A Good Man Is Hard To Find Point Of View

The short story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” is a Southern Gothic style story written by Flannery O’Connor. It is through examination of the setting, point of view, characters, and theme that this reads like a horror story. Through deeper analysis of the characters and theme in this short story, there is a deeply rooted religious message told. The setting and point of view offer a classic horror story experience that can be seen throughout the piece. For instance the setting is in a random town in Georgia, which should come as no surprise since the author herself was born in Savannah, Georgia. This setting sets up a scenic place the family drives through on their way to Florida passing by old plantations and country hillsides. As the story progresses the setting also changes from passing plantations, to Red Sammy’s barbecue restaurant, and eventually to the ditch in the middle of a road surrounded by a forest. Additionally this setting offers a third person limited omniscient point of view seen in horror stories and does not solely focus through the eyes of one person. However in spite of the story being third person limited omniscient the
The Grandma and The Misfit are by far the most symbolic characters in the story as they are mentioned with high enthusiasm from the author. For instance since the very beginning the Grandma can be seen as a selfish, manipulative woman that tries to always play the pity card to get what she wants. As seen here when she says, ”Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida....I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did.” (p.420) Again this type of behavior can be noticed again when she wants the family to visit the plantation she has fond memories