Individualism in Gimpel the Fool and a Good Man Is Hard to Find

The Myth of the Sincere or original Individual In Charles Taylors theoretical text, The moral philosophy of Authenticity, Taylor writes to evaluate the c at a timepts of individual(a)ism. He believes that we can, and should, become conscious about(predicate) what makes us who we ar to effectively and sincerely choose which values or qualities to support.Using two curt stories, A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery OConnor and Gimpel the Fool by Isaac Bashevis Singer, aboard Taylors text and the application of his concepts, one can examine if the central oddballs function as real individuals who act for themselves, or act to fulfill a historic all(prenominal)y desirable niche in merciful nature. Flannery OConnors 1953 bunco falsehood A Good Man is Hard to Find, illustrates the story of a husband and wife, on with the nan and two children, who embark on a family road trip from Tennessee to Florida. temporary hookup and caseful both unravel with the path of the familys t ravel, revealing the archetypal characteristics of a traditional American family annoying quirks and behaviors, back seat arguments between siblings and the elderly, nitpicky, and proper naan. Following the greater part of the journey from Tennessee to Florida, the story ends with a final encounter with an escaped convicted murderer, The Misfit.The most prominent and perhaps easily scrutinized character from A Good Man is Hard to Find is the grandmother. Being the central protagonist in OConnors short story, she unfolds to be manipulative and self- twisty, yet a prim and proper elderly muliebrity. Throughout the text, the grandmother is continuously caught up in comparing her polished Confederate past to her disappointments of the present. She is entangled in her roots, coming into court as a harmless chatterbox, aloof and amusing within her admit progression.It is easy to forgive her for so much, including her innate racism pointing at a cute little pickaninny from the car wind ow as well(p) as entertaining the children with a tale of a nigger boy (187) who scoffs a watermelon and her overly sound opinions that she states matter-of-factly. Upon departure for Florida, she dresses herself in her Sundays best dress, hat, and white cotton gloves all for the trip, so in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (186). She is filled with the prejudices and traditions of her class and time.The grandmother, even when daringd with the foreshadowed confrontation with The Misfit, continues to present her historic and late rooted lady-like facade. Her talk with the Misfit begins as a manipulative attempt to save her own breeding, employing her refined techniques to deviate her killer. (Certainly, in her world, no decent man would shoot a lady (OConnor 194). ) Her desperate attempts continue, trying get on to charm The Misfit. I know youre a good man. You dont look a bit like you have common blood. I know y ou must come from nice pack (OConnor 192). The grandmother seems confident enough that her southern allure will win over the man as she has with all others there is no resignation to the finale she will soon face. Following the execution of the unscathed family, it is apparent to both the reader and the grandmother herself that death is imminent. Upon this realization, the woman holds a revelation and attains the first public-spirited sensibility displayed in the story. She finally ignores her idea of proper southern values in the face of death and reaches out to The Misfit.In an act of straight sincerity, she simultaneously denounced her high moral balking and proclaimed credence of his character. In this state of disclosure she murmured Why youre one of my babies. Youre one of my own children The woman reached out and touched him on the shoulder. The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three measure through the chest (OConnor 195). The Misfit end s the powerful story by commenting on the grandmothers imitative character She would have been a good womanif it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her emotional state (OConnor 195)The assessment of individuality of Flannery OConnors character harmonize to Charles Taylors text results with a delusory outcome. In The Ethics of Authenticity, Taylor states, we live in a world where people have a sound to choose for themselves their own pattern of lifeto determine the shape of their lives in a whole master of ceremonies of ways that their ancestors couldnt control (Taylor 2). The character of the grandmother is developed along a permanent diachronic linear path of ancestral beliefs and ideals she was never provided an opportunity to be self-aware and take shape of her own life.In Taylors terms, the woman has always been locked into her great chain of Being, adhering to her born role of a southern bourgeois woman that gives sand and meaning to life (Taylor 3). Ne ver questioning her natural values and qualities, the grandmother conformed to the ideals of, but not limited to, race, class, religion, and fraternity, that are inherit to her aristocracy. Up until this point, it is possible to say that the grandmother is an un authoritative individual. When faced with the grave situation involving death and her ultimate existence, the grandmother abruptly diverges from the liveent track of her character development.This divergence from the typical character in the face of death allowed the grandmother to have an authentic experience in her last seconds with her killer. The grandmothers head cleared for an instant. She saw the mans face twisted close to her own Why youre one of my babies. Youre one of my own children she admitted (OConnor 195). This trice of true acceptance, sensitivity, and acknowledgement to others of different moral horizons reveals a brief moment of authentic individualism in the grandmother.In comparison to her overall per sona for the entire plot, a glimpse of wholehearted moral relativism, or, according to Taylor, a mutual respect to morals and values apart from your own, can be read in the last few lines of the grandmothers existence. In the fleeting moments of her life, she shed her natural identity, claiming true exemption from her inherited moral horizon. It is possible to say that in the last seconds of her life there was a transformative guts of character, the grandmother passed with the qualities of a true individual.Similar to OConnors character, the character of Gimpel from Isaac Bashevis Singers 1953 short story Gimpel the Fool can be equally examined for traits and characteristics of an authentic individual. The ironic story tells the life fib of Gimpel narrator, Yiddish baker, an inhabitant of Eastern Europe, and the one who gets the last laugh (although that comes later). Gimpel, seemingly naive and gullible, is the subject of many tricks and insults from his colonisation for taking everything at face value, but was he really a fool, or an authentic individual? I am Gimpel the fool. is how he opens his story (Singer 300). He gives his own reason when he says, What did my nonsensicalness consist of? I was easy to take in (Singer 301). His promiscuous wife is disloyal to their marriage throughout his lifetime, resulting in illegitimate children that Gimpel wanted to believe he fathered his neighbors take unfair advantage of him, subjecting him to interminable pranks and fallacies for cruel entertainment and even the village rabbi conspires against Gimpel, placing him at the receiving end of everyones jokes.Gimpel is ultimately surrounded by lies and cynicism to his approach to life. The foolish qualities that are expressed through Gimpel on the exterior are not all that meets the eye. Aware of his environment and how his neighbors treat him, Gimpel chooses to keep an open mind, to see the good in the world, and not waste his time with the bad spirits of thos e who make fun with him. Although constantly deceived by his contemporaries, Gimpel is always willing to give the benefit of the doubt. If he ever dared to say, Ah, youre kidding there was trouble. People got angry (301). He says, to tell the truth, I knew very well that nothing of the sort had happened, but all the same, as folks were talkingMaybe something had happened. What did I stand to lose by looking? (301). His open approach and acceptance of a possible truth to endless false claims and jokes show Gimpel to be not gullible and simple, but holds a prominent moral relativism he is accepting and sincere to others qualities and values, however deceitful they may be.Ironically, it is the whole village that victimizes Gimpel that are the fools, and Gimpel who is the only non-fool. Gimpel didnt believe more than half the things the people told him, yet he still went along with the deceits. Gimpel exemplifies a character that lacks an understanding of unnecessary anger, hatred, and bad tempers, and acts with a perceptive sense that belief is not a matter of proof but of will. From this perspective, Gimpel doesnt appear to be so simple and foolish, on the contrary, instead man that fears missing an opportunity of believing something that may be true. Those who abuse Gimpel are the true fools them self, lacking the capacity to believe with Gimpel that everything is possible. This does not make him a fool because he believed the people, he knew for himself that none of the things said were anywhere near the truth. He believed because he wanted to believe. In conjunction with Charles Taylor, Gimpel maintains a heightened sense of awareness of his past to inform his present.The constant ridicule has shaped his view on life and contempt the negative actions directed towards him, Gimpel is accepting to believe what others share with him. Its possible to say that he is still involved in a great chain of Being, but in context to the setting of the story these philoso phies cannot to the full apply. As a devout Jewish man, Gimpel lives his life with authentic and sincere individualism, while respecting the historic beliefs his society is based on that have not yet been shattered.In conclusion, the assessment of individuals with Charles Taylors text, whether fictional or physical, can result in a broad variety of assumptions based on the moral and historical background of a character. As seen with Flannery OConnors character, the grandmother did not appear to be an authentic individual until the final moments of her life however, the character of Gimpel maintained a strong individualist approach to his life throughout the majority of the text. The characters, as Taylor wrote, are called upon to be true to themselves and to seek their own self-fulfillment.What this consists of, each must, in the last instance, determine for him- or herself (14). Without the authors literary devices and plot structure to develop character, or a persons absolute sen se of being, the underlying individual cannot be accessed to live tout ensemble for his or herself. Works Cited OConnor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find. Literature Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. pack together Edition. New York Mc- Graw-Hill, 2000. 185-95. Print. Singer, Isaac Bashevis. Gimpel the Fool. Literature Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.Ed. Robert DiYanni. Compact Edition. New York McGraw-Hill, 2000. 300-09. Print. Taylor, Charles. Inescapable Horizons. The Ethics of Authenticity. Cambridge, Mass Harvard University Press, 2002. 31-41. Print. , The Inarticulate Debate. The Ethics of Authenticity. Cambridge, Mass Harvard University Press, 2002. 13-23. , The Sources of Authenticity. The Ethics of Authenticity. Cambridge, Mass Harvard University Press, 2002. 25-9. . Three Malaises. The Ethics of Authenticity. Cambridge, Mass Harvard University Press, 2002. 1-12.