Analysis : A Good Man Is Hard To Find

The Grandma is prim and proper and self-acclaimed to be very ‘lady like’ yet is extremely crass in her mannerisms. From the very beginning of the story the grandmother begins to show her selfish ways. “…and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did." (O’Connor 1). Though the grandmother is not specific in her selfishness, it seems her indirectness is what gets her nowhere in her statements. As a result of this, neither her children nor her grandchildren do not show reverence for her. Without the parents respect for the Grandmother, there is no possibility for her to gain the grandchildren’s respect. Here again we have another character whose role was not the main role, but one who has a lesson to teach if the reader is willing to dig deep enough to find

The grandmother is the central character in the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor. She is also a very well rounded and dynamic character. She shows various characteristics and reveals various remarks as they story progresses. Some of her qualities include selfish and a pushy person. She is also kind of manipulator in a way that she insists her family to change the plan. At the beginning of the story when we first realize her desire to visit her childhood house, she is being a very selfish person. Examining her conversation with her son Bailey, the grandmother is moreover a pushy person. She is convincing Bailey to change the trip plan according to her need only and which will

In the Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” we find out that the title indicates of what the story is about. The title actually came from the lyrics of a song written by Eddie Green in 1918. The title of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner is quite ironic really. The reader expects to eventually find a good man in the story, but is quite surprised at the ending of the story. The title "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is expressed clearly in this story by introducing a variety of male personalities that all have one thing in common; they are not truly good men.

The grandmother is a very immature woman. She acts as if she has not properly developed socially or morally. She shows no concern for anyone else?s opinion or authority. She makes her decisions based solely on what she would like to do. She will do anything it takes to make sure that everything goes her way. For example she completely fabricated a story about her house in order to get them to drive up the side roads. Her attitude seams to have been the primary cause everything that went wrong throughout the whole story. The only person she showed any emotion to

The story starts off with a family of 6 prepping for their trip to Florida. However, the Grandmother within the first couple of lines shows how against it she is because of the escaped convicts known as the misfits. The reader is told that the Misfit is an escaped convict that is known as a notorious killer and is somewhere in Florida. Looking at the Grandmothers character and reasons for bringing this up the externally makes the Grandmothers pleas seem reasonable and the thought process of the rest of her family to be less reasonable but when examined thoroughly and internally there is more fault to the Grandmothers character than is let on.

"Adversity defines the essence of who we are and who we desire to be!" This can be best realized in the rural southern regions of the United States during the late 19 forties and early fifties. Without a specific location of long-term concentration, this story finds three generations of a family taking a vacation (planning at least) to Florida despite objections from the grandmother. Factor in her impatient son (Bailey), his wife, and two smart-ass children have marginal respect for their grandmother resulting in a crew of authoritative, uncertainty, distant, and manipulative people about to engage on a trip that ends with certain doom for all with a twist indicative of self preservation and ironic irritation.

The grandmother in the beginning of the story sees the Misfit as a vicious criminal on the loose. However, now when she sees vulnerability in the Misfit, she tries to exploit it and show acceptance and love to one that only knows “meanness.” The Grandmother is not showing moral strength, but changing her moral beliefs and ideals once again to save herself, but to no avail, as the Misfit quickly jumps back and shoots her three times before she can exploit his moment of

In 1953, Flannery O’Connor published her famous short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” In this story, a family of six members is the Grandmother, her son Bailey, Bailey’s wife, and their children, John Wesley, June Star and the baby. The family is on their way for the vacation after the Grandmother complains about going to 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, and unfortunately, they get help from the Misfit. After the Misfit kills the other members of the family, the Grandmother reaches out to the Misfit and calls them one of her babies. At the moment, the Misfit shoots her.

Right off the bat we get the sense that the grandmother is very self-centered and conniving. She mentions the Misfit for one reason only- to get what she wants, rather than being genuinely concerned about her family. “‘…See here, read this,’ and she stood with one hand on her thin hip and the other rattling the newspaper at his bald head. ‘Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and head toward Florida… I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did’”. (O’Connor 705) This indicates the grandmother’s selfish focus and her willingness to manipulate others to attain her own desires. She puts a lot of effort in making sure she is well

The grandmother being a manipulative woman doesn’t value her life as it is, but longs for how it was in the past. “People are certainly not nice like they used to be” (298). The grandmother decides it would be better to go on a trip to Tennessee. After reading the newspaper and finding out The Misfit escaped from Federal Penn and is heading to Florida. She tries to persuade the family to change their plans, but they decide to go to Florida anyways. The grandmother desperately wants the children to see an old plantation that she visited as a child in Toombsboro. Unfortunately, while looking for the plantation, the family ends up in the path of The Misfit. In Joyce Carol Oates “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Connie goes to the drive in restaurant with her friends, where she comes across Arnold Friend. As Connie walks by Arnold Friend he says “Gonna get you baby” (371). This quote is a warning to Connie that he will come get her and hurt her. Connie stays home Sunday while her father; mother and sister go to a barbecue that afternoon. While she’s left alone Arnold and his friend Ellie come over to try and convince Connie to go on a drive with them. Both of these stories have paths that eventually lead to these characters to face evil.

The story begins by introducing the grandmother, who is trying to convince her son, Bailey and his family to not go to Florida for their vacation, but to Tennessee instead. She gives them reasons to not go including, news of a murderer en route to Florida as well. The family ignores her pleas and they all go to Florida the next day. The family members do not seem to care at all about the grandmother. She tries to engage the children in various ways and they

The grandma in this story just wants to take her family on a trip to Georgia, but realized that where she wanted to take them was actually in Tennessee. The children of the family did not seem to be the grandma’s biggest fans, because she was constantly commenting on their rights and wrongs. The grandma is portrayed as rude and harsh; however, she is trying to correct her family of what should and should not be done. After they all get in their accident they simply try to flag someone down to help them. As soon as the men got out of their car to help them is when the family was destined for sorrow. Looking at the ring leader of the group the grandmother could not help but think that she recognized him; she knew that he was a dangerous man and was willing to do whatever he said so her family would not be hurt. While the two of them are alone they begin talking and one by one they can hear the shots being fired into the members of the family. Right before it turns into the grandma’s turn to have a shot fired into her she realizes that the man in front of her is her very own

This lady is quite self-centered, manipulative, and proud; she is constantly persuading her family to make them do what she wants. For example, after the Grandmother has convinced them to take the dirt road, and she realizes that the house they are looking for is not in Georgia, but in Tennessee, the Grandmother stays silent to avoid the embarrassment. However, the most distinctive aspect of the Grandmother’s personality is her sense of Utopia. She is constantly recoiling better times which she associates with the Old South of Gone with the Wind, “when there were no paved roads” (135), and more importantly, when good men were easy to find. There also traces of what Lipset calls morality plays in the Grandmother; at the beginning of the story, the Grandmother does not want to go to Florida because she “wouldn’t take [her] children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it.

She does not say anything to her son because she is afraid to get him mad. She keeps quite as they continue to make their way to Florida. They get into an accident where the children mother breaks her shoulder. No one else is hurt. As they wait for help, a car passes by and it's the Misfit with two of his buddies. The grandmother tells him that she recognizes him. She tries to convince him on how good of a man he is while his partners take the rest of the family away and shoot them.The Misfit talks with the grandmother about his religious doubts. In a moment of Christian sympathy, the grandmother informs the Misfit that he is one of her children. She continues to bring Jesus into her conversation and pretends to be a good judge of human nature. And when every tactic fails, she tells him that he is one of her children. He ends up shooting her. The story shows O'Connor’s theme of good and evil. The Misfit, a serial killer represented evil, while the grandmother tries to embody goodness. Prior to meeting the Misfit, however, the grandmother proved herself to be shallow and selfish.She shows a human being change and creates an effective scene in which God’s grace intervenes in the natural world.O’Conner mentions “that the old lady lacked comprehension, but that she had a good heart”

Only when the grandmother is facing death, in her final moments alone with the Misfit, does she understand where she has gone wrong in life. Instead of being superior, she realizes, she is flawed like everyone else. When she tells the Misfit that he is “one of [her] own children,” she is showing that she has found the ability to see others with compassion and understanding.