Essay Sample on Flannery O' Connor Use of Dark Humor in A Good Man is Hard to Find

Introduction

Black humor, also referred to as black comedy or dark comedy, is a stylistic device used by writers in literature to portray underlying sensitive themes in the society that cannot be told plainly as they would appear vulgar, gruesome, or repulsive to the reading audience. It is a style of writing in which the author fuses comic relief and humor with disturbing situations or mental images that are used to develop the plot of a story. In both 'Good Country People' and 'A Good Man is Hard to Find', Flannery O'Connor outdoes herself by applying the concept of dark comedy throughout the text to bring comic relief to the readers while revealing the key issues that are taking place in the society. Flannery O'Connor uses black humor in her story 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' to provide comic relief to the readers as she reveals the violence and murder of innocent people.

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It is ironical that the disturbing contents of the book can make the reader laugh so hard yet the murders talked about in the book are chilling to say the least. Irrespective of the rampant violence taking place in the text the reader cannot help but find the infusion of humor through the scenes and characters of the book. The author herself is on record as saying that according to her experience all her literary works are terrible than funny, or funny because they are terrible, or still that they are terrible because they are resented as funny. In the story, the grandmother comes out as hilarious due to her nostalgic and self-righteous character that tries to be manipulative towards others. Black comedy is also evident in the author's transition from a neutral perspective to give the grandmother's point of view. A case in point is where the grandmother secretly brings the cat since she is 'afraid he might brush against one of the gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself' (O'Connor).

Still on the same, the grandmother is said to point out interesting details of the scenery which is comical in itself because no one else in the car finds the scenery interesting as they all silently wish that she would keep her mouth shut. There is also dark humor in the plot when Bailey does not want to dance with his mother to the music coming from the jukebox. Here, O'Connor humorously tells the reading audience that Bailey lacked the naturally sunny disposition like the grandmother and trips made him nervous (O'Connor). A keen reader will laugh at the naturally sunny disposition because it is the grandmother's perspective and Bailey does not get nervous because of trips but because of his mother.

Dark comedy is also evident when the grandson opines in a rude manner that if the grandmother is not interested in going to Florida, she should just stay put at home. On this comical note, the granddaughter also quips that the grandmother would not stay at home even if she was given a million dollars because she would be afraid of missing out on anything meaning they have to take her everywhere they go. The author tries as much as possible to provide grace in the story amidst all the evil taking place as represented by the violence and murders. The character of Misfit in the book is not the evil but that of the grandmother because it leads her to believe that goodness entails wearing the right clothes and behaving like a lady (O'Connor).

The author also succeeds in ensuring that the dark humor applied throughout the text is so captivating to the readers that they tend to forget themselves and the events taking place in the story. The reading audience gets deeply engrossed in the black comedy such that they use the comic relief to separate the plot of the story from the characters in it. As a reader, one becomes absent-minded about the story that it takes a while before seeing the mirror reflection of themselves in the behavior of the story's characters. It takes time before the reading audience separates the black comedy from the serious violence and murders taking place in the story. It is too late for the readers to conceptualize this seriousness when the characters of both Bailey and John Wesley are taken to the woods where their fate awaits them (O'Connor).

Conclusion

O'Connor blends the dark comedy with horror in other separate instances within the text with a conspicuous one being the tone the author uses to describe the grandmother's desperate wailing to her son who is being taken away to be shot. O'Connor notes that 'there were two pistol reports and the grandmother raised her head like a parched old turkey hen crying for water and called, "Bailey Boy, Bailey Boy!" as if her heart would break' (O'Connor). The Misfit is also funny in dire circumstances when he calls for the grandmother to be thrown where she 'has thrown the others.' All these situations from the text show the author trying to make comical light of the weighty issues of violence and murder of the innocent taking place in the story.

Works Cited

O'Connor, Flannery. A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Short Story. Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2015. Internet resource.