A Modern Controversy

CNN Business posted an article this past August addressing BBC’s apology for using an uncensored racial slur during one of their news segments. Though they apologized for this racial slur, this was not the first time they raised controversy pertaining to the n-word. The controversy first started when a member of BBC’s Social Affairs Correspondents used the n-word while reporting on an attack against a rapper known as K-Dogg. The musician was hit by a car and the attack was said to be racially aggravated. Though the report using the racial slur aired July 29^th, the stations apology was not released until one of their popular DJ’s resigned. BBC’s DJ Sideman, also known as David Whitely, resigned from his position due to the airing of the report that included the n-word. Whitely commented on the incident in disapproval, “the use of the N-word and the subsequent defense of it felt like a slap in the face of our community.” The DJ continued to address the situation and explain why it was not okay with him, “the BBC sanctioning the N-word being said on national television by a white person is something I can’t rock with. This is an error in judgment where I can’t just smile with you through the process and act like everything is okay.” After Whitely resigned, along with 18,600 complaints from viewers, BBC finally felt the need to apologize for the use of the n-word. Along with DJ Sideman, another employee of BBC voiced his disapproval of the use of the n-word on air. Larry Madowo, a correspondent for BBC World also commented on the issue and discussed his own run in with the use of the n-word. Madowo said that when he tried to post an article that used the n-word while quoting an African American, the network did not allow him. Then months later, Madowo sees the airing of a white woman using a racial slur on national television and it did not sit right with him. Because of the uproar from both viewers and employees BBC then apologized and banned the n-word from being used in any context.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find"

As I began reading “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” I was actively searching for ties to Christianity knowing that O’Connor was a devout Catholic. Towards the end of the story, I came to the conclusion that O’Connor was mocking what I would call "fake Christians" through the character, the grandmother. The way in which the grandmother carries herself during the plot was very ironic. O’Connor paints this character in a way that makes readers want to roll their eyes at her. She proclaims to be a good Christianly woman, but her actions do not support this. The only time that the grandmother exemplifies true Christian values is when she is staring death in the face. This is what led me to believe that O’Connor was mocking Christians who do not lead a Christian life until they are overtaken by desperation. 

I believed this to be true until I read Conley Greer’s take on the biblical references throughout “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Greer discusses a biblical reference that I overlooked completely. He discusses the relevance of the grandmother saying the quote, “Gone With the Wind.” (O’Connor 120). Immediately after reading this quote, my mind went to Margaret Mitchell’s, Gone With the Wind. However, Greer discusses that this reference is actually a bible verse, Psalm 103: 15-17. This verse discusses how mankind is only eternal through death, “the grandmother's unknowing biblical allusion is just that: it is an ironic statement from a secularly obsessed sinner who unknowingly comments on the Christian concept of eternal life.” (Greer 52).

    Greer’s commentary then made me shift my original view of the grandmother. While I originally saw her death being an ironic mockery, I now see it as a way for O’Connor to show what she thinks is the most rewarding aspect of Christianity. O’Connor being the devout Christian she is, shows the grandmother in a very unflattering light, until she is faced with death. In her last moments, like the Misfit said himself, the grandmother acted the most Christianly compared to any other moment in the story. Though the situation that the grandmother found herself in was terrifying, in her last moments she acted gracefully and accepted the Misfit for what he was, a sinner but also a child of god. “In this context, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" may end grotesquely, but the allusion to Psalm 103 foreshadows hope in the sense that the grandmother will have an opportunity to experience eternal life when she comes face to face with death.” (Greer, 52). Through the grandmother's final actions, O'Connor shows what she believes it means to be a Christian, which is accepting that you and everyone around you is not only a sinner but also a child of God. 

Sources:

Greer, Conley. Orthodoxy and Allusions in "A Good Man is Hard to Find." The Corinthian: The Journal of           Student Research at Georgia College, 2003.