English

1. In a letter Flannery O’Connor once wrote “I think evil is the defective use of good.” Using this quote a starting point, choose either The Misfit from “A Good Man is Hard to Find” or Miss Emily from “A Rose for Emily” and apply this idea to their actions.

   Both characters have a skewed sense of what the world means and how they should behave in it, and yet there is not something intentionally evil in their actions. Both Miss Emily and The Misfit have refused to bow to society’s norms and have created their own way to survive. Those actions read like a distorted version of heroism – a refusal to live life on anyone else’s terms. The price of that refusal is high and drives them further from their societies.

   It is easy to state their actions are evil, but when we search for a “defective use of good” we must look at what each character believes and how they are arrive at that understanding of how they should live their life. What is it that they are attempting to do? What are they afraid of? What have they experienced in the past that accounts for their future?

   Choose your character and then evaluate his/her actions in light of the idea that evil they do is a defective use of good.

   Remember that your essay must be centered on a thesis statement (please review the handouts). Your thesis statement must make a claim and you will need to support that through developing your ideas with the text.

   Essay Details:
   Length: 2 pages, double spaced, 12pt Times New Roman Font
   Format: Academic voice – this means your essay is written in the third person, no “I, etc.”
   MLA formatting is needed for the heading and citation.

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