Similarities Between Young Goodman Brown And A Good Man Is Hard To Find

"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.

Both “A Good Man is Hard to Find “and “Young Goodman Brown” has the elements of religious belief using allusions and moral coding. When comparing the main characters of both short story, it’s interesting how they compare and contrast on their beliefs.

The man that Goodman Brown encountered on his journey symbolized the devil in the text which strongly influenced him to just about give up his faith in God. The Devil disguised as a “fellow traveler” (266) tried to influence Goodman Brown by

“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

Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the story of a family’s vacation tragically ended by The Misfit and his gang. On the way to their vacation spot in Florida, the Grandmother remembers a plantation in Georgia she used to visit when she was a young lady and desperately wants to see it. She tells her son, Bailey, what road it is on and everyone is excited to see it. After a while, the grandmother realizes that she was wrong about where the plantation was and becomes so upset at herself that she knocks things over in the car which causes a car accident. A passing car stops to help the family but the Grandmother realizes that one of the men is a murderer, nicknamed, The Misfit. While one of

He goes anyway. This trip will lead to the guilt that Goodman Brown will feel for the rest of his life. Goodman Brown goes into the forest to meet a man which we later find out is the devil. He was late because his wife had kept him in town. "You are late Goodman Brown." (p.383) He replies "Faith kept me back" (p.383), which is ironic because his wife Faith really kept him back that day, but his religious faith also kept him from confronting the devil previously. Goodman Brown follows the man or devil through the forest which leads to an open field. This is presumed to resemble The Garden of Eden. He sees the whole town there including his wife worshiping the devil. On his return to the town, Goodman Brown cannot look at anyone. The life that he knew before this journey was over and would never be the same. He didn't go to church or talk to barely anyone because of his guilt for going to worship the devil. When he died, "there was no hopeful verse upon his tombstone for his dying hour was gloom" (p. 391) This is like the "The Minister's Black Veil" showing that someone must live and breathe everyday knowing of the sin that they have committed.

Flannery O’Connor shows her readers a realistic look at their own mortality in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” The story is about a family of five, a father, mother, grandmother, and two children, starting out on a vacation to Florida from Georgia. The family, on their way to a routine vacation, takes a detour that will change their lives forever. Through the use of literary elements like symbolism and characterization, O’Connor creates a theme of good vs. evil, which can be felt throughout the story by tapping into the audience’s emotions.

     Goodman Brown is tempted by his fellow traveler, who is most definitely an advocate of the devil, or the devil in another form, to come deeper into the forest, but he refuses. Goodman Brown now sits and ponders whether or not to turn back. He hears the voices of the town’s deacon and minister, and they talk of he communion they will be attending. Upon hearing this, Goodman Brown cries out that he will stand strong against the devil. He then hears the confused sound of voices of the towns-people. This is the devil firmly urging Goodman Brown to give in to the evil force. Now the desperate man hears the scream of a woman and sees his wife’s pink hair ribbon in a tree and he is paralyzed by the effects of this. Crying out “My Faith is gone, there is no good on earth: and sin is but a name” he instantly sells himself to the devil.

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.

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” and “Good Country People” are two of many short stories by Flannery O’Connor. In addition, the two stories enfold a mystery ending in catastrophe. O’Connor uses plenty of irony or subtle kind of sarcasm in developing each of the stories. Coincidentally, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and “Good Country People” are both set in the South during the earlier years, when segregation was an issue and trust was not. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People” are two ironically twisted tales of how two different families lives are altered after trusting and being mislead by a stranger.

In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the grandmother and the Misfit become the main focus even though the other characters are involved in the story. Throughout the entire story, The Misfit is portrayed as the symbol of evil because he was in jail; he escaped from jail, and he committed murders. The grandmother believes to be greater than the people that she are around because of the “good” that she portrays. The conventional meaning of good, or possessing or displaying moral virtue, is not the particular good that the grandmother is trying to portray throughout the story. The grandmother believes that good

After reading “A Good Man Is Hard To Find“ the irony of the story is very clear. The first sentence in this short story is “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida.” In fact, the grandmother goes on to try to persuade her son Bailey and is wife not to take their trip to Florida but Tennessee instead. The grandmother informs her family about the fellow, the misfit, and all the horrible things he says he has done to people. “Just you read it I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that a loose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did.” Ironically, that is exactly what she does when she convinces her son Bailey to take the family down a deserted road to see a house with secret panels. The grandma’s sudden recollection

Although the journeys within the stories are different, the characters in both are plagued with misfortune and chaos because they chose a certain path. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the story starts out comical and somewhat lighthearted. The grandmother, her son, his wife, their two kids, and the grandmother 's cat, Pity Sing, which she hid in her basket for the ride. Along the way, she talks her son into detouring to see a plantation she had visited as a young girl. She suddenly realizes the house is in Tennessee, not Georgia. She gets upset at this thought and jump disturbing the cat. The cat claws her son and it causes him to wreck the car.

In the story he is corrupted by the devil, but it is never determined on whether it was a reality or a dream. Goodman Brown lets the devil corrupt him during his journey in the story. “By the sympathy of your human hearts for sin ye shall scent out all the places—whether in church, bedchamber, street, field, or forest—where crime has been committed, and shall exult to behold the whole earth one stain of guilt, one mighty blood spot.” This is the moment when Goodman Brown did not stop seeing the evil in every one in the village. His wife, Faith really tries to persuade Goodman Brown to make his journey in the forest during daylight by stating to him the quote “prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed to-night” is the statement that Faith gives her husband about making the journey at night and Goodman Brown replies with “My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs to be done ‘twixt now and sunrise.”