A good man really is hard to find. But what is the real definition of a real man? Maybe it is not just the prince charming you see in fairy tales or the perfect guy walking down Sixth Ave. that you pass by everyday to work. Maybe a good guy is simply someone that is good what they do. In this case the relationship between the grandmother and the misfit is just that. The only thing is if the reader sees it as clearly as the author would like them too or simply as she does.
The first sentence in the story reveals to us that the grandmother is the main character in the story, and that she doesn’t want to go to Florida, which suggests something bad is going to happen if she does go to Florida. The author’s intent in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is to show, as the title suggests, that a good man is hard to find.
This story was taken place also when black Americans were set free from slavery and had just as much equal rights as any other white American did. They were preferred to not be called "niggers" but be called black Americans. During this time no matter what was said, she would not let go of the term "nigger" referring to black Americans because she thought that they did not deserve as many equal rights because she thought that they could do no better if they were turned from under the power of white Americans.
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.
The confrontation between the grandmother and The Misfit in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” revolves around Jesus. The grandmother brings up praying to Jesus in hope that she can induce The Misfit to spare her life by appealing to his religious sense. It turns out, however, that The Misfit has probably thought about Jesus more seriously than she has. The Misfit’s doubt in Jesus leads him to think that there is no real right or wrong, and no ultimate point to life.
In "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", Grandmother is a deep religious character that gives the story a depth of interest. The reader gets the religious aspect of Grandmother through her actions such as her continually use of the word "Jesus", the conversation with the Misfit, and in the name of her grandson, John Wesley. Although, Grandmother is devoted to her faith, she fears
In the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the author, Flannery O’Connor communicates literary symbols and prominence of Southern culture. Within the story, there are subtle yet important details that make the entirety of the piece as iconic as it is. The reoccurring theme of being a lady and moral codes both are important to the overall concept of the story.
While reading “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” it becomes clear that the grandmother possesses a false interpretation of “a good man”. This action is especially evident when she gives Red Sam and the Misfit the title when encountering them. Although the actions these two men portray throughout the short story doesn’t match up to the entitlement of “a good man”, the grandmother has faith that they are in fact truly good deep inside. The view the grandmother has of Red Sammy and the Misfit, despite their actions, shows her blindness toward present day society.
“Adversity defines the essence of who we are and who we desire to be!” This can be best realized in the rural southern regions of the United States during the late 19 forties and early fifties. Without a specific location of long-term concentration, this story finds three generations of a family taking a vacation (planning at least) to Florida despite objections from the grandmother. Factor in her impatient son (Bailey), his wife, and two smart-ass children have marginal respect for their grandmother resulting in a crew of authoritative, uncertainty, distant, and manipulative people about to engage on a trip that ends with certain doom for all with a twist indicative of self
I firmly believe that people reap what they sew. In the story, “ A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the grand mother is a prime example of this scenario. Her pathetic ploys and acts of deviance cause harm to the family throughout the story and it ends up coming back to her in the end. You can tell that harms is inevitable for the family by some of the clues that are found in the grandmother’s
You are sitting in your living room at home watching the nightly news. The lead story for the night is about a family of four that were murdered. After seeing and hearing about something like that we often ask ourselves, What could possess a person enough to kill another human being? What is it that drives a person to kill? Will we ever know? Many authors use this unique mentality in short stories. They write about what the killer thinks and how he/she acts on his/her thoughts. One of these stories is “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, by Flannery O’Connor. In this story O’Connor’s victim, The Misfit, is an escaped convict. He was in the Federal Penitentiary for killing his father. Throughout the story O’Connor builds up this killers mentality
If you were to ask someone what their definition of a happy life would be, they would probably give you an answer like, “having fun.” This is completely untrue in Aristotle’s terms. According to Aristotle, for a man to lead a happy life he must learn each of the intellectual virtues, and practice each of the moral virtues throughout his life. These moral virtues are justice, courage, temperance, magnificence, magnanimity, liberality, gentleness, prudence, and wisdom. With so many virtues to constantly abide by, a man cannot know if he has led a happy life until his life is nearly finished. In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’ Connor, the question is
In the Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” we find out that the title indicates of what the story is about. The title actually came from the lyrics of a song written by Eddie Green in 1918. The title of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner is quite ironic really. The reader expects to eventually find a good man in the story, but is quite surprised at the ending of the story. The title "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is expressed clearly in this story by introducing a variety of male personalities that all have one thing in common; they are not truly good men.
In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the grandmother and the Misfit become the main focus even though the other characters are involved in the story. Throughout the entire story, The Misfit is portrayed as the symbol of evil because he was in jail; he escaped from jail, and he committed murders. The grandmother believes to be greater than the people that she are around because of the “good” that she portrays. The conventional meaning of good, or possessing or displaying moral virtue, is not the particular good that the grandmother is trying to portray throughout the story. The grandmother believes that good
Throughout the short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” a grandmother goes on vacation in Florida with her son and his family. She is wary of an escaped criminal who may possibly be there, but no one takes her worry into consideration. The family eventually comes face to face with the criminal and lose their lives because of it. In “A Worn Path,” an elderly woman begins a long and tiresome journey in an effort to reach a town to acquire medicine for her sick grandson. The stories “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” written by Flannery O’Connor, and “A Worn Path,” by Eudora Welty, have distinctly different writing styles that impact the story and how they utilize certain literary devices throughout them. The setting, point of view and imagery