Good Man Is Hard To Find Irony

In a Good Man is Hard to Find, this grandmother is very selfish, talkative and manipulative. Throughout this story the grandmother portrayed all of these different personality traits. She is like no grandmother that you have ever seen.

Flannery O’Connor also begins her story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” with the introduction of Grandma, the main character. The grandmother appears to represent godliness and Christianity. She is said in the story to have “lacked comprehension, but… had a good heart”.

“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.

     In the short story, 'A Good Man is Hard to Find', the main character is the grandmother. Flannery O'Connor, the author, lets the reader find out who the grandmother is by her conversations and reactions to the other characters in the story. The grandmother is the most important character in the story because she has a main role in the stories principal action. This little old lady is the protagonist in this piece. We learn more about her from her direct conversation with the son, Bailey, her grandchildren, June Star and John Wesley, and the Misfit killer. Through these conversations, we know that she is a lady raised from a traditional background. In the story, her attitude changes

In O’connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” the author writes this story with a strong focus on religion and faith. O’connor does not give the two main characters names, the grandmother and the misfit, in representation of the human race in which good and evil exist. The grandmother is one of the three main characters who are not given a name, along with the children’s mother and the misfit. At the same time, since the grandmother is only referred to as the grandmother, O’Connor uses this character to represent the everyday person. The character of the grandmother is self centered and at times manipulative “She wanted to visit some of her connections in Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind.”

The concept of being a “good” person has painted the picture of how people have handled their lives throughout history. On the same note, this concept has also been the subject of much debate; such is the case in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. The protagonist, the unnamed grandmother struggles to find the “good” in others and herself. O’Conner uses foreshadowing, characterization, and a distinct point of view to make her point. In my interpretation, her point is that only through conflict and turmoil can good truly be found.

Flannery O’Conner, a Gothic literature writer, has written several short stories throughout her life. Among these stories, two of them being A Good Man is Hard to Find and Good Country People, she has included some of the most fleshed out and grotesque characters I have ever read. O’Conner brings her characters to life throughout her writing in near flawless and subtle detail with ironic humor. For example, O’Conner makes skillful use of ironic names for her characters. The titles and names such as grandmother, the misfit, Joy/Hulga, and the bible salesman are used ironically. These subtle characterizations help guide the reader to the final, and often times ironic, conclusions all her characters deserve.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor is a short story that showcases irony. Bailey and his mother disagree about where they should take the family for vacation. The grandmother worries about a possible encounter with an escaped criminal, the Misfit, in Florida. The grandmother’s apparent chagrin over Bailey’s firm decision to take the family to Florida prompts Bailey’s son, John Wesley, to suggest the grandmother stay home if she disagrees with Bailey’s decision. Regardless of her disapproval, the grandmother is eager and dressed up for the road trip the following day.

In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," Flannery O'Connor represents her style of writing very accurately. She includes her "themes and methods - comedy, violence, theological concern - and thus makes them quickly and unmistakably available" (Asals 177). In the beginning of the story O'Connor represents the theme of comedy by describing the typical grandmother. Then O'Connor moves on to include the violent aspect by bringing the Misfit into the story. At the end of the story the theme changes to theological concern as the attention is directed towards the grandmother's witnessing. As the themes change throughout the story, the reader's perception of the grandmother also changes.

In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” the Grandmother is the protagonist. She is the focus of the narrative and the character whose reactions we encounter the most. More importantly, the third person narrative focuses strongly on the grandmother’s point of view, which establishes her in the reader’s mind much more than any other character. Nevertheless, the grandmother views herself as a rather dignified and traditional woman who appears to judge everyone, but manages to constantly overlook her own flaws. This appears various times such as when she conveys her ideas about the upcoming vacation and June Star states “She has to go everywhere we go” (O’Connor 567), in which merely displays the Grandmother as unwanted by the family. This can be compared to that of the Misfit in the story who also appears to be unwanted by his family. Despite this, the Grandmother continuously positions herself in the family’s everyday activities while imposing her judgment every chance she gets. Moreover, she is censorious of her son and daughter in law for not allowing their children to “see different parts of the world and be broad” (O’Connor 567). She is also critical of her grandchildren for not being like children “In my time” (O’Connor 569) who “were more respectful” (O’Connor 569). By doing this, O’Connor presents a strong characterization of the woman and her virtually unbreakable mindset. However, this story reflects on how through any conflict you can find the good in others, but sometimes it is too late for them to realize their own mistakes. Eventually, the Grandmother confronts evil in the form of The Misfit and seems to show a completely different side of

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.

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

This article from the SCC database explains that O’Connor sought to present a message of God’s grace and presence in everyday life. It then provides a basic summary of “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. The article continues, going into an in-depth characterization of the grandmother and how she ultimately dies having transcended into grace. The article’s author and editor, Kathleen Wilson, is a professor of history and cultural studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She was educated at Yale University and has been awarded fellowships from a number of foundations. Even though the article was published in 1997, it still holds up, as it is analyzing a story that has already been written and will not change. There is no evidence of bias, as it is a simple analysis and summary. This source came from Short Stories for Students, which was published by Gale Publishing. Gale Publishing is reliable and unbiased, as they are an educational publishing company that has been publishing works since 1954. There are a few cited sources for this secondary source, one of which is biased. The biased source is a New York Times Book Review, which is biased in favor of the story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. This source will be useful in describing the grandmother’s character and analyzing her connection to spirituality in the first body paragraph. It also helps to connect

In the short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” there is irony all through the pages. It shows how you should follow your gut instinct when you think you shouldn’t go somewhere, when you know something bad is going to happen. In the story it also talks about how the grandmother wore her nice clothes in case of an accident, she wanted to look like a lady in case anything bad was to happen. The grandmother was constantly talking about the good in people, but was she a good woman?

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