. “ Re: Comment on “ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? ” ” Web log remark. Notearama. 19 Oct. 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2011. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //notearama.blogspot.com/2010/10/commentary-on-where-are-you-going-where.html & gt ; .

Oates Joyce. “ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been ” The Story and Its Writers. Ed Ann Charter Boston: St. Martin, 2011. 988-1000. Print

O’Connor Flannery. “ A Good Man is Difficult to Find ” The Story and Its Writers. Ed Ann Charter Boston: St. Martin, 2011. 1042-1053. Print

Bryan Glaza

Eng 202

March 30, 2011

Kimalee Augustine

Writing Procedure

The following short essay provides the procedure I took to compose my paper on comparing and contrasting Flannery O’Connor ‘s “ A Good Man is Difficult to Find ” and Joyce Carol Oates ‘s “ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been ” to happen similarities and differences between The Misfit in “ A Good Man is Difficult to Find ” and Arnold Friend in “ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been ” .

The first measure to my composing procedure began with the choosing of my subject. This measure was by far the easiest measure in my authorship procedure. I already knew I wanted to compose about Joyce Carol Oates ‘s “ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been ” , because out of the narratives we have read so far this one caught my attending the most. Then when I saw the subject list and the subject comparison and contrasting The Misfit and Arnold Friend I knew this had to be my subject.

Following the first measure of picking a subject, came my 2nd measure to my composing procedure and this being my brainstorming procedure. Since I felt there was a batch to be said on this subject I felt a free write was the best manner to acquire me started.

In the 3rd measure I started to compose my paper. After free authorship for about three pages I began my paper. This was done by merely revising my free write and added the needed information do my paper complete.

Finally with holding a complete paper I took my paper to the author ‘s workshop to hold it revised by others. From here I merely took my recommendations from the workshop and put the concluding touches on my paper.

After the finishing the first paper it was clip to get down my composing procedure once more. The 2nd portion of the paper was merely an add-on to the first portion. So alternatively of happen a new subject all that needed to be done was happen some add-on information on my subject and add at least two more pages to my paper.

The authorship procedure for portion two began with the alteration of my first paper. First I checked for common mistakes like grammar and fixed those before I forgot to. Then I was clip to see what was needed to add deepness and length to my paper. After reading though my paper I saw that I spent most of my paper speaking about Arnold Friend so this was noted. Following I saw that I could form my paper a small better so this was besides noted.

With these two thoughts noted I could get down researching once more to happen some more information. I started by seeking to happen more information that could be used to give me more to state about The Misfit. There was non much talk of The Misfit online so I decided to read the narrative once more and seek to concentrate in and happen parts that had to make with faith. I did the same with Arnold Friend and to my surprise there was a batch of information on him. But this information was non really helpful ; the majority of the information was found in forums and really opinionative and did non look credible. With this in head I decided non to utilize any of this information and do as I did for The Misfit and re-read the narrative to seek and happen more information that would concentrate on faith.

Finally after re-reading the narratives it was clip to add the add-on information. This was done by concentrating on adding more deepness to the subjects that were already at that place and adding new ideas into the paper. The alterations that where made added about a page and a half, but because of my organisation issues I stated earlier my entire came to six pages alternatively of six and a half. Besides since of most of my information had to make with comparing faith I decided it would be good to alter my thesis statement to include this.

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