"This setting[s], however, convey an atmosphere which is deceptive since this pleasant summer gathering will sharply change and eventually lead to .murder" (Shields 413). The marked contrast between these lovely sceneries and the unexpected violent happenings that will follow may contribute to a further shock in the reader.
Even though the two narratives contain grotesque components, these are tackled in different ways. In "The Lottery" Jackson focuses her attention in a more psychological description of characters; however, there are some objects as, for instance, the black box, which cause the gothic and sinister effect. This black box was made of old pieces from an ancient box and each year it "grew shabbier.it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side.and in some places faded or stained –perhaps with blood" (Jackson 8). .
It is remarkable that physically grotesque characters are clearly illustrated in "A Good Man is Hard to Find," sometimes presenting animalistic features. The children's mother's face is described as "broad and innocent as a cabbage and tied around with a green head-kerchief that had two points on the top like rabbit's ears" (O'Connor "Good Man" 9). Red Sam's "stomach hung . . . like a sack of meal swaying under his shirt" (O'Connor, Good Man) and Bobby Lee is compared to a fat pig. However, it could be said that it is in the final scene of O'Connor's story that the grotesque meets violence: "The grandmother [was] half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child's and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky" (O'Connor, A Good Man).
As O'Connor once said, "violence.is the extreme situation that best reveals what we are essentially [and it] can be used for good or evil" (Mystery and Manners 113). This is exactly what appears in both stories: the revelation of the true nature of characters exposed to violence.
