Compare And Contrast A Good Man Is Hard To Find

A Good Lady is Hard to Find As Well Vacation turns into devastation. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, a grandmother and her family run into some unexpected trouble with the breakout criminal, “The Misfit” and his goons Bobby Lee and Hiram, on their way to Florida. He continues on to murder the entire family, except the cat, despite the grandmother’s attempt to talk him out of it by using religion. The story itself gives two characters, one “good” and one “bad”; however, the line between the two is extremely blurry. The contrast between good and evil in Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is supported by the characters of Grandmother and The Misfit. Grandmother is the “good” character of the story. However,
He’s a cold-hearted criminal, yet honestly, he has trouble with what he does. Psychologically, the man is missing a few screws; nevertheless, he is also a man uncertain of his life. O’Connor shows this uncertainty when Grandmother attempts to talk to him into saving her life. He boldly responds, “I call myself The Misfit," he said, "because I can't make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment" (O’Connor 439). The reader can sense his uncertainty as of if he even realizes the horror of his profession. He’s also highly religious, which is what Grandmother holds onto for making herself so “good”. “The Misfit” does not truly know if he believes at all when speaking to Grandmother, "I wasn't there so I can't say He didn't," The Misfit said. "I wisht I had of been there," he said, hitting the ground with his fist. "It ain't right I wasn't there because if I had of been there I would of known. Listen lady," he said in a high voice, "if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn't be like I am now.”(O’Connor 439). He believes that if he knew for sure that the bible was true, that Jesus had done all he did, including raising the dead, he may have turned out different, better, than who he is now. Truly his uncertainty is what holds him back from being this “good man” Grandmother wants him to be so desperately. She attempts to get through to him, "Listen," she said,
The author fights within herself to analyze which traits make a person good: religion, family, faith; or perhaps all those aspects mean nothing and someone is just born good. The misfit was born with a clearly fit family, "God never made a finer woman than my mother and my daddy's heart was pure gold," he said.” (O’Connor 436). He himself is attached to his religion, whether he questions it or not it influences his decisions. Nevertheless,“The Misfit” is still a murderer, so he is obviously not good. Additionally, Grandmother has an unsupportive family, an extreme tie to her religion, and a high self esteem of herself. Still, Grandmother is found to be extremely judgemental and compulsive. Lead-in, “She saw the man's face twisted close to her own as if he were going to cry and she murmured, "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!" She reached out and touched him on the shoulder. The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest.” (O’Connor 440). Ultimately, Grandmother leads her to her own fate; therefore, the theme is supported here by her overall defeat as well. The grandmother did not win as good usually does because she was not as good as she appeared.Overall, Flannery O'Connor uses these characters to demonstrate her own thoughts and conflicts between good and evil. As found in other works she has done, Flannery