Death and Murder

In light of the love holiday we celebrated this weekend, I found it appropriate that I select two readings that are morbid, sad and morose. I read Flannery O' Conner's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and Sherwood Anderson's "Death in the Woods," both of which had their fair share of deaths. I've read "A Good Man is Hard to Find" before and I really liked it. Yea, it's gruesome and bloody, but it's an intriguing story and one I wasn't expecting.

I think one of the most interesting things about O'Conner's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is the fact that the grandmother in the story tries to convince The Misfit that he is a good man and that he would never shoot a lady. It seems that as she continuously pleads with him, her family diminishes in droves by gender as they keep getting picked off by The Misfit's cronies back in the near-by woods. She seems more focused on saving her own life than becoming fully aware that her relatives are dying.

The most peculiar line is at the end where The Misfit, after shooting the grandmother when she offers out her hand to him, states, "She would of been a good woman... if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." The language is cruel and it reflects the corruptness of the penitentiary escapee. The thought of the grandmother convincing The Misfit that he is a good man is ironic, especially when he claims that she would have been a good woman if someone was continuously killing her.

In Sherwood Anderson's "Death in the Woods," it was interesting to note that Old Woman Grime lived her entire life in the same way. She was never appreciated and her sole purpose was to feed the animals - including her husband and son. She started out in the German's home where she was either abused by the German's wife or was continuously backed into corners by the German who wanted to take advantage of her. The only time she received the smallest amount of kindness was from a man named Jake Grime who rescued her from the German's home.

But once married to Jake, she again became the lowly maid of the household, doing all of the chores and making sure all the animals were fed and that there was food on the table. She lived her whole life making sure that all the animals didn't go hungry and her husband and son were satisfied. When their son grew up, he treated his mother like a slave and with the least amount of respect a person can give. In her old age, her husband and son took long trips together, leaving Old Woman Grime to tend to the needs of the house and the animals. When she made the long, snowy trek into town, she decided to settle under a tree on the way back. She then momentarily worried about getting back up again, but then pushed it from her mind. She died peacefully under that tree - and she died with the same purpose she had all throughout her life: to feed the animals. In her death, the Grime dogs tore the pack off of the old woman's back and ate everything she purchased in town, fulfilling her duty one last time.

So, my reading list was a little on the dreary side this week, but it didn't make it any less enjoyable! ;)