A Good Man Is Hard to Find 3
A Good Man is Hard to Find
The grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a round, dynamic character. She is a quirky protagonist who undergoes a change at the end of the story during her encounter with the antagonist, The Misfit. Until the final paragraphs of the story, the grandmother is selfish and manipulative. She’s set in her old fashioned ways.
The author, Flannery O’Connor, begins the story by telling us that the grandmother wants to go to Tennessee and not to Florida, as her son, Bailey, has planned to go with the family. She states that “she was seizing every chance to change Bailey’s mind.” (405). It’s obvious in this first paragraph that she is willing to manipulate her family to get her way. She tries to affect his conscience by reading to him from the newspaper about The Misfit, a killer “aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida” (405). She is so set on changing his mind that, when her first attempt gets no response, she tries to convince him that the children need to “see different parts of the world” (405). She is selfish and wants the family to believe that what she wants is best for them.
The grandmother is a manipulative character, unbending in her opinions and beliefs. She lives in a world of her own invention, twisting things until they are the way she wants them to be. She is dynamic because she changes in a desperate moment. She is forced to face the reality of her own death, her son’s death, and a situation she can’t manipulate.
Another outstanding personality trait of the grandmother is that she is apparently oblivious to a lot of things. As her family is being taken into the woods and shot, she continues to chat with The Misfit. She agrees with him that it is a beautiful day and takes the time to try to adjust her hat. She ignores the sounds of gunshots. She adjusts reality to suit herself. She chooses to ignore things that are unpleasant to her. After killing her son, Bobby Lee throws Bailey’s shirt to The
The grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a round, dynamic character. She is a quirky protagonist who undergoes a change at the end of the story during her encounter with the antagonist, The Misfit. Until the final paragraphs of the story, the grandmother is selfish and manipulative. She’s set in her old fashioned ways.
The author, Flannery O’Connor, begins the story by telling us that the grandmother wants to go to Tennessee and not to Florida, as her son, Bailey, has planned to go with the family. She states that “she was seizing every chance to change Bailey’s mind.” (405). It’s obvious in this first paragraph that she is willing to manipulate her family to get her way. She tries to affect his conscience by reading to him from the newspaper about The Misfit, a killer “aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida” (405). She is so set on changing his mind that, when her first attempt gets no response, she tries to convince him that the children need to “see different parts of the world” (405). She is selfish and wants the family to believe that what she wants is best for them.
The grandmother is a manipulative character, unbending in her opinions and beliefs. She lives in a world of her own invention, twisting things until they are the way she wants them to be. She is dynamic because she changes in a desperate moment. She is forced to face the reality of her own death, her son’s death, and a situation she can’t manipulate.
Another outstanding personality trait of the grandmother is that she is apparently oblivious to a lot of things. As her family is being taken into the woods and shot, she continues to chat with The Misfit. She agrees with him that it is a beautiful day and takes the time to try to adjust her hat. She ignores the sounds of gunshots. She adjusts reality to suit herself. She chooses to ignore things that are unpleasant to her. After killing her son, Bobby Lee throws Bailey’s shirt to The