A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flanney O'connor Essay

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor is a short story that depicts a family's vacation to Florida that turned into an abysmal tragedy when they met with the Misfit, a convict who escaped from prison. This story is meant to be interpreted as a parable, whereby O'Connor made skilful use of symbolism to bring about messages such as the class-consciousness and the lack of spiritual faith that exist amongst human.

“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and “Good Country People” are two short stories written by Flannery O’Connor during her short lived writing career. Despite the literary achievements of O’Connor’s works, she is often criticized for the grotesqueness of her characters and endings of her short stories and novels. Her writings have been described as “understated, orderly, unexperimental fiction, with a Southern backdrop and a Roman Catholic vision, in defiance, it would seem, of those restless innovators who preceded her and who came into prominence after her death”(Friedman 4). “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and “Good Country People” are both set in the South, and O’Connor explores the tension between the old and new South. The stories are tow

Both incidents are prime examples that show the grandmother?s behavior. We see that the grandmother is selfish and uncaring. She claims that she is a "good" person, yet she criticizes everyone and always wants to get her way. She hides the cat and lies about it to her son; she did not consider how anyone would feel about her bringing the cat. Yet, on the other hand she is very concerned with social opinion. She is dressed nicely, her excuse is that "in case of an accident anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know that she was a lady" (O?Connor 907). This shows that the grandmother was very concerned with people?s opinion. She acted proper, had strong virtues, values; a good woman in her view. But she was a self- centered person who judged others harshly, so that she would look good.

In 1953, Flannery O'Connor published her famous short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” In this story, a family of four members is the Grandmother, Bailey, the children's mother, John Wesley, June Star and the baby. The family is on their way for the vacation after the Grandmother complaints about going to Tennessee instead of Florida; the Grandmother mistakenly brings the family to a dirt road by lying about a secret panel house (the house is actually in Tennessee, not Georgia). A car accident happens, unfortunately, they get help from the Misfit and are shot by the Misfit.

Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find is one of the most well-known short stories in American history. A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a disturbing short story that exemplifies grace in extremity as well as the threat of an intruder. The story tells of an elderly grandmother and her family who embark on a road trip to Florida. The grandmother is a stubborn old woman with a low sense of morality. While on the trip, the grandmother convinces her son to take a detour which results in a broken down car and an encounter with a convicted fugitive, The Misfit. Although the grandmother pleads for mercy, The Misfit kills off the rest of her family. Through the grace she finds in her extreme circumstance, the grandmother calls The

First, O’Connor uses the Grandmother to show that everyone is equal in GOD’s eyes, and no one is better than anyone else. In the beginning of the story, the Grandmother believes she is superior to everyone. “ In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once she way a lady.”(O’Connor

This story has numerous resemblances and distinctions between The Misfit and the Grandmother. A case of this, in "A Good Man is Hard to Find," includes the Grandmother's solid, southern legacy. As indicated by Stephen Bandy, she discloses to her grandchildren a story in which a watermelon was eaten up by "a nigger kid (Bandy, 108)." in this day and age, grandmas are typically decent and sweet, yet O'Connor's grandma is extremely manipulative, and a bossy lady that talks too much for the greatness of herself and her family. Bandy pointed out that she had too much pride, she was self-centered and was obsessed with her outer appearance (Bandy 109). She goes out of her way to dress up, although the rest of the family dresses casual and

In the beginning of the story the grandmother comes up with a plan to change her son Bailey’s mind into going to east Tennessee instead of Florida. She does so by reading a newspaper to him stating that the Misfit is “aloose from the Federal Pen and head[ing] toward Florida.” This foreshadows her future meeting with the Misfit himself that is to come even though she “wouldn’t take [her] children in any direction with a criminal like

one generation views what the next generation is doing. In Flannery O'Connor's story, "A Good

The grandmother is trying to reminisce in the old days of the plantation south back when she was a real southern belle. We hear just about all of the stereotypes of the old south that the grandmother was a part of and is just another reason why she is an entitled character. Almost all of the characters in the family are rude and entitled in their own way. The father who you could argue had anger management problems, the mother with no emotion in the story at all and the misfit who doesn’t care about himself or anyone else around him and The children are disrespectful and rude.

Why would a grandmother care for her own life more than her own children and grandkids? In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the no named grandmother is the main character and the anti-hero of the short story that lives in the past by telling stories of her time and childhood. As described by the narrator, she is an old woman from the south who dresses very eloquently in order to keep her image of being an etiquette lady. The grandmother discerns herself as a fine woman who is superior to others, her family in particular. The grandmother unfortunately plays the important role of the plot because she puts her family at risk, which later kills them all by the misfit and his gang. The grandmother’s unawareness of being manipulative

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

Using the word “good” for the qualities that she believe should be in people, the grandmother sets a proper standard. She tells Red Sammy that he is “…a good man” (O’Connor 409). Red Sammy and the grandmother begin to talk about how times have changed. He and the grandmother discuss when times were better. Red Sammy conveys the title of the story by commenting on how it isn’t easy to trust people “A good man is hard to find. Everything is terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more.” (O’Connor 409). The grandmother continues by saying that Europe was to blame.

The grandmother demonstrates that she does not see things for how they truly are. We see this when they are driving down to Florida and she sees a Negro boy and goes “ Look at the cute little pickaninny!” (O’Connor 251). She then goes on about in the past, they never had pants because they were expensive, but she goes how cute at a poor boy. Not realizing that the little Negro was poor and had nothing. Also, when the misfit comes and attacks them, she tells him over and over again “ Listen,”... “ I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from good people!” (O’Connor 259). She says this that based on his appearance, which he looks fair, but has strong white teeth, which was uncommon at the time and signifies wealth, that he will not kill a lady because she has manners and feel she is above everyone because of these

The grandmother’s bigotry is also on display as the family rides past a black youth standing near his modest home. Her reaction to seeing him is like walking past an adorable dog; “Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!” (12). When her granddaughter June Starr comments on the boy’s lack of clothing, the grandmother explains that “little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do” (12). As the grandmother emits racism through her comments, she is also inserting such notion into her grandchildren’s minds. Nor Bailey or his wife says anything, so it can be suggested that they are used to such comments and may hold the same views as well. The grandmother does not see a reason to be empathetic; the boy waves and she does return the gesture. Instead she romanticizes the boy’s plight as a missed opportunity, suggesting that “If [she] could paint, [she’d] paint that picture” (12).