What I received from the story is that times have changed. The grandmother reflected a glanced back into how things used to be in life. " 'In my time', said the grandmother, folding her thin veined fingers, 'children were more respectful of their native states, and their parents and to everything else' " (O'Conner, 4). I believe what the author was trying to express that how that by the years that have gone by people's or even society's moral standards slowly been lowered. In the quote I placed above the grandmother says "You don't look a bit like you have common blood. What the grandmother was trying to point out to the Misfit was that he actually come from a background of good parents and with good moral standards came from, but eventually fell into the same pattern like everyone else. It reminds of today's society, especially with hows children are today. I notice how a lot children today are just disrespectful to parents, adults, and to just everyone in general. It just surprises me sometimes because when I was a child my parents did not tolerate at all. You can even see that from the children in the story how they would speak out of turn and just be disrespectful to adults, especially to those they did not know. Another thing that I saw that was different was the role of the man. It annoyed me the whole time that the grandmother was defending the family. Why wouldn't Bailey stand for the family? He probably would have done a better job defending his family than the grandmother. The grandmother self appointed herself to try to defend her family and what made me upset was how she did not try to save her family but her self. She was always stating "you wouldn't kill an old lady would you?". There seemed to be no effort of her trying to save her family. Like I said this story to me was focused on the topic that times have changed.
---Avan Price
That's interesting how you noticed that Bailey, who was supposed to be the head of the family, did not do a good job of protecting his family from danger. Great observation!
ReplyDeleteBailey did try to tell everyone to let him handle it when they were with the Misfit. But for the majority of the story, he was very passive. I agree. And I think it's great that you pulled times have changed out of the story. That is completely true. I myself am very old fashioned like that, because of the family I come from, so I totally understand how you feel in that perspective of it. Great observation!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you in regards to you pointing out that O'Connor may be trying to say that times have changed. I was wondering maybe it's always been that way: not everyone is a good person? I like how that you noticed that the father figure in the story, Bailey, was passive the entire time until he "half-way" stepped up in the end.
ReplyDeleteI like how you tied this story with today's society. Times are definitely changing and the role of men seem to be changing as well. Back then men were seen as the backbone and the head, but in the story Bailey was passive. The grandmother who tried, but somehow seemed to put herself first still made an attempt to protect the family unlike Bailey. Great post Avan. You made very good points with what you got out of the reading and I too agree with what you said.
ReplyDeleteAvan, good post! In what way does the O'Connor convey this idea of times changing? Does this idea change the way we read the story?
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