Essay #2— Short Story Comparison/Analysis. Comparison between A Rose for Emily and A Good Man is Hard to Find

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Comparison between “A Rose for Emily” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
This paper reflects thematic comparison and contrasts between two short stories, i.e., “ A Rose for Emily” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, written by William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor, respectively. Both stories share various thematic concepts in their narrations. Equally, there are differences in the way the stories are unraveled. The grandmother is against the idea of touring Florida because she knows about the Misfit gang, who had escaped from jail. If they visit Florida, they could meet the Misfit gang, who could endanger their lives. Thus, the grandmother supports the trip to Tennessee instead of Florida. This paper demonstrates intersecting and equally contrasting themes between the two stories embodied in differences in setting, plot, characters variations, and story endings.
The major protagonists in these narratives are women who face almost similar and contrasting situations. Emily is facing loneliness and obsessive disorders. She does want to change and struggles to accept the death of her father. The grandmother, on the other side, is struggling to cope with loneliness in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, as she grapples with her southern Christian inclinations of prayers and other Christian beliefs to evade potential death from Misfit. She accompanies her son and grandchildren to evade loneliness because she did not want to remain at home. Thus, it is this family that provides solace as she interacts with her grandchildren. The theme of loneliness could be deduced as both Emily and grandmother's key elements in both stories.
“A Rose for Emily” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” are stories whose themes are carried, portrayed, and embodied by women. The two women in both stories use past events to leverage the present and future ideations and perceptions. How these women deploy and apply past events to their present times is quite different. “A Rose for Emily” portrays Emily Grierson, a girl protected by a father against all town suitors during her youthful days. Her father would chase away young men who tried to seduce her (Faulkner, 81). After her father's death, Emily lived alone without her husband, not her mother, who remains untold in the story thought she had some cousins ((Faulkner,.81).)
“A Good Man Is Hard” is an exhilarating story narrating a thematic journey to Florida. The grandmother is the core character expressing the topical issues in the narration from the start, as other characters are gradually introduced. She resides with her son Bailey and his wife, along with their two children. However, they traveled to Florida the next day. On their way, the grandmother was telling stories to children. Unfortunately, they got an accident on the way, but no one was hurt. Coincidentally and incidentally, Misfit appears. The grandmother recognizes him, and they know such recognition was fatal. It could wipe out the whole family. The grandmother jerks her feet after realizing the incident of forgetting something, leading to the escape of Pitty Sing cat from the b...