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Hawthorne’s and O’Connor’s view on Religious Beliefs

Why worry about the speck in other people's eyes? The most challenging aspect is that people

are much into perfecting other people's ways before they perfect theirs. They judge what others

say or do, but they do not see any flaws in their tasks. Such is the sentiment that Flannery

O'Connor in the book A Good Man Is Hard to Find presents majorly through the grandmother's

character. O'Connor presents the grandmother as a person who believes in making people 'good'

but she forgets that she also has a gap that needs to be filled. Majorly, the grandmother does not

create any room for discussion as her belief is that she is the only one who would be right in any

particular instance. In real-life situations, people face situations that would be right, but they

always leave room to hear what they have to say, but it does not happen with the grandmother.

While it would be prudent to have a firm stand in a particular situation, it would not harm to hear

what other people say. Nathaniel Hawthorne in Young Goodman Brown also presents such an

analogy where he tells of Brown as one person who believes that faith is pure and sound, and

that was his stand. However, it came to be proved otherwise where the devil showed it as

corruptible. To some extent, these beliefs contradict what O'Connor and Hawthorne believe in

when it comes to religion. The grandmother and Brown seem to have faith in religion but, it

looks shaky, and seems hypocritical, which is against Hawthorne's opinions where he says that

the moment individuals copy other people's beliefs, their faith tends to be rootless and unstable.

The grandmother believes that she is the only individual who would be right in every

single situation. For this reason, she does not give room for negotiations, even when it comes to
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decisions that people around her want her to make. Once they fail to do what she would have

desired, she starts passing judgment on them (O’Connor p. 117). The aspect comes from

believing that she is the only one who knows how that should be followed, and the others have

no clue concerning how life should be run. For example, as the story begins, O'Connor tells of

how the family is planning a trip to Florida. The grandmother has a different opinion, and her

stand is that they should go to Tennessee. In this, the grandmother is quite stubborn, and no way

would be followed apart from hers. She is a Christian, but her behaviour and character do not

reveal one, and thus O'Connor brings this habit as a comic one.

The grandmother also behaves in this manner on the basis that she is superior. While no

one would refute that she is exceptional, it beats logic that she should have shown others the way

instead of condemning them. The grandmother states that her conscience acts as a guiding force,

and it would not allow her to take her children in the way of Misfit. She also says that the

mother's children do not broaden their minds as she only takes them to familiar places. By saying

this, the grandmother compares the mother to a cabbage. Rather than doing that, she should only

have been human and appreciate that the mother is unfit in one way or the other and later seek to

help her out. She would have made things better as judging does not help but only serves to

worsen things. The issues presented in this case are contrary to Hawthorne's belief that it would

be more critical to be human than theological. In this case, through the grandmother thinking that

she would be the only right person, she was not human but only acted selfishly. Thus, if only

people moved from doing what they feel is right and consider operating in humanity to other

people, then society would be a better place to live. Though from the outside, one would see a

good Christian, in a real sense, she is more selfish and obstinate when it comes to fulfilling what

she wants.
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Grandmother's character varies from Misfit, where Misfit is more into a self-awareness

trait that the grandmother does not have. Unlike the grandmother, Misfit appreciates that he is

not a great man, but he is also aware that other individuals have worse traits (Hani p. 345). Such

should be the attitude that people should always carry with them everywhere they go. They

should appreciate that they are not the best in certain situations, but at least they are somewhere,

and through that, grow. That will also act as an avenue for other people to teach them what they

do not know and thus make positive progress. One belief that he holds on to is that if he has seen

Jesus, he would now know that Jesus is the son of God. However, it is unfortunate that he has

never seen him, and therefore, he is angry about it. That now leaves room for him to have more

knowledge about Jesus. Misfit is firmly rooted in his belief which is in line with Hawthorne's

suggestion that people should be firmly rooted and hold on to that. Otherwise, if they try going to

the other end, things might not be as pleasing to them, which should not be the case. Their faith

will only become weak and rootless, meaning that even transferring that to others might appear

challenging. The text makes a direct commentary to religion where the Bible references people

coming to reason together, and when they do this, they will sharpen one another. No matter how

knowledgeable one is in a particular area, that does not give room for them to close their ears to

any other opinion out there, but they should always be ready to hear what others have to say.

In the text by Hawthorne, Brown believes in the Christian nature of Goody Cloyse.

However, that belief is overturned after the devil shows him that Goody Cloyse is a witch. At

first, Brown was rooted in Christianity, and there is a god who he believed could overturn all

things (Hawthorne p. 45). In most situations, believers behave like Brown acted where you find

they have a belief, but once there is a wave that would come to overturn things, it does, and they

are left with nowhere to base their faith which should not be the case. If people should have
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beliefs in certain situations, they should not appear to be shaky no matter how tough or

challenging the conditions may seem. They should act in utmost faith, knowing that what they

believe in is correct. Even though Brown initially thought of faith as pure and good, when the

devil came, he showed him that the religion he believed in is corruptible, and in this way, he was

swayed. Due to the weak faith, he created room for being tempted and thus fell into the trap.

Hawthorne is against how Brown acted and said that there is much danger since people base

religious faith and moral principles. Still, they do not arrive at their ethical decisions. They tend

to copy other people's beliefs and those around them, and for this reason, their faith becomes

rootles and weak. Thus, the idea that Hawthorne brings out is one where if your belief in

particular aspects let not what others have to say concerning the same disturb you, but you

should be firmly rooted in it. Through this, it will even become easy to pull people to your side if

what you believe in is correct. The aspect is such an applicable one in religion since people

behave in unpleasing ways where they have faith it is not firmly rooted. The text gives more

explanation on how people are expected to act when it comes to such situations.

The texts A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Young Goodman Brown present various

beliefs that the main characters believe in and what they do not believe in. These beliefs, to some

extent, are in line with the religious beliefs, but on the other hand, they also contradict the same.

For example, the grandmother believes that she is the only individual who would be right in

every situation. Thus, she does not give room for negotiations even when it comes to decisions

that people around her want her to make, and when they act contrary to her expectations, she

passes judgment on them. She thinks she is superior to all other beings, so she does not take time

to listen to them. Her behaviour is contrary to Misfit's notion where Misfit is more self-aware

and appreciates that he is not great, and due to this, he gives room for negotiations which would
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be the case in any setting. He is firmly rooted in his belief, and while his notion would be in line

with Hawthorne's suggestion that people should be firmly rooted and should hold on to that, it

contradicts the grandmother's views. In the case of Brown, his faith is shaky, and Hawthorne

poses a warning and says that it should not be the case, but instead, it should be firmly rooted so

that even when challenging times come, it will not be moved. All these texts and narrations

drawback to religion and show how people should live and practice their faith.
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Works Cited

Hani, Mohamad. "ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL PROBLEM IN A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO

FIND BY FLANNERY O’CONNOR." English Community Journal 3.1 (2019): 342-

349.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown and Other Short Stories. Courier Corporation,

2012.

O’Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man is Hard to find”[1953]." The Complete Stories (1972): 117-

132.