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  • Essay / Pride Goes Before the Fall: The Analysis of A Good Man is Hard to Find and the Necklace

    “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'Connor and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant reveal two women with serious character flaws: excessive pride, all destructive pride. Pride has perplexed philosophers and theologians for centuries; it’s a particularly complex emotion. It can be what we imagine it to be: worthy, admirable, honest, infallible; and not necessarily who we are. We applaud individualism, self-respect, and personal excellence, but too much pride can easily tip the scales toward vanity, selfishness, and greed. Grandma in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a manipulative character determined to get everything she wants. Similarly, Mathilde in “The Necklace” is a resentful protagonist who feels she deserves a better life. In both characters, we see how excessive pride can be complicated by a lack of self-awareness and inflated self-esteem, which leads every woman to a disastrous outcome.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. The grandmother in O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" considers herself morally superior to others because she is a "lady." She actually dresses for road trips with white gloves and a hat. O'Connor writes: "Just in the event of an accident, anyone who saw her dead on the highway would know that she was once a lady." Unlike her daughter-in-law who wears pants and ties her hair with handkerchiefs. She mourns the days of "nice people" and frequently lectures her grandchildren about respect, respecting "their country of origin, their parents and everything else." The irony is that she manipulates her family and judges individuals based on their appearance and superficial behaviors. With selfish intentions, she tries to persuade her family to go to Florida to try to avoid The Misfit, but she ends up leading them down the murderer's path by convincing Bailey, her son, to take a back road to see a old house she remembers. Not telling the truth, she said, “There was a secret panel in that house.” She calls Red Sammy a "good man" simply because he gave free gas to two strangers, which doesn't necessarily make him a good man. Ironically, she also views Misfit as a good man due to his calm demeanor and favorable appearance. Despite her assurance that she can judge a good man from a bad person, the grandmother fails to recognize that the Misfit is a sociopath and a ruthless killer. Even though the grandmother presents herself as a good “lady,” her manipulative and idiotic behavior costs the lives of her entire family – and costs her own as well. Mathilde in Maupassant's “The Necklace” is dissatisfied with life. She is a pretty and charming girl who, as if by an error of fate, was “born into a family of employees”. Instead of accepting her position in life, she feels cheated. She has many flaws, but the most obvious are her greed for material things and her inability to admit the truth. Her pride allows her to feel that she is entitled to an elegant life and she is angry that she cannot buy the jewelry and clothes she desires. Maupassant writes: “She worried constantly, feeling that everything delicate and luxurious was her birthright.” In addition to her desire for material things, she longs to be the object of others' desires and to be envied by other women. Wishing. 2019.