“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor continues to raise numerous questions. The book represents a great example of the Gothic Fiction of the American South. Nevertheless, it has some distinctive features, such as multiple references to social issues and religion. The book has a darkly menacing undertone, which is augmented to the specific locus of evil that still haunted the South: the Civil War (Flint 119). The philosophical issues strongly related to the darkness of the atmosphere are of particular interest when analyzing the plot. Flannery O’Connor’s unique style and the passion which her stories radiate make understanding the original idea behind them a challenging and intriguing task.
The plot is centered around the family, which drives from one Southern state to another. The author does not provide much information on the characters’ backgrounds and even does not give many details on their appearance and manners, except for the grandmother. Nevertheless, multiple dialogues help readers understand that the family cannot be called a happy one, as most characters have crucial drawbacks and fail to interact with each other. Bailey, the father, is too weak to resist his mother’s extravagant desires. His wife probably loves their children too much to show any control over them. The spoiled kids enjoy freedom showing no respect to anyone.
The grandmother is a hypocritical old woman who constantly misses the good old days when “people did right” and children were respectful. She utilizes the ideals of morality as the veil, which allows her to act at her discretion while still pretending to be a “lady” and stay judgemental under any circumstances. The grandmother seems to find the greatest pleasure in others catering to all her needs. The grandmother uses any methods she finds appropriate, even if they involve children, and spoil the already poor family atmosphere.
Analyzing the book may be confusing without studying the biography of the author. The highly controversial final scene of the book has been interpreted in various ways. Despite O’Connor’s great sense of humor and abundance of sarcastic scenes and dialogues in her stories, the main idea of this book is, nevertheless, centered around the author’s beliefs. According to Ismail and Macedonia, O’Connor was convinced that a writer’s function could only be stated in terms of their religion (35). The meaning of life for her was centered in the Redemption by Christ, and the idea behind her works has a strong correlation with such an approach. Thus, scholars have enough reasoning when they state that the grandmother’s behavior in the final scene was an act of grace and charity.
In the final part of the story, the grandmother stays arrogant and stubborn. The strange phrases she uses and the inability to think strategically lead to the death of all her family members. The grandmother is used to being treated as a superior, and even the three men’s guns do not bother her. However, her behavior changes dramatically when she realizes that her death is inevitable. Despite pleading for her own life while her relatives are in greater danger, she suddenly undergoes a drastic transition and starts discussing some episodes from the Gospel with the man who is about to kill her. When having no other choice, this woman suddenly realizes the grace and virtually tries to save the Misfit. However, the author provides some hints that indicate that the transition was possible only due to despair.
References
Flint, Thomas P. “On the Significance of Civil War References in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”.” Renascence, vol. 70, no. 2, 2018, pp. 119–128.
Ismail, Sezen, and North Macedonia. “Humor and Grotesque in Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find.” International Journal of Education & Philology, vol. 1, no. 1, 2020, pp. 35–39.
O’Connor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find. Faber & Faber, 2016.
Unethical Conduct Of Homicide Detectives
Homicide detectives often deploy unethical and improper investigatory tactics to secure convictions of wrongly accused persons. Flynn’s (2019) article outlines how law enforcement agencies fabricated evidence, falsified witness statements, and coerced a single onlooker to make a false identification, which sent Johnson Lamar to prison. Although homicide investigators are highly competent and specially trained, the pressure to resolve and incriminate a culprit often pushes them to operate unethically.
Johnson Lamar was convicted for life in the State of Missouri over the murder of Marcus Boyd. Prosecutors and the investigating officer, Joseph Nickerson, falsified witness statements and pressured a lone onlooker to make a false identification to help convict Johnson, despite his innocence (Flynn, 2019). Nickerson, the single detective who investigated the incident, authored four fallacious police reports repudiated by the witnesses sworn under oath. Moreover, Greg Elking was the only eyewitness who was sitting with Boyd at the time of the shooting and received over $4,000 for facilitating Johnson’s wrongful implication, despite the written confession from the victim’s real killers (Flynn, 2019). Although Greg never saw Boyd’s shooters, Nickerson wrote in his report that the witness positively identified Johnson. However, Greg only recognized Johnson after the officer had directed him the number to pick from the lineup (Flynn, 2019). Ultimately, Johnson was imprisoned for life based on Greg’s false identification.
Johnson’s imprisonment over Marcus’ murder highlights the climax of unethical conduct by homicide detectives. The manufactured witness statements, paying an onlooker to give fabricated evidence, and concocting testimonies were monumental professional misconducts which undermined the possibility of convicting Boyd’s shooters. Consequently, the real perpetrators of the felony were left free to commit other crimes. Therefore, the police and prosecutors failed to conduct competent investigations due to the various ethical breaches and professional misconduct.
Reference
Flynn, M. (2019). To win a murder case, police and prosecutors made up evidence and secretly paid a witness, St Louis DA finds. The Washington Post.
The Oral Anticoagulation After Myocardial Infraction
In nursing research, language and sensitive questions should be looked into carefully in order to get the correct information required. The respondents as well as the whole community need respect; justice and contextual care. The researcher should at no cost disclose the personal information nor force the respondents to answer.
This research used random sampling to study the population in clinical trials, where a sample of 8803 patients was chosen. The research design is a randomized experiment or true experiment since random assessment is used.
Coronary artery disease had caused deaths among adults in the U.S.A.; though studies had been conducted to address the use of long-term Oral Anticoagulation (OAC) after myocardial infarction. The study purposely evaluated the risks and benefits associated with OAC after myocardial infarction. The question was whether additional OAC advances outcomes. Recent studies showed that not only the young men would survive but also other patients. Different trials had been conducted giving different results. A meta-analysis of randomized clinical examination was conducted which compared OAC- based treatments; and no OAC after myocardial infarction in the event of survival, of those patient taking OAC. The research significantly indicated that OAC despite elevating chances of major bleeding reduced instances of stroke.
A broad search of OVID SR and PubMed was executed where 66 citations were assessed at the abstract level. The inclusion standards required the use of chronic OAC with warfarin after infraction, equal chance controlled tests, at least 30-day follow-up where death was listed as the outcome. On the other hand, the exclusion standard required a demonstrated study and use of OAC, for other conditions except myocardial infarction. 52 citations were disqualified for not meeting inclusion/ exclusion standards for OAC administration. Fourteen studies were examined and only four studies were excluded since they did not meet the primary endpoint reporting measure.
The chief endpoint for every trial was a compound of ischemic events inclusion of death, infraction, stroke or repeated ischemia in different groupings. As the main focus was on all-cause mortality, individual ischemic events were tested as there was a probability of variations in response; amongst the components of the compound endpoint. Major and minor bleedings were analyzed separately and weighted fixed; and random effects methods used in performing statistical analysis. The variations were accounted in a chi-squire test where in every event; the collective result was illustrated as odd ratio with 95% confidence intervals.
From the results obtained, only five studies showed patients on OAC and aspirin against aspirin alone. On the other hand, four studies illustrated three arms that showed comparison of OAC alone against aspirin alone versus OAC with aspirin; while as only one study showed comparison of OAC against placebo, without aspirin in any of the arms. 93 to 8803 patients were studied where out of 24,542; 14,062 patients were assigned to OAC while the rest were assigned to no OAC. The patient follow-ups were for 3-63 months where only one study showed the ejection fraction. 25% of the patients were administered with reperfusion therapy. Only one study did not report myocardial as the endpoint and where the new infractions which occurred totaled to 9.9%. When assessing the effects of OAC of obligatory aspirin to patients with previous infraction; a division of patients (n-11920) selected; to aspirin against aspirin and OAC. OAC had no effects on the mortality or reinfraction but reduced stroke by 30% and raised the odds of major bleeding.
The findings showed that nearly 90,000 patient-years were followed by 25,000 patients with recent acute myocardial infraction. All cause-death or infraction dangers are not reduced by OAC, but it doubled the danger of major bleeding and reduced incidences of stroke. Among the studies there were variations for some endpoints but not for the efficacy and safety endpoints. The results illustrated that; for every 100 patients who received warfarin after a myocardial infraction, there was one major bleeding and four minor bleeding caused, and prevented only one stroke. Therefore, this implies that nursing should be done with warfarin after a myocardial infraction.
The Warfarin Aspirin Re-infraction Study indicated that OAC enhanced mortality acute myocardial infraction, as compared to placebo in nonappearance of aspirin therapy. Coumadin Aspirin Reinfraction Study (CARS) found no difference in mortality of 8803 patients treated with OAC alone, aspirin alone or the two combined; when a comparison of OAC with no OAC on aspirin background therapy was analyzed. The study showed that platelets play a crucial role in vascular thrombosis at the ruptured coronary atherosclerotic plague which leads to acute ischemic episodes.
The findings contributed a lot to nursing knowledge, since specialists would be in a position to know the right therapy for different patients. As an example, OAC do not reduce all-cause death or reinfraction risks but doubles the dangers of major bleeding. On the other hand it reduces instances of stroke. Therefore, by knowing this; scientists will decide whether to administer OAC or not. The research would impact all areas of nursing and calls for more education and administration of the drugs, with fewer effects on the patients.
The study had limitations in that, the tested respondents represented a more relatively healthy populace than those treated in daily practice; hence the study may have underestimated the importance of chronic OAC in patients with numerous comorbidities.
In conclusion, chronic OAC with warfarin does not trim down mortality or infraction. Patients who received OAC had a considerable elevated rate of bleeding which was equilibrated by a considerable reduction in stroke.
Reference
Polit, D. & Beck, C. (2003). Nursing Research: Principles and Methods, seventh edition. Lippicott Williams & Wilkins Press