Through the usage of dramatic irony and person vs. society conflict in the short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’ Connor is able to add a captivating new level of interpretation by eliciting empathy from the readers. “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” is about a myopic and manipulative grandmother who struggles to live in the present because her mind is stuck in the past. She is fixated on the old moral code of the south, something which is no longer relevant. While the Grandmother and her family were on a road trip to Florida, the grandchildren, John Wesley and June Star, offended her by talking negatively about Georgia and Tennessee. “...I wouldn’t talk about my native state that way...In my time...children were more respectful of their native states and their parents …show more content…
and everything else.
People did right then…” lectures the grandmother, relating back to the structure of society she became so attached to when she was younger. While they are talking, the car drives by a naked African American boy. The grandmother ironically does the opposite of what she addressed the children with. “Oh, look at the cute little pickaninny!” She exclaimed. “Little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do. If I could paint, I’d paint that picture.” Through this, it is made clear that the Grandmother still sees things the way they would have been seen with the old southern moral code. The way that O’Connor had the grandmother talk about the child brings out empathy in many of us. According to research professor and best-selling author, Dr. Brené Brown, empathy is what “drives connection.” In order to feel empathetic for someone, you need to be able to feel what he or she is feeling. When the Grandmother calls the child a “pickaninny,” and says insulting things about him, we feel empathy for him because we are able to relate to what he could be feeling. All of us know what
it is like to have somebody call you names, or make fun of you, or to be picked on- and it doesn’t feel good. For this reason, the way that Flannery O’ Connor depicts the Grandmother’s view on the child, empathy is drawn from within us. Flannery O’Connor did an extraordinary job of evoking empathy in readers through dramatic irony, and she also draws out empathy from readers using person vs society conflict. Around the climax of “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” we are introduced to a character that had been mentioned in many places previously in the story, as a dangerous criminal- the Misfit. After the Grandmother’s family crashes their car, the Misfit separates the Grandmother from the rest of her family, and through indirect characterization, it is clear that the Misfit reflects the Grandmother in an uncanny way. Like the Grandmother, the best part of the Misfit’s life was in the past-, “‘I was a gospel singer for a while...I been most everything. Been in the arm service, both land and sea, at home and abroad, been twice married, been an undertaker, been with the railroads, plowed Mother Earth, been in a tornado, seen a man burnt alive oncet…I was never a bad boy that I remember of,’” he said in a ‘dreamy voice.’ The Misfit also struggles to live in the present, but unlike the Grandmother, it isn’t because he is still trying to live the same way; the Misfit realizes that he doesn’t know what happened to his life. “‘...somewheres along the line I done something wrong and got sent to penitentiary. I was buried alive.” The Misfit doesn’t know what happened to his past life, something many people can emphasize with. Society made him a criminal, and he wonders why he can’t be happy and do as many things as he used to. He was blamed for killing his father, even though he didn’t. And now he feels trapped in a cage with nowhere to go. He doesn’t understand society and has lost faith. Just by reading what the Misfit has gone through and how he feels about his conflict with society is enough to make almost anybody feel horrible for him. Many can relate to how he feels- trapped, confused, faithless- this is how Flannery O’Connor creates empathy in readers. This is how readers are able to connect to O’ Connor’s characters, and feel empathy for them- with the rigorous descriptions of dramatic irony and person vs society conflict.
As I read Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, I find myself being completely consumed by the rich tale that the author weaves; a tragic and ironic tale that concisely and precisely utilizes irony and foreshadowing with expert skill. As the story progresses, it is readily apparent that the story will end in a tragic and predictable state due to the devices which O’Connor expertly employs and thusly, I find that I cannot stop reading it; the plot grows thicker with every sentence and by doing so, the characters within the story are infinitely real in my mind’s eye. As I consider these factors, the story focuses on two main characters; that of the grandmother, who comes across as self-centered and self-serving and The Misfit, a man, who quite ingeniously, also appears to be self-centered and self-serving. It is the story behind the grandmother, however, that evidence appears to demonstrate the extreme differences between her superficial self and the true character of her persona; as the story unfolds, and proof of my thought process becomes apparently clear.
Flannery o 'Connor. Known as the southern United States, the second after Faulkner writer. "A good man is hard to find" the religious fable story, the story is very simple, an elderly woman with her son a family trip to Florida, due to the old woman wanted to see a supposed to be on the way but somehow thought in Tennessee plantation in Georgia, and the way for the old woman with a bad idea to turn over a car, then the escaped from prison that inappropriate happens by men, finally killed all of them a six people, including the baby.
Southern gothic is a type of literature that focuses on the harsh conflicts of violence and racism, which is observed in the perspective of black and white individuals. Some of the most familiar southern authors are William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Cormac McCarthy. One author in particular, Flannery O’Connor, is a remarkable author, who directly reflects upon southern grotesque within her two short stories, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” These two short stories are very similar to each other, which is why I believe that O’Connor often writes with violent characters to expose real violence in the world while tying them in with a particular spiritual insight.
In the short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor, every object including the characters are symbols. The Grandmother, who is the one and only dynamic character, represents all of us who have repented. The story is, as Flannery O'Connor has suggested a spiritual journey because of the Grandmother's Plight. In the beginning of the story the Grandmother is obsessed with everything worldly and superficial. She cares far too much about how others perceive her,
Flannery O’Connor is a master of the ironic, the twisted, and the real. Life is filled with tragic irony, and she perfectly orchestrates situations which demonstrate this to the fullest extent. A Good Man is Hard to Find is an excellent example of the mangled viewpoint which makes her work as compelling and striking as it is.
Bandy, Stephen C. "One of my babies": The Misfit and the Grandmother in Flannery O'Connor's short story 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'. Studies in Short Fiction; Winter 1996, v33, n1, p107(11)
O’Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” The Story and Its Writer. Charters, Ann. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/ST. Martin's, 2011. 676-687. Print.
In the short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find, written by Flannery O’Connor, the theme that the definition of a ‘good man’ is mysterious and flawed is apparent. The reader must realize that it is difficult to universalize the definition of a good man because every person goes through different experiences. Thus, these experiences affect his or her viewpoint and in turn flaw ones view on a good man. O’Connor conveys this theme through her excellent use of diction, imagery, foreshadowing, and symbolism as well as through a creative use of repetition and an omniscient point of view.
O’ Connor forces the reader to wonder which characters are “Good Men”, perhaps by the end of the story she is trying to convey two points: first, that a discerning “Good Man” can be very difficult, second, that a manipulative, self-centered, and hollow character: The Grandmother is a devastating way to be, both for a person individually and for everyone else around them. The reader is at least left wondering if some or all of the clues to the irony I provided apply in some way to the outcome of this story.
Flannery O’Connors’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” is filled with irony. Verbal, dramatic, and cosmic, without irony of these kinds, this short story would not be as powerful as it is. O’Connor’s use of several different kinds of irony helps in communicating a strong message about humans and human condition and to successfully engage her readers.
Both “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor’s main characters come to a point of self-reflection. Both stories leave the imagination, about whether the characters have changed their perspectives on their surroundings or not, up to the reader. Although their realization at the end are the same, both stories differ in events that led up to the ending. In O’Connor’s short story, the main character is a religious and judgmental Catholic woman that led her family to their deaths. But in Carver’s short story, the main character is a stubborn, non-religious judgmental man that sees with his eyes and not his heart, meaning that he sees and accepts things as they are. Carver demonstrates vision more effectively
The title “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, by Flannery O’Connor, uses irony to show perception on what it means to be good. The grandmother deems many men as good, “Now why did I do that’...’Because you’re a good man!”(O’Connor 1215). However, not all these men are good men and she uses the term ‘good man’ very flippantly. The Misfit is another one of the men she deems as good, in the end, the grandmother dies upon believing this. The Misfit states, “She would be a good woman...If it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” (O’Connor 1222). Where the grandmother believes everyone is a good man, the Misfit believed that only in death, can one be good. A simple perspective determined
In Flannery O 'Connor 's short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, the theme of good vs. evil unravels throughout the series of tragic events. The Grandmother’s epiphany introduces the idea of morality and the validity is left to the interpretation of the reader. By questioning the characteristics of right and wrong, morality and religion become subjective to personal reality and the idea of what makes individuals character good or bad becomes less defined.
O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." The Story and Its Writer An Introduction to Short Fiction. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2011. 1042-053. Print.
O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.