Preview

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1466 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
A Good Man is Hard to Find

Flannery O’Connor’s story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, brings a story in which she connects her experience as a victim of lupus erythematosus with her writings. The story begins with an ordinary family that embarks on a journey that becomes the last of their lives as the journey approaches to an end, as well as their imminent death, yet something astounding happens with the main character. The main character, the Grandmother, changes her heart by the cruel ways of the “Misfit”, who is a criminal that escaped from the penitentiary. One might think that Grandmothers are sweet and loving, and often innocent due to their advanced age and condition. We, as society, think of them as great examples of people that radiate love, mentors, and defenders of morality and good manners. However, this is not the case in A Good Man Is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor. As the story unfolds, her personality reflects that hidden evil we all carry inside and how detouring on a route takes a whole family to face disastrous consequences, yet one person finds redemption from that evil. A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a story that symbolizes redemption, because there is a sinner, there is a journey, and there is redemption.
In our society we tend to minimize, and sometimes erase the word “sin” because, for the most part, it bothers people’s conscience. Although the word “sin” is not explicitly exposed in the story A Good Man is Hard to Find, the action and consequences of sin are vividly present throughout the story, in all the characters, especially the Grandmother. The main character and sinner in the story is the Grandmother because she is described as an egocentric person, since the situation they face is that they are all captives of the serial killer, “The Misfit”, and she bargains for her life only. The grandmother said, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” (Flannery O’Connor 313). This is an obvious example of how she doesn’t stop to think about

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    I think that Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is written partially in order to convert people who have not yet fully accepted the Christian faith. O’Conner, having a strong upbringing and solid Christian background, wrote this story believing it would help people who do not have a strong moral base and Christian convictions to seriously making the necessary changes. Flannery O'Connor showed deep concern towards the value system of the youth at the time. She firmly believed in helping to guide the youth in a positive direction. Her belief that Christ was no longer a major priority to the people of her generation was a driving motivation. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" shows Flannery O'Connor's concern for the priorities and values of her time.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The grandmother in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a very unique person to say the least. In this classic tale of a terrible tragedy that happens to the grandmother and her family, I think people can safely say the grandmother was much to blame for what happened in the story. But the fact remains that even up to her last breath I do not think she realized that she was the major cause of the situation that she had gotten herself and her family into. Dramatic irony is created in the story because the grandmother never saw herself as the obnoxious woman that people as readers knew she was.…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    While the concept of grace seems like the last theme in this story of murder and selfishness, it is actually represented quite frequently and as a big part of the story line. "A Good Man is hard to Find" focuses mainly on the personalities and traits of the two main characters, grandma and The Misfit. These two seem like complete opposites, which creates for a very intriguing comparison when it comes to their intelligence and capacity for grace in this short story. The Misfit displays a clear superiority in intelligence through his behavior and actions. The Misfit also has an obvious capacity for grace that exceeds the grandmother by analyzing his thoughts and conversations with the grandmother.…

    • 806 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the grandmother goes through a dramatic and ironic change of events during a family trip to Florida. O’Connor uses foreshadowing and irony to portray the main conflict. The conflict plays a role that in which the grandmother’s character is transformed for the better due to the traits she had in the beginning of the story.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Flannery O’Connor brought to life and portrayed the grandmother as a very manipulative, selfish and talkative old lady in the story “A Good Man Is Hard to find.” Grandmother presented herself as a proper little lady who lived in the past and believed her way to be the best way. Throughout the family trip, that she wasn’t warmly welcomed to attend, the Grandmother ran her mouth consistently and frustrated her son Bailey as well as his wife and eldest children, John Wesley and June Star, with whom she lived with. Grandmother’s persistence at being annoying and self- serving ultimately leads to the abrupt and brutal end of a family vacation that no one had planned.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The tragic heroes and narcissists in the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor are the Grandmother and the Misfit. However, the focus is on the Grandmother and how she is in the grandiosity phase of being a tragic hero. There are personality characteristics associated with this phase, some of which the Grandmother has. She feels entitlement to get and do what she wants. In the story she takes her pet cat with her on the trip even though Bailey tells her not to. The Grandmother is a judgmental person. She judges other people based on petty things like clothes or first impressions. Finally, the Grandmother’s omniscience personality gets her killed.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    • 1451 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How many people do you encounter each day whom considers themselves to be a righteous person? Do you agree or disagree with this persons judgement of their own character? Often a person might hide behind his or her religion as a justification for the actions made in every day life. Perhaps some people may decide that commiting enough positive actions can some how cancel out their negative actions, allowing them to consider themselves a righteous person. In Flannery O'Connors story "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", the author challenges her readers to consider what it truly means to be a "good man" and why these qualities are so hard to find in a person.…

    • 1451 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Good Man Is Hard to Find

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages

    "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor, depicts a contrast of good and evil however, it shows how the enactment of good and evil is not as evident as it appears. The Grandmother perceives herself as a moralistically good character though her actions deem to create a downfall for the family. On the other hand the misfit is targeted at the audience as an evil character who is a cold-blooded killer; his intentions are justified by his unworldly perceptions of people.…

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bailey the grandmother’s son I would say is a “flat character. In the story his attitude never changes. He’s very quiet and gets pushed around by his mother. I would say that he gets taken advantage of because of this very reason. June Star, Bailey’s daughter and the granddaughter, isn’t very polite in the story. She’s very rude, mean spirited, and seems to be ill willed towards other people. Instead of her being sympathetic when the family got into an accident, she was disappointed that no one in the family was killed. John Wesley, Bailey’s dad and the grandson, is portrayed as a happy go lucky 8 year old boy. When the grandmother mentions going to see the house that she remembers, John seems very excited to be able to explore the secret panel. The Grandmother is characterized as rude and rather pushy with her views. Her son, Bailey, seems annoyed with the way that his mother acts. The reader’s perception of the Grandmother isn’t that great. She shows that she is a racist with her comment that she makes when she sees a little black kid. Her pushiness is what caused the family to get in the situation that they were in in the first place. The Grandmother shows no sympathy for other people. She is the worse out of the whole family.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Even before the story unfolds there is simple irony that in just the title of A Good Man Is Hard To Find, where a nice family vacation turns into a disastrous murder. When I first began reading, I never thought that the story would have such an ending. The mood of the story went from normal to sad fairly quickly. There was an example of foreshadowing at the beginning of the story when the grandma dressed up nicely so if there was an accident anyone seeing her in death will know that she was a lady. The grandma seems to believe that her morals for life are correct and her thoughts and beliefs are superior to that of anyone else’s. She could see everyone’s flaws except her own. I don’t think the grandmother is a good person, with her uppity attitude, and constant ridicule of her son, and how she made the statement “ Oh look at the cute little pickaninny ’’, shows how she’s really oblivious of the world beyond her own mind. The grandmas perception of good is obviously of her own morals as she stated That Red Sam had been a good man for letting someone cheat him out of his money. Obviously getting cheated out of your money is not a good thing.…

    • 610 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This story is creepy. The Grandmother is judgemental, bossy, opinionative woman. She is too lousy even though sometimes what she says makes sense. Her grand children John Wesley and June star do not like her. They were rude to her and the parents did not seem to get involved to tell the kids to respect her because she is an elderly which i found wrong.…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • 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
  • Powerful Essays

    In Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, O’Connor uses the grotesque, which serves to bind the laughable and the seriousness together. The grandmother and the Misfit are two characters of the extreme. The grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the story’s main character. Her religious epiphany at the end of the story provides the philosophical thrust behind the third-person narrative. By giving her no name other than grandmother and grouchy conversation that provides much of the story’s humor, Flannery O’Conner is able to paint her as a tragically comic caricature, which the reader can feel superior to. Grandmother is selfish and pushy, which can be seen clearly in her…

    • 1825 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The grandmother is a religious woman, but she is not free of sin and evil tendencies. John Desmond mentions this evil in his review of O’Connor’s work writing, “Good and evil, as potentialities and as actualities, are inextricably intertwined in human beings, and this is true for both the Grandmother and the Misfit” (144). O’Connor’s familiarity with Catholicism and life in rural Georgia helps her portray an accurate depiction of small town life, and the major religious influence in the south. Even the Misfit is aware of an afterlife and the consequences of his own sins. The Misfit is “aware that good actions in and of themselves are insufficient for salvation” (Desmond, 148). He may be even more aware of this fact than the grandmother. O’Connor uses these characters to teach readers a lesson of the grace offered through salvation. As she does in many of her stories, O’Connor uses shocking tactics to expose the flaws in her characters in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”. Commenting on the “shock factor” of the story, in her analysis of the story, Susan Larson writes, “Perhaps no other story better illustrates the ruthlessness with which she treats her characters. The grandmother and the Misfit would seem to be polar opposites, yet O’Connor scrutinizes and exposes them equally” (5). O’Connor exemplifies the diverse presence of sin in humanity and leaves readers with an understanding of grace of God, and how religion influences her…

    • 1557 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    When are people responsible for their actions? According to Simon Blackburn's theory of "Soft Determinism" people are responsible for their actions as long as true and available information is possessed. Blackburn's short story revises the compatibilist definition several times. The revised revised definition reads as follows:…

    • 904 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays