A Good Man Is Hard To Find Analysis

Reading between the lines of Flannery O’Connor’s work “A good Man is hard to find” leaves the reader puzzled and engrossed as their minds remains onto the setting of the story. The story begins with a bad mood, and the reader keeps waiting for good to prevail over it, but unlike most stories, the ending is a captivating draw.
The writer employs a set of literature techniques like imagery, conflicts, irony, foreshadowing and simile to give the story a unique plot and characterization. In the story, the writer introduces unique characters with recurrent conflicts and different mindsets. The underlying theme in the story is the relationship that is best demonstrated by the grandmother. The character shows that facet of togetherness along the

story and her character role holds the scenes together. She is an outstanding character that makes the story tight and believable. The development of the plot contains a central theme that revolves around the grandmother’s relationship with the Baileys’.
Just like the case with other grandmothers, the grandmother in the story presents quite unconventional views and rambling that can drive a person crazy. This character has the capability of talking continuously, without considering the side of others. She describes a simple idea through long stories and indirect conversation. This character trait leads her to being killed (O’Connor 959). Her son, Bailey often show discomfort with her actions and mode of ideologies she portrays, but a strong attached is evident from the whole story, although it lacks expression from the story. The description of the grandmother gives her old-fashioned character that would be easily recognized as a lady if found dead on the road (O’Connor 948). At this point of the story, the reader realizes that the lady is from the southern part where racial differences are eminent from the neighborhood. Her use of disparaging words such as “nigger”, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, in addition to small jokes prove her innocent on political correctness (949).
A grasp of the central character, the grandmother leads to the theme of relationship; she revolves around the family, but with a conservative mindset. She expresses a weird relationship with her son and grandchildren. When Bailey plans to take his children to Florida, she doubts the validity of the idea, but on the eve of the journey she gets in the car first. The grandmother holds the view that children should unconditionally respect their elders, but she does not punish them when they disrespect her. Her reason being that his son and wife do not punish their children as required by moral justice.
As the family was traveling, little attention given to children is observable as they hardly talked throughout the journey. The lack of attention granted to children demonstrates that a positive relationship should exist in a family that values discipline and a friendly interaction. Had the grandmother pointed out the ill manners of the children, the children would face the wrong upbringing where they would not realize their bad manners. They would always think that any action was acceptable and consequently grow up and get accustomed to getting away with whatever they do or say.
The grandmother played a significant role shaping the behaviors of the children as they would face a major challenge after the death of their parents and grandmother. She does her best keep the children in accordance with morals, but is not exempted from adverse criticism by the children. They became rude towards their parents, but the grandmother came as a response to remind them that they ought to respect their seniors.
As she gave a story, they pass a black person where she demonstrates hypocrisy of the highest order through her negative comments, “look at the cute little pick ninny! Wouldn’t that make a picture?” (O’Connor 118-119). Such words do not present a good picture for the children to follow, despite her immediate admonishment of ill behaviors. The grandmother uses the circumstance and her relationship with the children to influence their views about the world, showing that it is right to have a racist mind about colored people.
Another major character that needs critical review is the Misfit. The character remains worrying in the back of our mind. The character generally took jokes as any other individual unto a point when the effect got all comes into the family. The grandmother asks him whether he would shoot an elderly woman. The misfits react by digging a hole on the ground with his shoes and cover it to mean he would kill an old lady. This action gives a hint that comes to be at the burial: The misfit deliberately points out that he could not have had better parents though it ended up like.
A ruthless action follows when his henchmen receives orders to walk Bailey and his son through the woods where gunshots follows. The grandmother still insists the Misfit is a good man as she tries to request to go with the money. The grandmother states that he “does not look to have common blood”, meaning he is unique and harmless. The unfortunate thing happens when she could not stop talking, and touchi9nh the misfit, which got into his nerve and shot her three times on the chest. The scene ends with the grandmother going senile saying the misfit was one of her own. The reader is left to interpret.
A significant aspect concerning relationships is the protection given to one’s we love in situations of danger.

Had the grandmother realizes the Misfit; she would have sealed the fates of all the family members. Bailey’s statement on the scene shows that he recognized the Misfit and showed that at the end of everything, all that count is the family attachment. Everyone was going to die. On realizing that Bailey knows the plan, the Misfit sends him together with his son, to their fate, death. The role of relationship is evident in our everyday lives. People might get offended or tired of their family and friends, but the end of dangerous situations justifies that our relational attachment compels us to save the ones we love. Humans always look for ways of survival, in spite of the consequences.
The grandmother shows this aspect through her plea to be let free. After all others get killed, she appeals to the Misfit to have mercy on her since she is an old woman. She talks about religion and the fact that the Misfit is of a “good blood” that wouldn’t shoot an old lady. “I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you ought, not to shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got (O’Connor 132). Her hope is to get spared, and live in remembrance of a good family relationship they had

together.
Imagery is a common literature technique used by O’Connor to describe the scenes like the view through the car window: “Trees were full of silver-white sunlight, and the meanest of them sparkled” (949). Another uses of imagery is evident from the ride out of the dirty road “The dirt road was hilly, and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous embankments” (O’Connor 932). This description represents a direct way to misfortune. At one moment, they were on top of a hill and the next minute in a depression with dusty trees looking down on them. The realization of this imagery occurs on the arrival of the Misfit. His automobile came to an end just over them (“Amy's ENG 113 Blog” 1).
O’Connor vastly uses foreshadowing through the story.

An example of it appears when the old lady states that his son should not take the children anywhere as danger is inevitable along the way. She says a dangerous killer is on the loose. Later in the story, the grandmother is talking to John Wesley, asking what he would do in case he runs into the Misfit. Wesley says he would smack his face. The element of foreshadowing comes into reality as the family tries to show children the famous plantation. They run into the Misfit. Later in the story, the family drives across some coffee fields with several graves fenced at the middle of the field. Again this foreshadowing represents their pending

deaths.
“A God Man is Hard to Find” by O’Connor also applies irony to present contradicting views in different scenes. An example is the initial description of the grandmother, where the writer says she dresses in a manner that anybody seeing her dead along the road would simply recognize her like a lady. As they drove past the graveyard, they see five graves. In the car, they were five except the cat, which gets thrown out of the window.
The cat ironically appears later in the scene, rubbing against the Misfit’s leg. He ordered the cat thrown out of the window “like the other one”. The cat resembles the grandmother, who gets thrown into the wood by misfit’s helper. Before they meet their death, the family holds a conversation about the escaped convict (the Misfit) at Red Sammy’s. It is shortly that they meet the Misfit, who kills them.
From the story, the grandmother’s elusive definition of a good man blurs the image of a “good man” where the label loses its meaning entirely. Her definition seems vulnerable to gullibility, blind faith, and poor judgment. Her belief that a “good man” would never shoot a woman seems a moral value that everyone upholds. The Misfit’s lack of “common blood” presents a convincing ground for the lady to believe a “good man” adheres to similar moral codes as her.
According to her, a man is “good” if his moral code of conduct aligns with her own. The Misfit is “good” because the grandmother reasons he values the significance of an old lady and wouldn’t shoot her ("A Good Man Is Hard to Find"1). Contrary, her assumption proves different. The “good” thing about the Misfit is his recurrent ill value of meanness and living without pleasure. The fault with the grandmother is her assumption that she stands s a better position to judge the rights and wrongs. Her morals are weak as demonstrated by her instruction to the Misfit, to pray. She seems unable to conduct a prayer by herself when she needs it most. She looks so obvious about the world which shows an inherent lack of self-awareness.