The Grandmother O Connor Analysis

Two more pertinent points are made by the author, in regards to the grandmother, follow in quick succession; both allude to further yet-to-be seen gloom within the story. O’Connor writes of the grandmother “[s]he didn’t intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might brush against one of the gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself” (1043) and of the way she is dressed “[i]n case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (1043). These two observations are innocent enough on the surface but provide true intent on the foreshadowing that O’Connor uses throughout the story. It is these two devices, irony and foreshadowing, that I feel are prominent and important aspects of the story and are evidenced in my quest to decipher this story.

From the beginning of the story, O’ Connor represents the theme of greed and fear as the Grandmother is fearful of Misfit. However, she chooses to take advantage of her perceived fear of the released convict to convince Bailey not to allow them take a vacation to Florida. She says “see here,

The narrator starts the story giving background information about the grandmother and her son, Bailey. The narrator explains that the "grandmother didn't want to go to Florida" (320). Although a major conflict could result from her dislike of the family's choice of vacation spots, it does not. When

The grandmother hid her cat in a basket, which she puts in the car with her on the day of the trip. The grandmother wears a floral hat and dress, because if she were to get into a car accident people would know she is “a lady”. The two kids June Star and John Wesley clearly dislike their grandmother, it is very clear because they often make remarks to suggest this. The family makes their way through Georgia and they Grandma reminisces about an old suitor she had back in the day when the family passes

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.

" Her false respectability is instantly undermined, notwithstanding, when she points out the kids' an "adorable little pickaninny" remaining in the entryway of a shack they are passing. At the point when June Star watches the kid's absence of britches, the grandma clarifies that "little niggers in the nation don't have the things we do. " It is intriguing to take note of that O'Connor incorporates data in the story that makes conceivable an option clarification for the grandma's last activities in much the way of Hawthorne, one of her most loved creators. It is not until after the mishap that any piece of Bailey's outfit is depicted. By then, we discover that he had on a yellow game shirt with splendid blue parrots planned in it.

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

As she is talking with her son and giving her reasons for not wanting to go to Florida we start to see through her communication and interaction with her family just how rude and unruly all of the family members are. The children, John Wesley and June Star, were constantly interrupting the grandmother with their smart remarks while she was talking. Never once are they corrected or reprimanded by their parents. The following day the family sets out on their trip early in the morning. The grandmother is the first one in the car. We get to see her being deceitful as she brings along her cat knowing that her son did not want the cat at the motel with them. She settles herself into the vehicle with her stow away and begins to situate herself. We are given the impression by how she is dressed and carries herself that this is a very elegant and sophisticated woman (398). It is not until she continues to speak and uses inappropriate and offensive language that we get a clear picture of how obnoxious she is . Her obnoxious behavior progresses throughout the story.

O'Connor's use of detailed descriptions of the grandma help understand her arrogance. The family and herself are to go on a road trip but, she refuses to go and declares they go elsewhere. It is clear

She tries to backer her demands by inducing herself and her family that her way is the most perfect way and positively the primary way. The grandmother is dead situated to change her family's escape objective as she tries to control her kid into taking off to Tennessee as opposed to Florida. She began endeavoring to make Bailey, her tyke, feel remorseful about the adolescents' wellbeing. The grandmother says that "she couldn't answer to her spirit in case she took the youths in a heading where there was a convict allowed to move around freely. " She is not productive with Bailey, so she uses the same tomfooleries on her young lady in-law who doesn't even remember her.

The grandmother convinces Bailey to take the kids to see an old plantation she once visited. As Bailey starts to travel down a winding dirt road to get the house, the grandmother is startled because she just realizes that the plantation is actually in Tennessee that she bumps the basket containing her cat which jumps out of the carrier and onto Bailey’s shoulder. Which causes Bailey to have a terrible accident, however everyone is alright. Soon after the Misfit and his two servants come along. The family initially thinks they are going to help them until the grandmother recognizes the Misfit as the escaped convict. The Misfit talks with the grandmother while his servants take, the son and father to the woods to kill them. After they return, they proceed to take the mother, daughter and the baby. The grandmother makes a comment; the Misfit shoots her three times in the chest.

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

As the story progresses we see how the grandmother did not only led them to the criminal on the loose but also did not show any mercy towards her own blood and only try to save herself. The most important feature for the grandmother was for other individuals to know she was a lady, which is humorous, due to the fact that besides appearance, she was everything but a lady. The grandmother is not only selfish because she wants to manipulate Bailey to go to Tennessee, but also when she directed them to the plantation she had visited when she was younger, knowing it would delay them and knowing Bailey did not want to make extra stops; furthermore, causing the accident and hoping she was injured to avoid repercussions. In addition, we can see what kind of lady she is when she tells The Misfit that he "wouldn’t shoot a lady", as well as offering her soon to be dead sons clothes to his murder.

The grandmother is in a wheelchair, adventurous, and dramatic. The story begins with her trying to persuade the family into heading to east Tennessee instead of their planned destination, Florida and sneaks along Pitty Sing the cat in her coat. She talks a lot, usually receiving no response and wildly tells a story to the children in the car. Pitty Sing the cat is an ordinary dumb house cat. He seems to have separation anxiety - although that may be just the grandmother’s excuse for sneaking the cat because she’d be the one to miss him. Bailey is bald and not very tentative, he’s reserved and he doesn’t have any dialogue until halfway through the story. June Star is a young girl; she has a broad and innocent face, blonde hair, and wore it back with a

The irony of the story is that it is under the directions of the Grandmother that leads the family into a run in with The Misfit, which is what she told her son she would never do. Throughout the trip we are given examples of the racism that was present during this period. The Grandmother makes multiple racist innuendos such as her observation of the “cute little pickaninny,” and her statement that “little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do” (O’Conner 2). During the ride, The Grandmother convinces Bailey to take a detour down an old, dirt road which supposedly leads to an old southern plantation home she once visited. The road leads them deep into the woods where an accident is caused by The Grandmothers cat, which leaves the car upturned and the family stranded. It is then the family encounters The Misfit, whom discovers them stranded as he was passing by. He approaches the family with two young men and shortly after The Grandmother lets out a scream as she realizes him. During their encounter, the readers are given a small glimpse into the deranged mind of The Misfit. It is apparent that he has an upturned moral compass. He gains pleasure from committing crimes and the meanness that goes along with it. During his conversation with the Grandmother, he slowly has his men take members of the family out