Rhetorical Analysis Of O ' Connor 's `` A Good Man Is Hard And Find ``

    “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” one of O’Connor’s best works, describes a family on a trip to Florida and their encounter with an escaped prisoner, The Misfit. Although “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is an early work in O’Connor’s career, it contains many of the elements which are used in the majority of her short stories. The grandmother, a selfish and deceitful woman, is a recipient of a moment of grace, despite her many flaws and sins. A moment of grace is a revelation of truth. When the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and reaches out to touch him, the grandmother has a moment of grace that enabled her to see The Misfit as a suffering human being who she is obligated to love. The grandmother realizes that nothing will stop The Misfit from killing her but she reaches out to him despite this. The Misfit rejects her love and kills her anyway. This moment of grace is very important

Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find tells the story of a family from Atlanta, Georgia as it makes it way to Florida for a vacation. The five members of the family include the grandmother, her son Bailey and his wife. Among the passengers are three children, one of whom is still a baby. There fatal deaths in the end illustrate the belief that everybody has their own unique flaws. The grandmother plays a pivotal role in the story considering the fact that she selfishly convinces the family to divert momentarily from the expected route. In From ‘One of My Babies’: The Misfit and the Grandmother, Stephens Bandy points out that the grandmother was extremely evil. John Desmond, on the other hand suggests that the grandmother is not necessarily a strictly evil person. With reference to the short story, this paper explores Bandy’s and Desmond’s critique’s of A Good Man is Hard to Find. The paper argues that the grandmother is absolutely to do anything for her selfish gains. Furthermore, the paper argues that people are not entirely good or evil, but respond to different events in unique ways.

     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 the twentieth century, Flannery O’Connor was recognized for his characters to be lacking in spirituality. In the story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” this is portrayed by the grandmother who revealed the caution of the Misfit. However, it was the grandmother’s actions that foreshadowed the gory ending to the story. This novel takes place In Georgia in the 1940s and in the second part it takes place in a ditch in the middle of nowhere where the family has a car accident. Flannery O’Conner uses foreshadowing in a Good Man Is Hard To Find to clue the reader about future events caused by the misfit.

The grandmother tells the children a story about an old plantation that is along the route they are travelling. However, while searching for this plantation, the grandmother realizes that the “horrible thought she had had before the accident was that the house she had remembered vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee” (O’Connor 12). She is too vain to admit her mistake and this caused the family to be in a horrible accident which leads to even more

Filled with imagery and foreshadowing, Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” uses in-depth, symbolic diction to tell the carefully layered story. Although this work utilizes many colors to enhance ideas, the most common and powerful colors were red and black. There were many instances within the story when red and black foreshadowed the family’s impending death. Although there may be many forms of unintended or intended symbolism within the story, these two colors were instrumental in the formulation of its message.

The use of foreshadowing in the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” helps the reader create a prediction of what might happen further on in the story. O’Connor uses the Grandmother to be the main speaking force, at which she warns her family about the “Misfit” breaking free from prison and on the run. Grandma says, “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it” (498). The Grandmother disapproves of her family traveling to Florida since the Misfit is on the loose and heading towards Florida as well. This is foreshadowing that predicts that the family will eventually run into the Misfit during their travel. While on the road, the family gets into a car accident where they end up running into the Misfit

In the story, A Good Man Is Hard to Find from Flannery O’Connor tell a story with varies characters: The Grandmother, The Misfit, Bailey, John Wesley, June Star, Red Sammy Butts, Bobby Lee, and Hiram. The story seems to be told in a gothic genre that includes most of the times include insanity or murder stories. O’Connor seems to be describing his life and the concept of what really makes a “good” person has been the subject throughout the story. However, in the case of O’Connor’s the main character, the grandma somehow struggles knowing the qualities of a good person from other people and herself. And O’Connor also uses flashback to explore what they mean by being a good person. However, the only person that appears to be a good person in the person the grandma becomes through the struggles she has with the Misfit. Overall, O’Connor he seems to be the only thing in the conflict is the “good” can be found. He also explains no matter how nice you might be, when you find evil people there's no way to run away from death.

The family consists of the grandmother, the father, the mother and three children. The grandmother attempts to persuade her son to go to Tennessee rather than Florida because she is worried about a criminal on the loose who is also going to Florida. On the road to Florida they take a side road for the reason that the grandmother wants to see an old house. The father refuses to take that side road, but he gives up after the children begin to insist. To

In Flannery O’Conner’s story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” was her most famous piece of literature in her short career. We will also discuss the many foreshadows that go on in this story and what they necessarily mean to the characters and the story itself. This story she uses ones violence to achieve salvation by forgiving the very person the harm was done to. In this essay we will discuss how the very idea of salvation/grace can be interpreted in the very violence that salvation/grace would not usually survive.

A literal interpretation of the grandmother portrays an elderly southern woman attempting to maintain the proper and genteel values of the South. The grandmother places great importance on her appearance and the opinions of others. This importance is revealed at the beginning of their journey when the story compares the grandmother, a reflection of the past, to the daughter-in-law, a reflection of the present:

The grandmother who was not named in the Story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor, had a larger than life personality and she likes to pass judgement on to others. This character lived with her son Bailey, her daughter in-law and her two grandchildren in the state of Georgia. The grandmother is the main character in this story, she is smart, ladylike, judgmental, and the whole story revolves around her.

The short story “A Good Man is Hard To Find” is an intellectual dialog that has hidden meanings in each character. It’s important to note that there is no hero in this story because each character is in need for redemption. Specially, the Grandmother, whose character is most expressed throughout the short story, is in need for grace. Similar to the other characters, the Grandmother is selfish and mostly complains and manipulates others to get what she wants. In addition to that, the Grandmother’s character is flawed and is in need for redemption. Notably, this can be seen in the interactions between the Grandmother and the other characters of the story. Also, the Grandmother has no principles of her actions but except for the motive of vanity and the way she views herself. For one example, the Grandmother is with her family on a long road trip and dresses very eloquently as if she was attending a wedding (O'Connor 137). The Grandmother expresses that if there were an accident, people would know she was a lady because of the way she was dresses (O'Connor 137). With this in mind, the character of the Grandmother shows that her principles are selfish. Overall, the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor is about a grandmother’s need for redemption which is expressed by her interactions on the road trip with her family, her encounter with the Misfit and how she views a good man.

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 Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find is filled with foreshadowing which the first time reader will not grasp, but leaps out of the pages for repeated readers. When first read, A Good Man is Hard to Find, the reader does not value the importance of the grandmother charter and her warning. She is thought to just be a rambling, nagging old lady. Even the grandmother does not realize the importance of what she is saying. The grandmother warns of the misfit in the first paragraph of the novel, “’Here this fellow calls himself the Misfit is loose from the federal pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people.”’ The first time reader simply sees