The role of innocence in “The prisoner who wore glasses” and “A good man is hard to find”

The human condition is understood as the result of a fall from a potential or primordial state of grace or as a deviation from humanity's original purpose. It is often characterized by pain, conflict, frustration or vain striving like in “The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses” (Bessie Head) but also by contradiction of a person's true purpose as ordained by divine principles like in “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” (Flannery O'Connor). Although the human condition of the main characters is a little bit abstract, the scenes we are treating reveals how deep and intense the characters will manifest their primordial state of grace, confronting each other in both stories.

In “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” the grandmother is described as a dynamic character because she undergoes internal change. She cares about herself, has a “strong faith”, seems to be above everybody and basically thinks that people had more values back in her days compared to now where there is almost no one to be trusted. “In my time', said the grandmother, folding her thin veined fingers, 'children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else.” (p. 262). “The misfit” himself, running rampant is more a static or round character able to answer his own questions; therefore, for some people he might be considered as a philosopher who perceives life differently than others and makes or have his own moralities about it. He's an intellectual person with a strong mind that can even bring other people to question themselves. “Maybe he didn't raise the dead', the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying” (p. 272).

In the final scene, the human condition is shown in a materialistic egoistic or also religious way. The two main characters are in a conflict based on faith and life perception. After leaving her homeland with her family for a road trip, we still perceive “the grandmother” as a strong person until the arrival of “the Misfit”, right after her car accident; when she looses her peace of mind because of the fact that her family was taken away by his two associates and she is left all alone with him. She thinks that she can convert the “bad guy's” thoughts with her beliefs based upon religion in order to survive and to make him a better man, but it doesn't work. “She wanted to tell him that he must pray” (p. 271), “Finally she found herself saying, 'Jesus, Jesus,' meaning Jesus will help you” (p. 272).

Although his ways are unethical according to the tradition, the so-called Misfit still seems to find himself or his thoughts. Maybe he was looking for a final answer that only the grandmother could have in this context based upon faith or belief, otherwise he wouldn't waste his time talking to her. “I wish I had been there, he said, hitting the ground with his fists…” ...