The Misfit

The grandmother believes The Misfit is “good” because he will not shoot a lady, which is a denial in her faith to keep her moral principles. Her theory proves to be false. The only thing “good” about the Misfit is his uniformity in living out his moral cipher of there is no pleasure but meanness in life.

Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the story of a family’s vacation tragically ended by The Misfit and his gang. On the way to their vacation spot in Florida, the Grandmother remembers a plantation in Georgia she used to visit when she was a young lady and desperately wants to see it. She tells her son, Bailey, what road it is on and everyone is excited to see it. After a while, the grandmother realizes that she was wrong about where the plantation was and becomes so upset at herself that she knocks things over in the car which causes a car accident. A passing car stops to help the family but the Grandmother realizes that one of the men is a murderer, nicknamed, The Misfit. While one of

Flannery O’Connor’s gripping short story titled, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” follows a dysfunctional family of six on a road trip to Florida lead by the nagging head matriarch, the grandmother. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother’s feisty attitude is made apparent as she is not in agreement with the original family venture. Instead, the grandmother convinces the family to visit Tennessee to drop into an old plantation which houses a mysterious secret panel. A series of unfortunate events happen once the family decides to go along with this new venture and causes the family to get lost along the way, but what the family loses is more than just their sense of direction; they end up losing themselves to a malevolent character called, “The Misfit.” Flannery O’Connor’s dramatic tragedy gives way to a symbolic journey in which a southern family trip ends in horror to demonstrate to the reader that there is hidden significance within every scene in the story to allow us to dig deeper into our own existence.

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

While writing “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor uses a modernist lens to fully flesh out the characters and theme of her story. One of the most visible examples of Modernism in the story, is when the Grandmother, staring down the barrel of a gun, tells the Misfit “To pray so that Jesus will help him,” (O’Connor, 306) which the Misfit replies with “I’m fine on my own.” (O’Connor, 307) The interaction between these two characters near the end of the short story exemplifies modernism, as it departs from long time, set, orthodox religious thought and defies tradition. Another example of modernism in this story, is the misfit himself. Established in the beginning of the story, the stereotypical, religious, traditional

In 1953, Flannery O'Connor published her famous short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” In this story, a family of four members is the Grandmother, Bailey, the children's mother, John Wesley, June Star and the baby. The family is on their way for the vacation after the Grandmother complaints about going to Tennessee instead of Florida; the Grandmother mistakenly brings the family to a dirt road by lying about a secret panel house (the house is actually in Tennessee, not Georgia). A car accident happens, unfortunately, they get help from the Misfit and are shot by the Misfit.

In Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the Misfit’s characteristics are often opposites of each other or contradictory to each other. For example, at times he is gentle, while at other times in the story, his words and actions are harsh. Some of the statements he makes and actions he takes show him to be intelligent, but others also show him to be clueless and out of touch with reality. Similarly, he treats the family in the story with respect, yet in no way values their lives.

The way the grandmother sneaks the cat into the car and lies about the secret panel brings irony to her beliefs of what it is to be a lady. Her views on the “old south” is established when she calls an African American boy a “cute little pickaninny.” June Star’s remark upon the boy not having britches on leads on to the grandmother’s remark on how he might not be able to afford shows her lack of sympathy towards the less fortunate. This also makes the reader wonder why she even says such a thing in the first place. Instead of reaching out to lend a hand the grandmother ends her statement by simply saying that she would like to “paint a picture” of the scene.

     Flannery O’Connor’s “ A Good Man Is Hard To Find” depicts a family’s encounter with a criminal escaped from a federal penitentiary and their essential relinquishment of life. The family that the story surrounds has planned a trip to Florida for a family vacation. Knowing but unconcerned about the criminal at large, also known as the Misfit, the family voyages onward towards their destination until the trip is abruptly stopped by a totally unnecessary exploration down an unkempt, hilly and dangerous road. The dangerous road combined with the unsuspecting attack of the driver from the grand mothers cat, Pitty Sing, lands the family in a ten-foot deep ditch and in need of help. The

As Bandy mentions, the grandmother and the misfit are often intertwined in many critics’ reviews of A Good Man is Hard to Find (1). One of the most obvious ironies they share is that you perceive one as being the opposite of the other for the wrong reasons. With the grandmother, as stated before, one may assume her to be a good person, while she is in fact the opposite. While the Misfit would most likely be associated as a murderer and a horrible monster, he in fact is a decent human being. Wynne emphasizes the humor in the grandmother’s attempt to save herself by calling the Misfit one of her children (1). As if she is good and therefore he, being of the same good blood, must also be good. In these aspects I completely agree with these writer’s interpretations of the grandmother and the

Throughout people’s daily lives, new choices are thrown their way. These choices can be miniscule, or they can be the choices that change a life forever. In the Misfit’s life, he had choices and obstacles thrown his way from the beginning, but when he was sent away and thrown in a penitentiary, he lost his faith. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, O’Connor shows how the choices we make can affect our lives tremendously, which show in the correlation between the misfits behavior in the beginning of his life to his actions now , to how the family’s actions allowed them to encounter the Misfit, and how the Grandmother’s actions, words,and faith affect her whole family's lives.

As discussed earlier, Southern Gothic includes irrational, evil, and horrific thoughts, many which seem to contradict one another without a deeper look into their true meaning. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a story seemingly fully made with these contradictions and examples of Southern Gothic literature. This is mostly seen through the behavior of the Grandmother. Throughout the beginning of the story, she almost makes herself appear a protagonist and reveals her cruel selfishness. The Grandmother even accused her own son, Bailey, of putting his own kids in danger just to get him to change his mind for her own personal gain (O’Connor 5). Furthermore, the Grandmother makes racist comments regarding a black child to her grandchildren in the car (O’Connor 10). Ironically, the Grandmother sees herself as “a valiant defender on social decorum in a world of barbarians” (Bandy 114). Once faced with the potential of death at the hands of the Misfit, the Grandmother’s tune changes to her religious beliefs and tries to convince the bandit of her way of moral thinking (O’Connor 28). Bandy continues and accuses the Grandmother of this hypocrisy by stating that the Misfit has given a greater deal of thought into Jesus than she ever has (114). These extreme examples of good and evil through the Grandmother’s journey in this story do not seek to explain or answer the hypocrisy we all share, but solely to show the tragic reality of the human condition in a uniquely Southern Gothic

When the grandmother and the Misfit are alone the grandmother’s selfishness becomes apparent to readers. Even though her family had just been murdered, largely because of the consequences of her selfish acts, she is focused on saving her own life. Furthermore, she tries to convince the Misfit that he is a good man. "I just know you 're a good man." (O’Connor “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” 148) The Misfit replies with, "Nome, I ain 't a good man…but I ain 't the worst in the world neither.” (O’Connor “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” 148) He accepts the fact that he has done wrong but knows there are others who are worst. The grandmother speaks of prayer to the Misfit but is unable to recite one single prayer. She just repeatedly uses Jesus name, almost as if she is cursing. This symbolizes her weak understanding of being a Christian.

Again, we turn to Flannery O’Connor for a prime example of this conflict. In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the grotesque wears two faces: that of the hypocritical grandmother and that of the murderous Misfit. In what can only become a fatal encounter, the grandmother confronts the escaped killer known as The Misfit. Although she never once asks mercy for the lives of her family, she attempts to save her own life by using the “code” on the young man with 17 the gun: “ ‘I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood.

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