Prejudice vs. Tolerance

The Grandmother demonstrates racial and class prejudice through her words and actions. She is vain and selfish, and she believes that good character is a result of coming from "good people," an important concept in O'Connor's fiction. When she sees an African-American child without any clothes, she exclaims, "Oh look at the cute little pickaninny'" She continues, "Wouldn't that make a picture, now?" When her granddaughter comments on the child's lack of clothes, the Grandmother says, "He probably didn't have any___Little niggers in the country don't have things like we do." Believing that she came from a good family and from a time when "People did right," the Grandmother possesses a false sense of self-righteousness. She tells Red Sammy, a restaurant owner, that she believes that the United States' problems can be blamed on Europe. She says "the way Europe acted you would think we...