A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor

The term ‘a good man’ is commonly referred to it as a worthy person that has done a marvelous deed. A person look can be deceiving and as it is actually difficult to know whether that person is generous or malicious. In a short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the audience's focus primarily on the grandmother’s interactions toward the other characters around her. The story is set to be in a big irony about a family vacation has gone wrong. There is a numerous reference about the word ‘a good man’ throughout the story, but the most important scene is the interaction between the grandmother, who is the protagonist of the story, and The Misfit, who’s a wanted criminal and the antagonist. Throughout the conversation between

the family and The Misfit, the audiences will notice how the grandmother portrays herself differently than she was before she met The Misfit and his two henchmen.

Even before they met each other, the grandmother acknowledges that Red Sammy, a restaurant owner, is a good man according to her knowledge. Flannery O’Connor wants her audiences to focus primarily on the words ‘a good man’ not only has it been mentioned throughout the story, but to show the hidden meaning behind it.
During the story progression, the grandmother called Red Sammy Butts a good man without giving some consideration whether he is a good man. When the family first introduces to Red Sammy Butts, they were greeted with the phrases “ ‘You can't win,' and he wiped his sweating red face off with a gray handkerchief. 'These days you don't know who to trust,' he said. 'Ain't that the truth?' " (141). His opening phrases introduce the readers with a foreshadowing event. He manages to foretell the mistake of the grandmother as she trusted the villain of the story. This phrase is absolutely critical considering how the grandmother judges the people based on their look along with their behavior. When Red Sammy allow two strangers to charge gas,

he questions himself to “why did I do that?” (142). Immediately, the grandmother response to him with “Because you’re a good man” (142). She called Red Sammy as a good man with no thought or regard based on his unwilling action. She does not know much about Red Sammy except he served his famous barbecue. In an article, "Clichés, Superficial Story-Telling, and the Dark Humor of Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'" by Robert C. Evans, he mentions that “O'Connor consistently presents characters who speak, think, and act without giving their words, thoughts, or behavior any real or careful consideration” (5). All Red Sammy did was he allowed the stranger charge gas. The grandmother notices his action to be honorable regard if the story is true.When she mentions him a good man, he immediately replies ‘Yes'm, I suppose so,’ Red Sam said as if he were struck with this answer” (142). Red Sammy assumed that his action was just an ordinary action and not as special as the grandmother is pointing it out. This is not the only time the grandmother mentions the word ‘a good man.’ Later when the family gets into an accident, the grandmother uses this phrase repeatedly, but toward a different kind of person, The Misfit.
After the accident that Red Sammy foreshadowed, the grandmother desperately trying to sweet-talk the main antagonist by confronting him that he is ‘a good man.’ The grandmother desperately asking the three strangers for help without knowing who they are.

When the three strangers come closer to the family, she recognizes one of them as the wanted criminal and beside him is his two henchmen. After a long, desperate attempt, the grandmother last struggle to favor the Misfit by mentioning “ ‘you're a good man,’ she said desperately. ‘You're not a bit common!’ ” (147). It is obvious that the word ‘a good man’ has lost its meaning. There a minor reason to call Red Sammy a good man as a result of his good deed, but there is no reason to call the Misfit a good man on behalf of his crime. This phrase shows that the grandmother judgment based on their behavior as well as their appearance. The same article by Robert C. Evans mentions that “one of the ways she [O’Connor] achieves that goal [challenging and provoking readers] is by mimicking the clichéd words and thoughts of her own characters” (5). O’Connor successfully draw her audience to focus primarily on the word ‘a good man’ because it is not only connected to the main title but the surrounding people. When the grandmother describes the Misfit as a good man, she is not trying to convert the Misfit into being a good man, but instead, she is trying to save herself from dying. She even brought up religious to try to connect a good

man and religious together. The grandmother brought up the phrase ‘a good man’ to describe the Misfit is not just a simple scene, but rather it creates a magnificent irony for the rest of the story.
Throughout the story, there have been tons of ironies popping up all over the places, but the uttermost confusing irony has to connect with the word ‘a good man.’ The whole story is ironic due to everything is the opposite of what it should be. One of those ironies is the grandmother definition of ‘a good man.’ An article, "The Price of Distortion", stated how “the author uses verbal irony, manifested in both the grandmother's dialog and that of the Misfit, to show us that the grandmother needs to change her ways, if she is to be granted grace during the last moments of her life” (Brandon). This is ironic for the sake of how she kept on manipulating the Misfit into thinking that he is a good man. What became the result is the death of herself. What makes it even more ironic is the time she tried to manipulate the Misfit by commenting “I just know you're a good man” to describe the Misfit who, as the story progresses, is an absolute psychopath. In another article, “Secular Meaning in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the author stated “Ironically, as in the story from life, she only activates his frustration and rage, which builds to such an intensity that when she leans toward him and claims him as one of her own, he shoots her three times through the chest” (Renner 123). She’s tried firmly to keep herself from getting executed, but all of her excuses leads to the anger of the Misfit. Overall, this whole scene is filled with ironies, exclusively the irony in the word ‘a good man.’
As a result, the stories are filled with ironies and the excessive use of the word ‘a good man’ are being misled. When reading the story, the audiences will immediately introduce to the word ‘a good man’ in the story and simultaneously look for the references to it. The way the grandmother uses the word to describe Red Sammy and the Misfit is a complete contradictory. She used the word to describe Red Sammy unwilling sacrifice as a good deed while she used that same word to describe the Misfit. The word basically lost its meaning in the story. Flannery O'Connor did an amazing job making her audiences focus on the word ‘a good man’ as it is genuinely crucial to the story. Not only the word is part of the title, but it connects to every single element of the story. In conclusion, the word ‘a good man’ is a complex word considering how it’s being used in alternative ways. The grandmother definition of ‘a good man’ has led her to a villain alternately to a good man.