A Good Man is Hard to Find Essay

If you were to ask someone what their definition of a happy life would be, they would probably give you an answer like, “having fun.” This is completely untrue in Aristotle’s terms. According to Aristotle, for a man to lead a happy life he must learn each of the intellectual virtues, and practice each of the moral virtues throughout his life. These moral virtues are justice, courage, temperance, magnificence, magnanimity, liberality, gentleness, prudence, and wisdom. With so many virtues to constantly abide by, a man cannot know if he has led a happy life until his life is nearly finished. In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’ Connor, the question is

The story continues to have comical parts as the family continues traveling to Florida until the grandmother remembers of a time when she was young and decides she wants to visit an old home. She tells the children about a house and even lies to them and says that there are "secret panels" (324). They become very excited and Bailey decides to let them go see it and on the way there is when the tone and story line changes.

Since the beginning of mankind there is been an unsolved issue of good verses evil. We see this controversial issue in everyday life, Such as Television, Newspaper, etc. " It is not difficult to label the agent of evil in Flannery O' Connor's signature story, "A Good Man is Hard To Find", says John, Desmond. The family is described as a typical modern family, which has all type of problems. Agreeing with each other is one of the biggest problems the family faces. The story starts of where Grandma is in disagreement with her son about where they should plane there next family trip to. After much discussion they decided on going to Florida. The story makes a twist when their car gets into an accident and they have an encounter with Misfit,

For example, Bailey does not want her to carry the cat to their journey. However, grandmother does not listen to him and she hides the cat inside the car in a basket and thus secretly brings the cat along with her. On their way, she also wants to go and visit the old plantation even though Bailey does not agree to this. In order to see that she gets what she wants, she talks to the children and convinces them to tell Bailey to do as she wishes. The author writes “There was a secret panel in this house…. and the story went that all the family silver was hidden in it when Sherman came through but it was never found . . .” (O’Connor 45). Grandmother says these words craftily in her attempts to convince Bailey to drive to the old plantations even though she knows that she is not telling the truth. Evidently, she leads the family into a dangerous tour drive. In this tour, the family ends up having an accident due to the Pitty Sing cat sneaking out of the car, leaping on Bailey who loses control of the car. She avoids responsibility by pretending to be hurt. Her actions put the family in dangerous situations.

The grandmother hid her cat in a basket, which she puts in the car with her on the day of the trip. The grandmother wears a floral hat and dress, because if she were to get into a car accident people would know she is “a lady”. The two kids June Star and John Wesley clearly dislike their grandmother, it is very clear because they often make remarks to suggest this. The family makes their way through Georgia and they Grandma reminisces about an old suitor she had back in the day when the family passes

For example, the father of the family, Bailey, who show that he does not care too much about anything and that he doesn’t treat his mother kindly. In fact, he ignores her most of the time and shows her little to no respect. In addition, he does not discipline his kids and continuously lets them talk back and disrespect him, as well as other people. We are also introduced to Red Sammy, who seems like he was the only male figure closest to a “good man”, but when his wife looks at him and tells the grandmother that she can’t trust anyone, it makes you think twice about his character. Also, we have the son, John Wesley, who is rude, obnoxious, and loud. The misfit, who seemed to be a good man, turned out to be the worst of them all, murdering the whole family, that including an innocent baby. The grandmother makes reference to the title multiple times throughout the story, by telling Red

A family has decided to go to Florida for vacation but, the grandmother tries to convince her son to go Tennessee instead. Afterwards, she shows him that an article saying that a convicted felon called The Misfit has escaped and moving towards Florida. The grandmother never-the-less comes along and hides her cat with her. During their trip, the grandmother wakes up from a nap and says a plantation she has visited once is close. She convinces her son to go there and shows him the way. After driving into the woods, she then realizes that the house she visited was in Tennessee, not in Georgia. Startled by her mistake, her cat jumps and scares Bailey who then crashes the car. A car that happened to be passing by, stops and three men, with guns

When the grandmother gives the label “good” (O'Connor 142) indiscriminately to Red Sam for allowing himself to be stolen from. She seems to assume that is due to him allowing it to happen, even though it is the opposite. What would’ve happened if the thieves didn’t say that “they worked at the mill” (141-142) and

Some people who behave cruelly and brutally can be rehabilitated and eventually display ‘good’ qualities such as empathy and kindness. " ( Taylor, "The Real Meaning of 'Good' And 'Evil"). Take the grandmother, she believes she is a good person, O'Connor carefully allows her to realize that all people are not good, even if you wish them to be. Red Sammy, for instance seems to be a normal restaurant owner, but he seemingly puts all of the restaurant work on his wife. "Red Sam came in and told his wife to quit lounging on the counter and hurry up with these people's order." (O'Connor, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"). Contrastingly, one cannot be all bad, for example The Misfit. The Misfit is clearly evil, however he also is polite in his speaking and manners towards a self-proclaimed

When the grandmother and the Misfit are alone the grandmother’s selfishness becomes apparent to readers. Even though her family had just been murdered, largely because of the consequences of her selfish acts, she is focused on saving her own life. Furthermore, she tries to convince the Misfit that he is a good man. "I just know you 're a good man." (O’Connor “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” 148) The Misfit replies with, "Nome, I ain 't a good man…but I ain 't the worst in the world neither.” (O’Connor “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” 148) He accepts the fact that he has done wrong but knows there are others who are worst. The grandmother speaks of prayer to the Misfit but is unable to recite one single prayer. She just repeatedly uses Jesus name, almost as if she is cursing. This symbolizes her weak understanding of being a Christian.

At one point during the drive, the grandmother accidentally kicked her feet, which startled the cat and caused Bailey – the driver – to lose control of the car and they end up in a ditch. The car that stopped to help the family ended up being The Misfit and two other men. These two men take John Wesley and Bailey into the forest where they end up shooting them. When they come back to the car they take June Star, the children’s mother, and the baby and kill all of them as well. The grandmother pleads for her life – although she never once asked for her family to be saved. After The Misfit and the grandmother talk about Jesus and religion, the grandmother claims that he is “one of her own children” (433) and then he shoots her in the chest three times. At the end, The Misfit says the grandmother could have been a good woman if there was always someone there to shoot her and then claims that life has no true pleasure. Throughout this story, there is a theme of the unlikely recipients of grace. Despite their sins and flaws, both the grandmother and The Misfit receive grace in the end. The grandmother believes she is morally superior and that she can judge other people. She lies, she manipulates, and she does not have any self-awareness. She tells The Misfit to pray yet she herself cannot formulate her own prayer. The Misfit does not seem like he deserves grace, as he is an unrepentant murderer. However, as unlikely as it is,

Firstly if we look at the title “A Good Man Is Hard to find” the Grandmother

Religion is a crucial point of the story. Coming to the end of the story, The Misfit and the grandmother are alone together talking. The Misfit's responses to the grandmother's prayers advice reveal that these two individuals are on two very different levels with concern to religion. The Misfit has a much deeper understanding of religion and his belief system than does the grandmother. As the two continue in conversion, the Misfit asks the grandmother if it seems right that Jesus was

When this happens the Grandmother not once pleads for the life of her Son, daughter in law, or two grandchildren but only her own life. Throughout the story the grandmother does not even have respect for her own family, comparing Bailey’s wife head to a cabbage, and always being disrespectful to her own grandchildren. The saddest part about it all is when the Misfit takes the Grandmother into the woods and the grandmother believes ‘that she is to good and to well-dressed and the fact that she is a true women that the Misfit will not kill her. And then before the Misfit pulls the trigger on the grandmother she stats that the Misfit is her child, this is the moment in the story when the grandmother is admitting she is not morally superior to others and this is the turning point in the story, but to late to sorry. The grandmother is shot dead.

The family stops at a restaurant to get a bite to eat, and we find out that the two parents, Bailey and his wife, do not really care for the Grandmother. The Grandmother asks Bailey to dance, but he just declines and ignores her. Bailey’s wife does not seem to care either. They then continue on the road, and the Grandmother begins to tell the story of a house that she really enjoyed passing. She really wanted to go there, so she persuaded the children to want to go as well. After a long time of complaining, they finally convince their father to head back toward this house. They go down this road when all