Mercy and The Artificial Nigger

One of the most interesting things that I found was the idea O'Connor brought up in the last couple of paragraphs, that in order to have mercy, you first have to go through pain in some way, "He understood that it [mercy] grew out of agony, which is not denied to any man and which is given in a strange way to children" (230). This is a very interesting idea to me, because mercy usually implies something getting better, but that means in order for things to get better, they had to have been bad at some point. It is also interesting to me that this quote implies that agony is necessary and something everyone goes through, but that mercy is something that is special that is not necessary and that is not bestowed upon everyone. I also wondered what she meant by, "it is given in a strange way to children" (230). How is mercy given to children? In this story, Mr. Head feels mercy at the end, but we do not know how mercy relates to Nelson only that, "They could both feel it disslving their differences like an action of mercy" (230).

This also brings up another interesting topic of how is Nelson left in this story? Both Mr. Head and Nelson have undergone a sense of transformation in this story, but while Mr. Head has improved and felt mercy, Nelson has not and some of his "childhood innocence" is gone.

I am also interested in who has the power to bestow mercy. While they are looking at the statue, they feel mercy, but this mercy seems to come from a mystical power. Does Nelson have the power to bestow mercy on Mr. Head because he is the one that has been wronged? How is mercy transferred from person to person?