Hard To Find Misfit

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

Throughout the story, the Misfit is constantly in denial about the existence of God, the resurrection of Jesus, and the necessity of

Flannery O' Connor, a native of Georgia was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century. As a strict Catholic, O' Connor often displayed a sense of spiritual corruption within the characters in most of her stories. One of O' Connor's famous stories, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," reveals the image of spiritual deficiency inherent in the characters which foreshadowed a bloody end.

“It was a head-doctor at the penitentiary said what I had done was kill my daddy but I known that for a lie” (258). From this passage, no information is revealed regarding his alleged crimes, and for that reason, the Misfit cannot possibly be viewed as a crazy-minded psycho. The assumption that the Misfit was unjustly convicted needs to be considered as a possibility. Another point that needs to be addressed is that the Misfit has been through hard times. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and served overseas in far-off lands. He married twice in his life and sadly divorced. Along with sacrificing for his country and ending two painful marriages, he worked low-paying, hard-labor jobs such as undertaking, farming, and working on the railroad. Making his life even more miserable, the Misfit experienced dreadful, disastrous events such as escaping deadly tornados and watching a man burn to a crisp. “Been in the arm service, both land and sea, at home and abroad, been twict married, been an undertaker, been with the railroads, plowed Mother Earth, been in a tornado, seen a man burnt alive oncet” (258). Besides being a good citizen of the United States, his goal was to escape without hurting anyone in the process. The Misfit informs the grandmother that he has no intention of stealing anything from anyone, “Nobody had nothing I wanted” (258). When the Misfit appears in the story, he is shown as being

Flannery O’Connor was known for her strong religious background, Catholicism, and used her faith as the underlying message in her works. In the story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” there are a couple of things that can be traced directly to Christianity. The little boy, John Wesley, symbolizes the religious denomination of Methodism. John Wesley, along with his brother Charles Wesley, founded the

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.

Thesis Statement: In Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the grandmother's journey from being controlling and selfish to graceful symbolizes a Christian's journey toward salvation.

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

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.

Unlike the Grandmother, the Misfit truly questions the importance of his life and his part within it. When the Grandmother begins to plead for her life in a religious sense, the Misfit shares his thoughts on Jesus and religion. He states that “Jesus thrown everything off balance,” (O’Connor, 195) then goes on to actually compare himself to Jesus. “He hadn’t committed any crime and they could prove I had committed on because they had the papers on me.” (O’Connor, 195) Here, the Misfit victimizes himself. He believes he has been obligated to suffer for a crime he has committed, yet does not fully understand the reason why. Although he does not necessarily admit that he committed the crime, it comes off as though he knows he did something

The grandmother has a strong faith in God and it affects every aspect of her life. The misfit doesn’t believe in Jesus and that he threw everything off balance when he claimed to raise the dead. He doesn’t believe that Jesus was real because he says that he wasn’t there to see Jesus raise the dead, so because of this he has no faith. This totally contradicts the grandmother’s beliefs. Even though grandmother knows the

With the shock of coming face-to-face with death, she starts to let go of her power-hungry and deceptive behavior and decides to act out of love and humility. Her head has become clear, and more than ever she becomes aware of the situation. All her shallow and hypocritical thoughts seemed to have dissipated, and she sees the Misfit as a child of God just. The grandma notices a voice crack in the Misfit’s voice and thought he was about to cry; she murmurs, “Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children” (O’Connor 458-459)! The grandmother calls the Misfit one of her kids despite the crimes he has already committed; God’s spirit may have entered the grandmother and is attempting to offer redemption to the Misfit since she has now accepted it. The still figure of the grandmother is described as “her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky” (459). God has given the grandma salvation now, and her spirit has a journey to heaven via the cloudless sky. O’Connor shows the protagonist to be hypocritical, but the protagonist found salvation and appeared happy after accepting God and feeling love towards the Misfit; the Misfit appeared to reject God when he shot the grandmother in the chest after she was trying to lend him a hand. The grandmother was able to find salvation through the violence the Misfit brought.

The Misfit is struggling with his faith in God. While he believes in the existence of a God, he does not believe in an active God. His faith struggles are likely because of the injustice he has experienced as a result of his wrongful conviction of murdering his father. He explains his doubts about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead with the grandmother: “‘I wasn 't there so I can 't say

Many people have a different definition of a “good” man. Flannery O’ Connor short-story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” gives readers a brief view on the subject. In the story the foundation for what makes a good man seems to only come from the grandmother. However when she is faces with a disadvantage by Misfit, he puts a twist on her views, and shatters that foundation. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is neither a happy nor sad story, both characters have many flaws and seem undeserving, but through an unexpected encounter they both found grace and redemption.

The Misfit is a criminal who ran across the family after the crashed their car in the woods. The Misfit lives by a moral code that involves murder and remorselessness, but he withal spends time wondering about Jesus. Because he does not ken for sure whether Jesus authentically raised the dead, he has opted for "meanness" as a way of giving his life designation. He does not optically discern himself as a terrible person. Bailey's wife and the mother of John Wesley, June Star, and a baby. The mother breaks her shoulder in the car crash and is eventually killed by the Misfit's henchmen. His two henchmen kill the entire family, and the Misfit shoots the grandmother himself. On the other hand, the grandmother has the gift of powerful persuasion. During the family's journey to Florida, the grandmother suggests that they visit an old house she recollects, a conception that leads to a car contingency and the murder of everyone in the group. Afore she is killed, the grandmother recollects that the house is authentically in Tennessee, nowhere near where she verbally expressed it was. She endeavors to reason with the Misfit but only enrages him. She experiences a moment of grace right afore the Misfit shoots her. Bailey seems to dote his mother, but her needling demeanor sometimes gets the best of him. He gives in to the grandmother's request to visit the old