O'Connor's Social Consciousness

"Everything That Rises Must Converge" and "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor critique the erosion of Christian values in American society. Both stories mirror present-day social problems such as race, age, and class issues within restricted family relationships. By creating dysfunctional family dynamics that are resolved using jarring, fatal experiences, O'Connor manages to traumatize the reader into generating a social consciousness spurred on by a spiritual emptiness.

The two stories revolve around developing social problems that O'Connor finds abhorrent. As a devout Christian believing that everyone has the capacity to be evil, she creates characters that exhibit negative traits while still being realistic enough for the reader to relate to. In "Everything That Rises Must Converge" Julian continually antagonizes his mother over her resistance to change her opinions so they are more politically correct, to a point where his anger destroys her. Although his mother's beliefs are contemptible, and Julian's attitude towards her is appalling, the reader cannot help but sympathize with both characters because of the misfortune they bring upon themselves. Similarly, in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," the reader forgives the six-person family for disrespecting each other once The Misfit and his accomplices kill them. The faults that the characters posses are set up to be the cause for their unluckiness at the end and so the reader is shown the harms of possessing such qualities.