Sparkling Life

Many good literature works are written about life and death. Death, move on to the other side

of life or lost of family members or loved ones are the basic situations that everyone confronts. In

Desirees baby, (1893) Man From the South, (1948) and A Good Man is Hard to Find, (1953)

all this three stories have the similar concepts which are the sparkle moments to change every

characters life forever. During the period of Cold War, A Good Man is Hard to Find and Man

From the South were written. These two stories mentioned about brutality which showed the

violence in Americans society. For example, it was common to do something inhumane during this

time period. Class prejudice always demonstrated how people lived in the society. To compare,

Desirees Baby and A Good Man is Hard to Find have the same theme which is racism. Racism

has been part of the American history that also showed brutality of human. Kate Chopin, Roald

Dahl, and Flannery OConnor reveal the transformative moments of the characters Armand

Aubigny, Carloss wife, and the grandmother.

In Kate Chopins Desirees Baby, the transformative moment is clearly illustrated by the

character Armand Aubigny. Armand falls in love with Desiree, they get married and have a baby

together. When the baby is three months old, he acts with Desiree strangely because he starts to

notice why the baby has negroid appearance that different from Armand and Desiree. According to

Kate Chopins description, Presently her husband entered the room, and without noticing her, went

to a table and began to search among some papers which covered it. (p.5). Armand goes into the

room with anger and he feels like he does not want to involve with Desiree anymore. As shown in

page 6, look at our child. What does it mean? Tell me He coldly but gently loosened her fingers

from about his arm and thrust the hand away from him. Tell me what it means! she cried

despairingly. It means that the child is not white; it means that you are not white. Aubigny firmly

believes that Desirees is not white. This is one of the transformative moment for Armand to
precipitate the story to reach the climax point in this story. His perspective about Desiree and the

baby changes immediately and he definitely wants them to go away from his house without any

sympathy. The reason is Armand prides on his family and he feels like he needs to protect the name

of his family and does not want anyone or anything to destroy his pride as the slave owner. Another

transformative moment of Armand shows at the end of the story. According to the letter of

Armands mother, night and day, I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our

dear Armand will never know that his other, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with

the brand of slavery. (p.7). This is the first time that Armand knows the truth about his ethnic

heritage. As a matter of fact, he is a quadroon and he is not different from others that he looks down

on. To sum up, in Desirees Baby, many multitude topics are presented in this story. However,

transformative moments of Aubigny change his life forever.

In addition, Carloss wife is one of the character in Man From the South who has an

undoubtedly transformative moment shown in this story. When Carlos has gambling with the

American cadet, he is very serious to light the lighter. However, if the American cadet can light it or

not, Carlos will cut his finger anyway. By good luck, Carloss wife comes into the room to help the

cadet and she hauls Carlos across the room. According to Carlos wife says, He is a menace, Down

where we live at home . . . him up here. (p.26). It shows that she already knows that Carlos does

not make her happy but what is the reason why she still lives with him? She probably loves him so

much, so the transformative moment of Carloss wife may come to her mind when she starts falling

in love with him and wants to stay with him to help him be better in his mental illness. Moreover,

the transformative moment of her is when she leaves Carlos alone and he goes to bet her Cadillac

with others. Regarding to Carloss wife says. It is too bad, she went on. I suppose it is really my

fault. For ten minutes I leave him alone to go and have my hair washed and I come back and he is at

it again. She looked sorry and deeply concerned. (p.26). Carloss wife is very brave and patient,

she sacrifices her nine fingers to Carlos satisfaction and others sake. According to Roald Dahl, I
can see it now, that hand of hers; it had only one finger on it, and a thumb. (p.26). This description

shows the appearance of the woman that she has only one finger which is a thumb. The reason why

the woman has only one finger left is maybe she has bet with Carlos and she loses. For this reasons,

they could be interpreted that Carlos wife has sacrificed her entire life for the one she loves.

Equally important, the grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find has the outstanding

transformative moment shown at the end of the story. After the grandmother and Baileys family

have an accident, the Misfit comes and it seems like he and his friends will rescue them.

Unfortunately, they come to kill them and all members in the family died except the grandmother.

The grandmothers transformative moment occurs when she meets the Misfit and he wants to kill

her which this situation changes the perspective of grandmother to be a really kind woman. At first,

the grandmother staunchly beliefs in God as her moral code like the grandmother says to the Misfit

that If you would prey, Jesus would help you. (p.16). Moreover, she is arrogant and proclaims

herself as a lady. (p.14). As the story progresses, the selfishness of grandmother increases

gradually. In the last moment of her life, she changes her perspective to be a good woman and

appeals to the Misfit that he cannot kill her. As the grandmother says, You shouldnt call yourself

the Misfit because I know youre a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell. (p.14). This is

one situation that she acts selfishly to get her own benefit that she will not be killed. According to

the Misfit says, She would have been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her

every minute of her life. (p.18). This quote means that the grandmother will be a good woman if

someone points gun at her all the time. It shows that the Misfit understands how grandmothers

thought in the last moment of her life. However, the grandmother is a kind of weak person because

she is afraid of death. For all the evidences above, they show how the perspective of the

grandmother changes throughout the story.

 As a final point, Armand, Carloss wife, and the grandmother, they all have life-changing

moment which change them to be better or worse person. However, the transformative moments of

people in this world mostly involves death. Humans bodies can be described as their own enemies.

If people have poor health, they are suffering, have no hope, and hard for them to find motivation.

Being close to death gives motivation to make life happy and doing a good thing. Hence, the

transformative moments of three different stories can be used as good lessons for readers to take

advantage from the time they have left in every single minute of their life.
 References

Chopin, K. (1893.) Desirees Baby.

Dahl, R. (1948.) Man From the South.

O Connor, F. (1953.) A Good Man is Hard to Find.