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.

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.

In the beginning, the grandmother is reading the newspaper where she then learns about the Misfit who escaped prison. The grandmother says, “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscious if it did” (O’Connor 485). This quote foreshadows as the accident happened with her guidance on the road it is what led them to steer off the main road. They were on and into the arms of who they call the Misfit and his

Now we take a look at the ending. The family had an accident on a back road, flipping their car. This occurred all because of grandmother. She told Bailey that the old plantation was along this way, and that the mansion had a secret panel in it. The kids went nuts to see this passage, and Bailey, the father, gave in and took them down this road to see it. The cat got uncomfortable from the whole situation and

turn causes the car to wreck. When they get out of the car she decided not to tell them that the plantation she was thinking about was in Tennessee, not Georgia. By her bringing the cat along and insisting that they go see the house, causes them to wreck. Her childish behavior was the cause of all of this.

The grandmother is the master manipulator in this story. She tries to get anything she wants even if it means putting others’ lives in danger and by manipulating others to make her point. The grandmother after several attempts of trying to get attention from her son, Bailey and her daughter in-law, but to no avail, she decided to go see a plantation knowing that Bailey would not pay attention to her, she then turns to the children and lies about a secret panel, “There was a secrete panel in this house, and the story went that all the family’s silver was hidden in it when Sherman came through but it was never found” (O’Connor 312), she knows if she lies to the kids it will cause them to throwing a fit in the car which will in turn draw Bailey’s attention to

Compare and Contrast: A Good Man Is Hard To Find and Where Have You Been, Where Are You Going

With mild aggravation, Bailey drives down a winding and twisting road remotely traveled with scenic attributes. As the trip continues, Bailey considers and communicates to his mother that he will turn around if the house does not appear soon. Sudden memory confirms that the house was in Tennessee and the subsequent movement-based on slight embarrassment startles the cat that she had concealed before the trip began. While grandma simply tries to hold on to something that peaks her interest in this trip, eagerness and revelation further stresses her son and startles the stowaway cat that should not have made the trip anyway. The cat proves to be the mechanism that turns an already hassle filled trip into a fate filled voyage.

In the beginning of the book it talks about how the grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida That being because she wanted to visit some people she knows in East Tennessee. She lives with her only son named Bailey, and they are supposed to go Florida for a family vacation with her daughter in-law and her two grandchildren. She tries to get her family to go to Tennessee is by telling them that man under the name as “The Misfit,” got out of federal prison in Florida and is on the loose. None of the family would have it so the next morning they were on their way to Florida. She sat in the middle of the back seat with both her grandchildren, John Wesley and, June star, along with her cat she did not want to be left behind named, “Pitty Sing.”

While the family is together in the beginning, we can see the grandmother trying to persuade her son to go to Tennessee rather than Florida, “You ought to take them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be broad. They never have been to east Tennessee.” (page 443). These attempts failed, and although this mention may seem very insignificant, a later one can almost be considered the cause of this families demise. While the family is continuing their trip to Florida, the grandmother can be seen telling her grandchildren a story about an old plantation she visited in what she believed, at the time, was Georgia. The children and the grandmother convinced Bailey to visit the plantation, so they end up going down a dirt road to get to it. It’s not until they’re halfway down the road when the grandmother realizes that the plantation was not in Georgia, but instead is in Tennessee. “The grandmother decided that she would not mention that the house was in Tennessee.” (page 450). Though this may be seen as nothing, it can also be seen as extreme foreshadowing due to the wreck that happened when the grandmother realized she had been wrong about the

Although she knew her son, Bailey, would not be pleased to have her cat with them on vacation, the Grandmother deceitfully sneaks Pitty Sing into the car. After stopping for lunch, the Grandmother recalls an old plantation that she visited when she was young. Knowing that Bailey would not be willing to lose time looking at an aged residence, the Grandmother promptly lies by saying, “‘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) Later, while on the road that leads to the plantation, the Grandmother remembers the house she once saw is not in Georgia but in

The irony of the story is that it is under the directions of the Grandmother that leads the family into a run in with The Misfit, which is what she told her son she would never do. Throughout the trip we are given examples of the racism that was present during this period. The Grandmother makes multiple racist innuendos such as her observation of the “cute little pickaninny,” and her statement that “little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do” (O’Conner 2). During the ride, The Grandmother convinces Bailey to take a detour down an old, dirt road which supposedly leads to an old southern plantation home she once visited. The road leads them deep into the woods where an accident is caused by The Grandmothers cat, which leaves the car upturned and the family stranded. It is then the family encounters The Misfit, whom discovers them stranded as he was passing by. He approaches the family with two young men and shortly after The Grandmother lets out a scream as she realizes him. During their encounter, the readers are given a small glimpse into the deranged mind of The Misfit. It is apparent that he has an upturned moral compass. He gains pleasure from committing crimes and the meanness that goes along with it. During his conversation with the Grandmother, he slowly has his men take members of the family out

Looking at “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the reader is introduced to a family very early on in the story. With a particular character standing out, the grandmother. Her

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