Preview

Of Flannery O 'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find'

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
330 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Of Flannery O 'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find'
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a story of an innocent family’s bad luck when they are met by The Mistfit, who is an escaped serial killer. The story revolves around the grandmother who is a kind hearted elderly southern woman that has the pleasure of living with her son, his wife and rude children. She is also a very classy woman who believe she should look her best everywhere she goes, simply because in an accident “anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady”. The family criticizes the grandmother for the fear of a possible attack by The Mistfit and feline asphyxiation. She acknowledges the pointless things such as mileage, the speed of the car, and cemeteries.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, O’Connor seems to suggest that only through conflicts can the “good” in people be found. The way that the grandmother seems to dwell in the past suggests that she believes that it would’ve been easier to find a “good” man a long time ago. To the grandmother, trying to find goodness today would prove to be very challenging and possibly even useless. Through the use of symbolism, foreshadowing, and metaphors, O’Connor develops the story’s theme.…

    • 946 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, a family of four decides to go on a vacation joined by the grandmother. The family decides to take a road trip to Florida, but the grandmother shows the family the newspaper with the headlines stating there are three loose criminals also going there. The criminals are led by one who calls himself “the Misfit.” The vacation to Florida continues despite the grandmother’s disagreement and plea to go to Tennessee to see an old house the grandmother remembers from her childhood. As the family begins their vacation, the grandmother asks her son Bailey if he can bring her cat, a question Bailey quickly rejects.…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Flannery O'Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” neither The Misfit, nor the Grandmother seem to feel sympathetic. The Misfit goes around and kills innocent people for what seems like no reason while the grandmother causes the death of her entire family and seems to feel no remorse until her life is on the line. The grandmother spends a lot of the story trying to appeal to The Misfits sympathies so when he shoots her “three times through the chest” (O’Connor) this proves that he does not have sympathy. The grandmother indirectly caused the death of Bailey, the children’s mother, June Star, the baby, and John Wesley. After each death all she did was continue to talk to The Misfit, not show any remorse or sympathy for what she had caused.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find follows a peculiar Grandmother as a string of events she is responsible for eventually lead to the death of her loved ones and herself. First and foremost, the grandmother, a manipulative and self-interested lady with no intention of compromising, suggests the family take their vacation through Tennessee rather than Florida, partly in an attempt to avoid a so-called Misfit who appears to be “aloose from the Federal Pen” (3) in Florida. Unfortunately, the Misfit is actually in Tennessee, and thus begins the implausible sequence of events peaking in the murder of the grandmother’s family.…

    • 2190 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    If a person is manipulative and their actions are paid for with people’s lives, would they be considered good? In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor the grandmother shows qualities that ask that question. Three reasons why are the following, she is manipulative, selfish, and fake. There is no good man or good woman in this story.…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “A good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'Conner depicts a southern family, who is at odds about where they should go for a family vacation. They will eventually agree to head for Florida, once in the car the family will go through a series of events that will shapen each indivudal character. One of the main characters in the story, “The Grandmother”, who is known for her critical , savvy ways gives the audience her definition of what exactly it means to be a lady. The Grandmother and her family will be put to death by an escaped criminal by the name of the Misfit, who the grandmother warns the family of before there voyage to Florida. In the story one will see that although the Grandmother had not been a known convicted felon, like the Misfit, her way for thinking and immoral behavior was no different than that of the Misfit and that they were alike in many different ways. Although the Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to find”, tries to portray herself has a good role model and a Christian lady one will later see as story evolve that she was a woman contrary of her word and was indeed the ultimate “misfit”.…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    One of the most compelling and provocative authors of the 20th century, Flannery O’ Connor is known for her violent, yet symbolic short stories. Unfortunately, we only got to see a small selection of writings from her, as she died in 1964 at the young age of 39 from lupus erythematosus. Although she was largely unknown during her short life, she has been posthumously recognized as one of the greatest writers of her time. Terry Teachout, chief culture critic and drama critic with the Wall Street Journal, acknowledges O’Connor as “one of the foremost American fiction writers of the 20th century (55).” Teachout goes on to say, “she is by far the most critically acclaimed of the many Catholic writers who came to prominence…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Flannery O’Conner short story “A Good Man is hard to Find” Is about this grandmother who is plotting to get her own way through whatever means is necessary. So the fact is “The grandmother’s whole personality is built upon the fictions she tells herself and her family” (Schenck, 340). “She creates the stories behind the visual phenomena she sees and explains the relationships between events or her own actions which have no logic other than that which she lends them” (Schenck, 340). The grandmother who imaged a life she once had that turn to a tragedy of reality for her and her family. She does not admit it, but her thoughts manifest themselves physically and emotionally. The grandmother got so embarrassed that her cheek was red and her eyes widen and she begins to stomp her feet and this really upset her at that moment.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Saboteur” by Ha Jin and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor both explore how being considered a “bad person” is all relative. “Saboteur” has Mr. Chiu who has truthfully done nothing wrong to deserve being put in jail, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” has the misfit who clearly has done “bad” things in his life time such as murder but says he does not consider himself to be that bad of a man. The misfit and Mr. Chiu have not as much in common as Mr. Chiu and the grandmother, because both share certain traits that gets them into a lot of trouble which is selfishness and pride. The misfit is different from the grandmother and Mr. Chiu because he recognizes the fact that he is not a good man, something both of them cant seem at admit.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbols are everywhere in our daily lives. Everyone is used to seeing symbols. Symbols are so popular there is a writing system that uses symbols (emojis), and already many send them on a daily basis. In the story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" symbols are all over the place. Using the car crash as a symbol, Flannery O'Connor was showing more than the literal words on the page.…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    One of the utmost unforgettable lines from “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” originates from the Misfit when he says, “She would have been a good woman if it had been someone there to shoot her for every minute of her life (O'Connor).” Flannery O’Connor’s illustration of Christianity can be seen in within this text. Certainly, the plot ends with an appalling conclusion, and this leaves the reader with liberty to understand the central idea of this story. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is largely influenced by divine authority and other elements within the story.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the gruesome ending comes as quite a shock. But, upon a second read, signs of an ominous end permeate the work. Hints of the family's tragic finale exist throughout the plot until the time of the first murder. The story contains pervasive images of death and to foreshadow the ultimate demise of the nameless family at the hands of the malicious Misfit and his henchmen.…

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Shakespere, "All the world 's a stage, And all the men and women merely players". Some people, in their daily lives, do more intentional acting, or decieveing, than others. The terms "Friday Muslim" or "Sunday Christian" have been coined to describe people who appear to be devout to their religion when they attend their weekly religious gathering, but otherwise do not display any moral connections to it. These people put more importance on appearing as a good and richous person rather than actually thinkning, speaking, and acting according to the religious documents they claim to follow. Living this sort of life proved to be fatal for the Grandmother in Flannery O 'Connor 's A Good Man Is Hard to Find. The Grandmother 's religious hypocracy caused her to corrupt the thoughts of her grandchildren, manipulate events onto a negative path, and ultimately cause the death of her and her family.…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Good Man is Hard to Find

    • 1397 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor is a short story that depicts a family road trip to Florida that ends in an abysmal tragedy when they meet the Misfit, a remorseless convict who has escaped from prison. In the beginning, the Grandmother is obsessed with everything worldly and superficial. She is completely focused on herself in relation to how others think of her. Towards the end of the story, the grandmother finds herself in ominous dialogue with The Misfit. In the story, The Misfit represents a quasi-final judgment. He does this by acting like a mirror. He lets whatever The Grandmother says bounce right off him. He never agrees nor disagrees with the grandmother, and in the end, he is the one who kills her. At the end of the story, before the Grandmother meets her fate, she has a moment of redemption. She finally distinguishes The Misfit for who he really is, not a psychopathic killer on the loose; but a person just like herself. The Misfit, being a man who is not created from social class; he is a simple human being just like the grandmother. At this point she sees herself in relation to everyone else. She finally realizes that she is not made by her class. Society makes the class, and she just fits into it. She shows this by claiming that The Misfit could be one of her own children. This story is meant to be interpreted as a parable, whereby O'Connor made skilful use of symbolism to bring about messages such as the social-superiority and the lack of spiritual faith that exist amongst common people; and the grace in humans is exposed, only when facing adverse and fatal circumstances.…

    • 1397 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays