More Than A Battle

One would think, that if you were to be humiliated as much as the narrator was in "Battle Royal," you would just leave the boxing ring and get out of the building too get away from this intimidating crowd. If the narrator had left, he would not have been able to give his speech to the white folks, proving that he and other African American people can be just as smart as white people. The narrator is not necessarily revolting against these people, although he does have a slip about social equality, which he quickly corrects. The narrIn Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal," the narrator is fighting for more than just money and the prize of being the last man in the ring. This young African American man, while being humiliated in front of this snobby, obnoxious, degrading, and at times horrifying crowd, constantly thinks about whether or not he will be able to deliver his electrifying speech to this rowdy crowd of racist white upperclass men. Even while he takes blows and jabs from his massive opponent in the one versus one battle, he constantly thinks about just being able to give his speech. After hearing the final words of his grandpa, the narrator is slightly confused about how he should act towards white people, but he wants to prove that African Americans are capable of doing everything whites can do.
ator most likely wanted to say "social equality" deep down inside, even though he did not want to do it in order to upset the rowdy white crowd. After giving this speech, the narrator is rewarded with a scholarship to an all black school and given a very nice briefcase. Now the narrator thinks he has finally overcome the final words of his grandpa, but this is not true.
The narrator feels as if he has overcome the last words of his grandpa, which seemed very scarring at first. Once these words are seemingly overcome, the narrator sees a bright future where maybe "social equality" will occur one day thanks to himself and other great black people. When he hears his grandpa laughing in his dreams, things change, and a bright future does not look apparent to the narrator. Now he does not know which words of his grandpa's to listen to, or whether or not he will ever break through in having social equality.

The Pleasure of Meanness

The Misfit is a religiously troubled character in Flannery O’Connor’s story of “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” He doubts the legitimacy of Christianity, because Christ never showed any physical proof of His existence. The Misfit is the way he is because of his uncertainty relating to the actual existence of Christ. He even admits that “if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn’t be like I am now.” (137) This horrific murderer decides that he doesn’t want to serve a leader that does not have an absolute existence in his mind, so he enjoys life “by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness.” (135) He has absolutely no problem brutally killing a whole family, including women and young children. One moment this man seems extremely calm, but the next his troubled psychological and emotional features shoot out at the reader. Killing and evil are the only pleasures of this man’s life, and he makes sure he enjoys these “pleasures.” He surely is a “different breed of dog” from the rest of society.
This different “dog” says he comes from the “finest people in the world.” (90) The way the Misfit describes how his daddy was a “card himself” but always avoided getting into trouble with the authorities shows how something evil runs in his blood. Unlike his daddy, the Misfit did get into trouble with the authorities, as his arrest and time in prison shows. According to the officials, he killed his father. The Misfit disagrees with this fact, but does not remember why he went to jail. His attitude is that “sooner or later you’re going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it.” (124) The Misfit clearly earned his nickname because he does not fit into society. He does not want any help, especially not from Jesus Christ. He says he deems himself the Misfit “because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment.” (130) The Misfit feels as though he should never have been punished as much as he was because his punishment does not match up with what he had done. Clearly, this psychotic killer deserves to be punished by the existing God, whether he believes in His existence or not.
O’Connor is very unusual in her deep Christian faith as opposed to other modern American writers. Through this story she demonstrates her belief that the world is declining in moralist and spiritualist values. The Misfit has no moralist or spiritual values at all, as his only pleasure in life is killing people. In doing so he also refuses to serve Christ because he does not have physical evidence of his existence. O’Connor constantly gets the point across in her short story that nobody in the world is trustworthy through not only the actions of the Misfit, but also the conversation between the grandma and Red Sammy Butts. As Red Sammy said, “everything is getting terrible.” (44). The grandma agrees with this, even though she is quite morally unsound herself. When the Misfit is on the verge of killing everybody in the family, the grandma just keeps selfishly begging for her own life. At the same time, she does represent the way O’Connor wants characters to be spiritually. The grandma keeps saying “If you would pray, Jesus would help you.” (117) Even John Wesley and June Star show little respect and morality in their attitudes towards their grandma and parents. When they do not get to see the non-existent house in Georgia, they cry and whine to their parents until Bailey finally gives in to their demands. The grandma does not help in this situation either by pushing the parents to let their kids see the house. In general, throughout the short story nobody shows good moralistic and spiritual values, because nobody is trustworthy anymore in these days.
O’Connor and her characters demonstrate the downfall of society in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Through this extreme example of violence and viciousness, she stirs her readers’ attention to the fact that the place we live in is a morally and spiritually declining world. In O’Connor’s view, without a firm belief in God and Jesus, moral values will keep declining until the Misfit becomes a common day man.

1.Is there a possible reason for the Misfit not believing in Jesus? Do you think something needs physical existence and proof to make it true?
2.Did the Misfit actually kill his dad? Does he choose not to remember killing his dad and other wrongs he has committed?

A Teenage Life Wasted

In Teenage Wasteland, Donny is a trouble adolescent, who just needs some guidance to push him through in order for him take on responsibilities and oblige by the rules. Some stricter guidelines in the house, and some more support from his parents would help. His mother, Daisy, makes the right choice by sending him to see a psychologist and possibly diagnose a problem. The problem does not start to grow when Donny is sent to Cal. The situation emerges into a crisis once Daisy and her husband let Donny become so involved at the Teenage Wasteland, also known as Cal's house. The insecurity and laziness of Daisy lead to the eventual dissapearance of Donny. She put her own's sons problems into the hands of another man. Donny did not abandon Daisy. Daisy abandoned Donny by not reaching out to him more often.

When Daisy decides to let Donny go over to Cal's "Teenage Wasteland" all the time, without knowing what is going on over there, she is pushing Donny away from her. A parent's job is to take care of his or her child. Daisy dumps this duty onto Cal, a man who is clearly not fit to take care of a child and teach him responsibilities. Cal had trouble taking care of himself and couldn't even keep his marriage together. In general Cal reflects the stereotypical hippie of the 1960's and 1970's. He has a lackidaisical attitude and this rubs off on all of his "students," including Donny. Cal tells Donny that he does not have to worry about grades, and should just have a relaxed attitude. Cal is acts as if he were an apathetic 15 year old. When Donny gets kicked out of school for having beer and cigarettes in his locker, Cal agrees with Donny and says the school framed him. Daisy put her child's life and future into the hands of the wrong person. Donny's future should have been in the hands of Daisy and her husband the whole time.

Even when Daisy does try to become more involved in improving Donny's attitude, behavior, and grades, she is only concerned with herself. While sitting in the principals office to talk about Donny, she can only think about how fat she looks, and how raggy her husband looks. She even tucks her belly in when she leaves the office. Daisy is incapable of focusing on her son's problems; instead, she acts like an self-centered, insecure 15 year old. Daisy does not want to cause Donny to run away, but she needs to put more of an effort into helping her own son with his problems. When she actually does help Donny with his homework, his grades start to rise. She does not want to help Donny with his homework, clearly, because of the fact that she sends Donny to be "tutored" by the psychologist-recommended Cal. Another mistake of Daisy is not being able to make up her own mind. She listens to everybody other than herself on how to handle Donny's situation. Being a parent is a huge responsibility that Daisy does not live up to fully.

With the right guidance and proper care from his parents, Donny would not have run away. Of course it is incredibly harsh to blame this all on Daisy (which I have mainly done throughout this blog). Cal had a large influence on Donny and made his attitude even worse and more lackadaisical. The school in general, did a good job of calling Daisy and giving her updates on Donny. Daisy should have listened to these updates more. Still, the main reason of Donny's running away is his mother's inability to monitor his problems and secure his situation.