Flannery O Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

After the car crashes we see that the grandmother is self-serving. She uses gender roles ("you wouldn't shoot a woman") and religious images to try and save herself and to make the Misfit to look well upon her (O'Connor, 14-19). This plea seems very self-serving. Why not ask- "you wouldn't shoot a family, would you?" The argument of religion as a reason to be good is rejected by the Misfit (O'Connor, 21). By dismissing Christ's history the Misfit also rejects the grandmother's self-serving values.

The story “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor published in 1955, is a very interesting story about a family father with two kids and their grandmother, planning on taking a road trip. The father decided that they will go to one place and the grandmother decides that she has a better and safe place for them to go which is her hometown Tennessee to change the family mind to not go their destination but instead goes to hers, she tell them family a scary situation that might occur in order for them to reconsidered. In the short story " A Good Man Is Hard To Find", Flannery O'Conner uses characterization, setting and plot to reveal the negative aspects of human behavior

In the short fiction A good man is hard to find written by Flannery O’connor The family goes on a road trip to Florida, and the grandmother doesn’t want to go because there is an escaped murderer who is told to be headed to Florida. There are many different views of the story, but most of them revolve around the underlying religious message. The author uses foreshadowing, and irony to show what this story portrays.

A prolific writer, famously known as Flannery O’Connor in 1953, wrote the short narrative titled “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (Scott 2). However, it was published two years later in 1955, in her second collection of short stories. This particular collection presented the author as a key voice in the ancient American literature world until she met her sudden death in 1964 when she was only 39. The collection also won her tremendous fame, especially concerning her unmatchable creativity and mastery of short narratives (Seel 211). Interestingly, Flannery O’Connor considered all her works realistic and extremely cynical, despite the fact she also incorporated the use of fiction as a style in her works. In addition, her works were fundamentally

The Grandmother displays the proper image of a southern Christian woman in the presence of other people. Her clothing, her perfection, and her attitude are perceived as truly religious. In reality, the grandmother is exceedingly selfish and corrupt morally. She preaches and gives sermons throughout the story yet in the face of danger she thinks only of herself. O'Conner writes “…the grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collar and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace, and at her neckline, she pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (O'Conner, 2007). She is obviously over dressed for a road trip, again it pin points the grandmother's obsession with materials. Grandmother uses gender roles, “you wouldn’t shoot a lady would you,”(O'Conner, 2007) and religious images to try to save herself. She preaches and prays to the Misfit as if he is Jesus, “Jesus…you’ve got good blood, Jesus you ought not to shoot a lady” (O'Conner, 2007). She radiates an aura of holiness at the same time sounding self-serving.

The grandmother feels that God provides the answer to any underlying problems, and the Misfit knows and feels that all of the horrible things he has done are truly not considered morally wrong from his perspective. Towards the end, when the grandmother experienced an epiphany before the Misfit shot her in the chest she stated, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children” (11). This made the grandmother realize that she was expressing the true Christian belief that we are all seen as equal in the eyes of God, no matter how murderous someone may be. O’Connor’s use of spiritual insight stripped away the grandmothers self-centeredness, and helped her discover the ability to see others with compassion and understanding. Nonetheless, within “A Good Man is Hard to Find” O’Connor provides great amount of spiritual insight in her short stories mainly as a way to connect her characters with God and to make them recognize the true meaning of individual equality.

The author’s explanation of the Grandmother’s action at the end of the story is not persuasive. O’Connor states that “in this story you should be on the lookout for such things as the action of grace in the Grandmother’s soul, and not for the dead bodies”

When one first begins to read A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor, one is assailed by the humorous petty grievances of a mother living under her son’s roof disrespected by her grandchildren and lonely in a house filled with people, clutching at memories of days long passed similar to the Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie. As the story unfolds one begins to see the indifference of Bailey toward his family in general and especially his mother—rightly so, as the ‘old lady’ nagged her son and his family to the point of hilarity and rib-hurtin’ laughter had the cat stayed in the bag and the car did not leave the road. This interesting story of a mentally abused woman slighted by her family, who makes the fatal error

Some people go through life with the preconceived notion that they are better than everyone else. They base their opinion on the way people look and how they act. Some people believe that if they have more material things than another person has, that makes them superior. These narcissistic individuals are only concerned with the popularity and superiority that they have on this Earth, but they fail to realize eventually we will all be the same: a pile of skull and bones six feet under. No matter a person 's race, attractiveness, social or financial class, every single human being will be the same in the end. God is the number one ruler and only He can judge us. American writer, Flannery O’Connor, makes known in her short stories “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and “Revelation”, that the meaning of life is centered in people 's Redemption by Christ. In both stories, the main characters believe that they are superior to everyone else. The main characters face violent or traumatizing situations or events that pushes them into a moment of crisis that awakens or changes their faith and in the end God grants them grace.

I first came to know Flannery O’Connor through her first book of stories, A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

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

In today 's society we tend to see people live above their means. The reason why I may be picked

Mary Flannery O’Connor was an American writer who was batting lupus, an autoimmune disease for more than ten decade. O’Connor was a Roman Catholic writer who knew that most of her audience did not share her strict moral view of the world (enotes). She eventually died at the age of thirty-nine from her disease. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is about a family who is on their way to Florida for vacation, with an escaped murderer known as the Misfit on the loose. After the family stop for lunch they got back on the road, the grandmother’s cat startled the father and made him run into a ditch. Misfit and his two friend showed up and kill the family. O’Connor give us symbolism, major foreshadowing, and religion throughout the story.

The grandmother’s personality drives this story into motion and does not fit the typical image of a grandmother. The grandmother did not want to go to Florida with her family; she wanted

Death is inevitable to all forms of life. In giving birth to a typical family, Flannery O’Connor immediately sets the tone for their deaths, in the story, A Good Man is Hard To Find. O'Connor’s play on words, symbolism and foreshadowing slowly paves the way for the family’s death.