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The character of the grandmother in "A Good Man Is Hard To Find
A good man is hard to find grandmother character analysis
A good man is hard to find grandmother character analysis
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A Good Man Is Hard to Find
In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the character of the Grandmother is a woman who believes she is a lady of high values and morals. O’Connor depicts the grandmother as a selfish and deceptive hypocrit, who stops at nothing to get her way. The Grandmother demonstrates numerous acts of deception, which shows she has no consideration for any of her family members. The selfishness is so much a part of the Grandmother that she wears the selfishness like a coat is needed in zero degree weather.
Bandy also quoted in the essay, “In our first view of the Grandmother, we witness a chilling demonstration of her selfishness.” It is very obvious the Grandmother is concerned with her gaining and nobody else’s and it appears she finds nothing to wrong with the idea. When the family encounters the Misfit and the Grandmother recognizes him as the Misfit, she quickly asked him, “you wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” She shows no concern about the rest of the family and continues to plead with the Misfit for her life only. The Grandmother exaggerated a lot, for example she told the Misfit, “we turned over twice,” when they actually turned over once. Perhaps, this was another way of deception to gain her empathy from anyone she could.
In Stephen C. Brandy’s essay, “One of My Babies,” he quoted, “the grandmother’s petty acts of deception are, it seems at first glance merely that- petty acts. Profoundly dishonest, she stops at nothing ...
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.
Since the beginning of the story, the readers have come to known the grandmother as a spiteful old lady due to her repulsive and deceitful attitudes toward others. Right from the start, we can see the grandmother using her manipulative tactics on her family. “The grandmother didn't want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey's mind.” (O’Connor 1) This initial quote shows an early indication that the grandmother is determined to obtain whatever she wants and will not allow anything to get in her way, even if it means manipulating her own family. This line already suggests that the grandmother may have sly motives concealed in her mind. “Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is a loose from the Federal Pen a...
The granny and the misfit are two completely opposite characters that possess two different beliefs. The grandmother puts herself on a high pedestal and the way she calls the misfit ‘a good person’ based upon his family background gives the reader an idea of what the grandmother acknowledges to be considered as ‘good’. Self absorbed as sh...
The grandmother is the central character in the story "A good man is hard to find," by Flannery O'Connor. The grandmother is a manipulative, deceitful, and self-serving woman who lives in the past. She doesn't value her life as it is, but glorifies what it was like long ago when she saw life through rose-colored glasses. She is pre-scented by O'Connor as being a prim and proper lady dressed in a suit, hat, and white cotton gloves. This woman will do whatever it takes to get what she wants and she doesn't let anyone else's feelings stand in her way. She tries to justify her demands by convincing herself and her family that her way is not only the best way, but the only way. The grandmother is determined to change her family's vacation destination as she tries to manipulate her son into going to Tennessee instead of Florida. The grandmother says that "she couldn't answer to her conscience if she took the children in a direction where there was a convict on the loose." The children, they tell her "stay at home if you don't want to go." The grandmother then decides that she will have to go along after all, but she is already working on her own agenda. The grandmother is very deceitful, and she manages to sneak the cat in the car with her. She decides that she would like to visit an old plantation and begins her pursuit of convincing Bailey to agree to it. She describes the old house for the children adding mysterious details to pique their curiosity. "There was a secret panel in this house," she states cunningly knowing it is a lie. The grandmother always stretches the truth as much as possible. She not only lies to her family, but to herself as well. The grandmother doesn't live in the present, but in the past. She dresses in a suit to go on vacation. She states, "in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady." She constantly tries to tell everyone what they should or should not do. She informs the children that they do not have good manners and that "children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else." when she was a child.
Although this story is told in the third person, the reader’s eyes are strictly controlled by the meddling, ever-involved grandmother. She is never given a name; she is just a generic grandmother; she could belong to anyone. O’Connor portrays her as simply annoying, a thorn in her son’s side. As the little girl June Star rudely puts it, “She has to go everywhere we go. She wouldn’t stay at home to be queen for a day” (117-118). As June Star demonstrates, the family treats the grandmother with great reproach. Even as she is driving them all crazy with her constant comments and old-fashioned attitude, the reader is made to feel sorry for her. It is this constant stream of confliction that keeps the story boiling, and eventually overflows into the shocking conclusion. Of course the grandmother meant no harm, but who can help but to blame her? O’Connor puts her readers into a fit of rage as “the horrible thought” comes to the grandmother, “that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee” (125).
Elmore Leonard once said “I don’t judge in my books. I don’t have the antagonist get shot or the protagonist win. It’s just how it comes out. I’m just telling a story.” “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, written by Flannery O'Connor, is one of the most interesting stories that we have read in this class. The protagonist in this story is the grandmother and the antagonist is The Misfit. In any other short story, the protagonist and the antagonist would not have much in common, but that is not the case in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”. The three major similarities between the grandmother and The Misfit is that they are both the oldest one in their groups, they are both hypocrites, and they both are missing important spiritual relationships.
Amanda Ripley constructed an article in which she opposes the use of athletics in American schools. She proclaims that America’s schools are placing athletics above academics. This highly controversial article was published on the cover of the Atlantic. Her argument raises opposition
The Stamp Act was an act that was passed by the British Parliament that was to go into effect on November 1st, 1765. This act was created to help pay the costs to govern and protect the American colonies. The Stamp Act required stamps to be placed on all legal and commercial documents and various articles. Many colonists did not want the act to be implemented. For that reason, Samuel Adams put together the Sons of Liberty to help abolish this law. Then the Stamp Act Congress was composed to completely repeal the act. The Stamp Act was one of the many taxes that the British Parliament put on the colonies as a source of wealth. This act made it necessary for colonists to put stamps on almost all written documents and other various articles.
Armond Boudreaux achieves his purpose in his article by switching the perspective of what the grandmother considered to be a good man, and what the
High school athletics leave a major impact on everybody that is involved with them. It also can even leave a mark on people who aren’t associated with them. There are many conflicting opinions on whether high school sports are a positive or negative influence on a student’s life. Athletics in high school can have an effect on the community as a whole. In H.G. Bisssinger’s highly regarded Friday Night Lights, high school football is accurately portrayed as the most important thing in Texas; it receives much more attention than academics. Football players are often treated like celebrities; yielding confidence, and at the same time creating pressure.
"College Athletic Programs Undermine Academics." Student Life. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 27 July 2011.
They may even often immolate the same exact thing they see or hear from an adult. However, O’Connor puts the focus on the grandmother’s bad behavior to highlight her fate at the end of the story. Readers think the grandmother is a good person character because they relate her to their own grandmother. The grandmother puts her hand on the Misfit at the end of the story because she wants to try one also time to beg for her life. When she went on about the Misfit being a good person she was also begging fir help because she knew she was
Initially, the conviction of The Grandmother never was about anyone’s needs but her own. She wants people to think she is Christ-like because she wears a nice Sunday dress. The real character is revealed under crisis. The Grandmother is arrogant, materialistic, and always cares about what other people think about her. As they were on the way to Florida The Grandmother makes an insensitive comment about a black boy with no on pants on the street. She seemed to have a lack of sympathy or curiosity about the situation of this boy. This remark is insensitive and shows the reader the viewpoint of The Grandmother. She is in essence an old lady that is set in her ways. She fails to notice anyone’s view point but her own. It isn’t until the very end of the story where even The Misfit notices the change in The Grandmother, which is why he states that she would have been a better woman if someone was there to pull the trigger, her whole life. The Grandmother has never shown compassion about anyone, other than herself. There is also a deeper meaning to what he means; he tries to illustrate that people are not tested until they meet that ...
One trait that the grandmother possesses is the ability to manipulate the other characters indirectly. For example, the grandmother tries to convince the father into going to Tennessee rather Florida by telling him about a loose criminal. “‘I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did” (1). The grandmother is attempting to play on the father’s parental concern and change his mind about where the family goes on vacation. She does not actually care about The Misfit being loose, the grandmother just wants to satisfy her demands. If the family had been going to Tennessee and The Misfit was loose in Tennessee, the grandmother most likely would have not said anything because she would be getting exactly what she wanted. Later on, the grandmother tricks the family into visiting an old house by telling the children about a hidden panel in the walls of the house. “‘There was a secret panel in this house,’ she said craftily, not
In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the author uses the character of the grandmother to show the dangers of self-centeredness. Although the grandmother lacks self-awareness, she still describes herself as a good woman, a lady. The grandmother is an old, southern, Caucasian woman; her way of speaking and how she dresses are indications that she considers herself a lady. Throughout the story, the grandmother’s selfishness, judgmental actions, dishonesty, and forgetfulness put the family in danger. It is the grandmother’s lack of self-awareness about these characteristics that leads to the death of her family.