Central Characters In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

As I read Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, I find myself being completely consumed by the rich tale that the author weaves; a tragic and ironic tale that concisely and precisely utilizes irony and foreshadowing with expert skill. As the story progresses, it is readily apparent that the story will end in a tragic and predictable state due to the devices which O’Connor expertly employs and thusly, I find that I cannot stop reading it; the plot grows thicker with every sentence and by doing so, the characters within the story are infinitely real in my mind’s eye. As I consider these factors, the story focuses on two main characters; that of the grandmother, who comes across as self-centered and self-serving and

In Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” there were reasons why the Misfit, the wanted prisoner, killed the grandmother, the selfish prominent character. Although she did not want to travel in the direction the Misfit was headed, her selfish decisions led her and her family in an unfortunate accident which led them to be approached by the Misfit. His psychological instability, his moral code and being recognized by the grandmother ultimately led to her demise.

In the short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find, written by Flannery O’Connor, the theme that the definition of a ‘good man’ is mysterious and flawed is apparent. The reader must realize that it is difficult to universalize the definition of a good man because every person goes through different experiences. Thus, these experiences affect his or her viewpoint and in turn flaw ones view on a good man. O’Connor conveys this theme through her excellent use of diction, imagery, foreshadowing, and symbolism as well as through a creative use of repetition and an omniscient point of view.

In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor starts out by giving a look at a dysfunctional family on a vacation, but ultimately, gives insight into ourselves as well as the nature of good and evil, how they can clash, and how they can co-exist, even in the same person. The setting, which plays a critical role in this short story because the grandmother shows her selfish wants and views on people and society and believes that things were much better in her early years. As the story unfolds the setting provides insights to the where the dysfunctional family will eventually meet their doom, which is

“She would have been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life”(O’Connor 11). In A Good Man Is Hard To Find, the grandma was at gunpoint, about to get shot by the Misfit, but she forgives him for all of the bad things he has done. This means that she could have been a good person if there was someone there to shoot her every second of her life because it was when she was about to be shot that she became a good person. In general throughout many of O'Connor's works, including A Good Man is Hard to Find, Revelation and A Late Encounter With the Enemy she uses the theme of darkness to show how people react and who people are when in great conflict, just like in the example above. Throughout O'Connor's stories, she uses the theme of darkness to show how people really are in times of greatest conflict.

The short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, written by Flannery O’Connor, depicts the cold-hearted murder of a family by a group of escaped convicts led by an infamous killer, The Misfit. O’Connor leaves the readers waiting for good to overcome evil, but never lets them have their envisioned ending which gives this story its intriguing draw. Flannery O’Connor uses literary techniques such as conflicts, foreshadowing, imagery, simile, and irony to create unusual characters and a twisted plot.

Exploring the idea that all men are born sinners, O’Connor demonstrates immoral indulgences entertained by various characters. Readers are introduced to grandmother, an elderly woman whose consistent unscrupulous behavior exhibits her inner motives. Grandmother uses subtle, indirect confrontation to get her way until she is faced with The Misfit, a runaway criminal who believes that crime is a justifiable. In “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” Flannery O’Connor uses characterization to display a loss of morals, imagery to portray evil in society, and symbolism to emphasize the struggle of obtaining grace to prove how life is nihilistic without religion.

     Flannery O’Connor’s “ A Good Man Is Hard To Find” depicts a family’s encounter with a criminal escaped from a federal penitentiary and their essential relinquishment of life. The family that the story surrounds has planned a trip to Florida for a family vacation. Knowing but unconcerned about the criminal at large, also known as the Misfit, the family voyages onward towards their destination until the trip is abruptly stopped by a totally unnecessary exploration down an unkempt, hilly and dangerous road. The dangerous road combined with the unsuspecting attack of the driver from the grand mothers cat, Pitty Sing, lands the family in a ten-foot deep ditch and in need of help. The

People are often over looked and are not acknowledged for the good that they do in every day life. Most would not consider Bailey, the father from the story A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor, an outstandingly great man. A scholarly critic, Nancy Nester, expresses that the moral of the story is to delineate Bailey as the Grandmothers idea of a ‘good man’. Bailey’s character is bland and also a bit authoritative and can be seen as an ordinary man, not a ‘good’ man. Nester forenamed “[…] that is may be Bailey, in fact, whose goodness that the grandmother affirms at its climax”. Bailey’s true morality is not characterized until the end of the text when the grandmother shows her desperation to the ‘Misfit’, the alleged serial killer who escaped from prison. In the story A Good Man is Hard to find, Bailey, the father of his family and son to his mother shows his ‘goodness’ throughout the story by alleviating the wants and needs of his family but is ultimately over looked because of his bleak and affectionless characteristics.

“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” is a very compelling short story written by Flannery O’Connor. In this short story Flannery O’Connor tells a story of a man (Bailey) who plans on taking his family on a summer vacation in Florida, but the grandmother disagrees and insist that they go to Tennessee instead. She then tries to persuade Bailey to take the family to Tennessee by telling him that his two children had never been to Tennessee before and by showing him a news article, which showed that an escaped murderer called the Misfit was last seen headed to Florida. Bailey pays his mother no mind and takes his family to Florida anyway. Along the way the grandmother mistakenly kicks

James E. Faust once said, “In this life, we have to make many choices. Some are very important choices. Some are not. Many of our choices are between good and evil. The choices we make, however, determine to a large extent our happiness or our unhappiness, because we have to live with the consequences of our choices.” In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor discussed the difference between good and evil within the characters of the short story. The Misfit has his henchmen kill the family, and the grandmother ultimately only thinks of herself and not the rest of her family. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O'Connor shows the readers multiple meaning of symbolism throughout the characters relations to faith, places, and outlook on their surroundings.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” tells a twisted story of a typical family going about a road trip embedded with ethical pit stops along the way. The story revolves around a cynical grandmother and how her unconventional attitude and habits set the stage for an interesting turn of events. Through manipulative antics, a prejudice character and an ironic story line, author Flannery O’Conner creates a captivating tale that shines a lights on readers’ own moral codes. The author does this by making an example of a woman completely unaware of her own immoral acts.

Throughout the short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” a grandmother goes on vacation in Florida with her son and his family. She is wary of an escaped criminal who may possibly be there, but no one takes her worry into consideration. The family eventually comes face to face with the criminal and lose their lives because of it. In “A Worn Path,” an elderly woman begins a long and tiresome journey in an effort to reach a town to acquire medicine for her sick grandson. The stories “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” written by Flannery O’Connor, and “A Worn Path,” by Eudora Welty, have distinctly different writing styles that impact the story and how they utilize certain literary devices throughout them. The setting, point of view and imagery

Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find’ tells of a seemingly normal family with a bit of dysfunction. Throughout this tale, the author fabricates a number of characters, some inconsiderable, others full of depth and history that present themselves wildly open to interpretation. Looking into O’Connor’s past, it is clear to see her relationship with a number of these fictional minds and pull from these the meaning behind her hidden pain and anguish. We are therefore presented with a mother and sons family who are prisoners in a manipulative, destructive relationship.

An intricately written short story titled “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” explores the perspectives of various kinds of people because its author, Flannery O’Connor, believes that it is better to comprehend a story when it is experienced. Looking through the eyes of the characters is an effective way to know how they understand certain things. The settings, motif and characters of the story were the literary devices that helped to represent the theme of good versus evil.