The Grandmother In 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.

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

This article from the SC Discus database explains how religion is addressed in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. The short story emphasizes a universal need for grace by using very ungracious and unforgiving characters that are ultimately challenged by goodness and faith in the story’s conclusion. The grandmother’s faith is without fruit, as she ultimately compromises Christ in an attempt to save her own life. The author, Wiebke Omnus, was a PhD candidate at the University of Montreal, and his convocation year was 2004. The article is part of the Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature, 3-Volume Set, which was published in 2010, making it a fairly reliable source. The article does not appear to have any bias and is still relevant, as it was updated in 2017. The publisher is Infobase Publishing: a reliable and unbiased publishing company that only publishes references books geared towards the North American library and university-level markets. No sources are provided. This source will help me to provide textual evidence to support the claim that the grandmother is corrupt in relation to her faith. This analysis of the grandmother’s character will take place in my first body paragraph. Characters are an essential element of fiction, and this source helps to further evaluate the grandmother’s moral

The Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard To Find” is the one of the most prominent characters in the story. Moreover, her personality is quite interesting and greater than most, for she casts an ascendancy over the other characters in the story. Great in the sense that her personality was quite faceted.; though not a particularly admirable mixed bag of personality elements. Evidence of her complexity is sprinkled throughout the story: The Grandmother enticing her grandchildren to get their father to go to a particular area; her interest and enthusiasm for being regarded as a “lady” (357), which is a euphemism for a term you would use when referring to a woman in the upper class; not to mention, a proclivity for doing whatever she deems necessary to get what she wants. The aforementioned examples are proof that The Grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard To Find" is massively status conscious, manipulative, and juvenile.

The grandmother in the beginning seems to be a very curious, kind, and old fashioned woman. As the story progresses she turns into this self-centered selfish woman. She appears like this in times like when she tells story’s (old fashioned) about her past experiences and the excited way she points out things (innocence and kindness.). I dislike that her curiosity is what lead the family to their death. Overall she remained the only character I liked so when she was killed I was left disappointed.

The grandmother is the central character in the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor. She is also a very well rounded and dynamic character. She shows various characteristics and reveals various remarks as they story progresses. Some of her qualities include selfish and a pushy person. She is also kind of manipulator in a way that she insists her family to change the plan. At the beginning of the story when we first realize her desire to visit her childhood house, she is being a very selfish person. Examining her conversation with her son Bailey, the grandmother is moreover a pushy person. She is convincing Bailey to change the trip plan according to her need only and which will

     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

When this story started off the grandmother jumped right into selfish mode. Her son Bailey had planned a vacation for his family to Florida, but the grandmother did not want to go so she tried to get Bailey to go to Tennessee instead. After that, the grandmother did not want to leave her cat so she decided to hide it in the car, not even caring about if the cat can go or not. Since the grandmother decided to take her cat it caused them to have an accident when the grandmother had kicked the basket. That made Bailey run off the side of the road because the cat jumped on him.

The line that summarizes the grandmother in the story “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” is “ she would have been a good woman if someone was there to shoot her all her life.”The grandmother is a typical human being. In many aspects she is selfish. She wants her way and is willing to do anything to get it. For example, once she knows that she is unable to convince her grandson to visit the house which she describes in the story, she shifts her attention to the grandchildren.

O'Connor does the same thing here; the grandmother's first action was to convince her son, Bailey, into going were she wanted to go, a selfish act, not a trait that we see a grandmother having. Also she thought out a plan to get what she wanted by acting as if she cared about her family's safety. "Now looks here, Bailey........ see here, read this...Here this fellow that calls himself the Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed towards Florida and you read here what is says he did to these people(328)." The grandmother's relationship right away to the reader is one that can not be trusted. Throughout the story you now question the grandmother's intentions, are they honest or selfish.

“The grandma didn’t want to go to Florida” (par. 1) was the first sentence in this short story which clearly reveals grandma’s selfish ways. The bible tells us to love our neighbor as we love our self and not to bear false witness, but grandma struggles with these two sins. The author, Flannery O’Connor, noticeably demonstrates in her writing that grandma loves herself more than anyone, and will lie for her own selfish desires. Grandma intentionally brought the cat on the trip, without anyone else’s knowledge, because she thought being gone for three days would cause the cat to “miss her” (par.10). The cat is what instigated the car

After riding along a little further, the family is involved in a car accident. The main reason that the family is involved in the car accident is due to the grandmother. The grandmother remembers a mansion that she visits as a young girl. She is eager to go, because she wants the children to see how she grew up. This further states how the grandmother social class, because she lived in a mansion. During the time of the grandmother’s life, only plantation owners and their family lived in mansions. This also stressed the social class of the grandmother, because you can tell from this that the

Throughout their confrontation with The Misfit, the grandmother continuously begged for him to spare her life, but not once did she ask the Misfit to spare her family’s lives. “’Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!’” (934).

Looking at “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the reader is introduced to a family very early on in the story. With a particular character standing out, the grandmother. Her

Flannery O'Connor sets up the story in a way that characterizes the grandmother as socially awkward, causing her to stand out from everyone else. In the beginning, the grandmother attempts to convince her son, Bailey, to take the family to Tennessee to visit some of her "connections" for vacation instead of Florida solely because she did not want to go. Attempting to scare Bailey into changing his mind, she brings to his attention an article about the Misfit, an escaped criminal heading in the direction of Florida. Shortly after leaving Atlanta, the family passes Stone Mountain and the grandmother strategically writes down the mileage of the car in excitement for the upcoming arrival. This is a bizarre action to take as many passengers enjoy