Flannery O'Connor's “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a story filled with contradictions, conflicts, and hypocrisy, demonstrated during the resolution: “‘She would have been a good woman.' The Misfit said, 'if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” made by the antagonist of the story (O'Connor 1186). In addition, throughout the story there is a parallel pattern formed between conflict and hypocrisy since one could not happen without the other. Therefore, the development of this pattern in the story becomes the central theme and the character’s flaws that helps lead the family to their swift, but untimely end. However, at the end of the story the fatal dispute that occurs between the Misfit and the grandmother because …show more content…
of the hypocrisy embedded in the characters, results in the break of the parallelism shared between conflict and hypocrisy, since the grandmother has her revelation of what it truly means to be a good person. Throughout the story each character displays instances of casuistry or two-faced qualities either through their personality or actions, which leads to their pronounced encounter where the family meets a swift end at the hands of the Misfit and his goons.
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” begins, “The grandmother didn't want to go to Florida” immediately creating a discord of interests between the grandmother and the rest of the family (1174). This initial conflict introduced by the narrator leads to the primary display of hypocrisy in the story because the grandmother begins to try manipulating the other family members with the use guilty conscious “I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that a loose in it” (1175). Through this quote, the reader …show more content…
can infer the grandmother is trying to give the illusion of having the entire family's best interest in mind; however, she is only genuinely concerned with going back to Tennessee to visit some of her past connections. In addition, characters in the family also display forms of bigotry through their descriptions such as the father clothing and his ill-tempered attitude “Bailey didn’t look up from his reading” ignoring his mother while she is talking to him (1175). This directly conflicts with his bright-parrot shirt, which in turn creates a paradoxical situation between the character himself with a light or dark metaphor, the mother and her lack of authority, or the character directly conflicting with her status in the family. The mother’s lack of personality is demonstrated when “she wheeled around then and faced the children's mother” because the mother is not even addressed by her name immediately establishing her lowly position in the family (1175). These initial instances of the underlying theme immediately lead the reader to make an inference on the direction of the story, in which the family hypocrisy will somehow cause them significant trouble. The portrait created of the family also conveys the image of a typical, perfect, and southern family; however, the family is far from perfect and represents the grandmother's grotesque perception of the South.
During the story the grandmother constantly mentions how life in the past was better “‘children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and every-thing else. People did right then. Oh, look at the cute little pickaninny!’” (1176). However, this statement immediately serves as a contradiction because the grandmother is referencing the southern past when African-Americans were owned as slaves, which promptly exhibits how misconstrued and specious the grandmother's moral compass or sense of righteousness was because “pickaninny” is a discriminatory term used to describe young African- American slaves. In addition, the child's complete disrespect and lack of sympathy for the grandmother helps to destroy the illusion of their perfect southern family displayed by “She wouldn't stay home to be queen for a day” because of their over the top rudeness in their regards to their elders (1175). The narration of the story also leaves clues, foreshadowing the death of the family with “I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he didn't attack this place right here” because of the constant allusions of an encounter with the Misfit (1178). Nonetheless, each interaction between the characters also created an overall mood, suggesting a feeling of foreboding in the story to
guide the readers to the inference that the family would have a run-in with the Misfit before their trip was over. However, even though the characters helped to create this parallelism throughout “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, it is ultimately disrupted at the climax of the story when the grandmother is conversing with the Misfit. When “His [Misfit] voiced seemed to crack and the grandmother's head cleared for an instant. She saw the man's face twisted close to her own,” she comes to the realization that her and the Misfit were on the same level as individuals. In addition, she also realizes she is no better than the Misfit although she had always placed herself upon a pedestal, in which she would look down on other individuals, casting her judgment as though she was God himself (1185). The grandmother's final epiphany “Why you’re one of my own babies. You’re one of my own children!” provided her with a moment to humble herself for maybe the first time in her life because it is as if she almost is touched by the presence of God allowing her to see him with only grace and love (1185). She realized her outlook and judgment in life is misinterpreted due to this divine encounter and could not place herself in a higher position than the man standing before her ready to kill her. In addition, during this confrontation the Misfit also had a revelation “It’s no real pleasure in life” because each person is only here for a temporary moment in comparison to the grand scheme of life and has no true significance (1186). Through this commentary, the reader can characterize The Misfit by comprehending his actions and experiences in life. He could not remember the reasons for doing certain crimes or what the crimes he committed were since “they never shown me [Misfit] my papers” showing how he did not have a purpose in the crimes he committed so they held no true relevance to him (1185). Without the final revelations by both the grandmother and the Misfit during their confrontation, the theme behind the story of why a good man is hard to find would have been lost, and the parallelism between hypocrisy and contradictions within the plot would have continued in the family. The story is constructed on this parallelism with unforeseen consequences that ultimately is resolved by the run-in with the Misfit, who is the first individual to identify the prevailing flaw in the grandmother, which was her habit of unknowingly judging others. In addition, the grandmother is the chief reason for the murder of her entire family due to her selfish mentality throughout the story. However, the parallelism between the misconstrued mindset and disharmony of ideas was broken because of the one man with no regard for pleasure: The Misfit. Unfortunately, the grandmother was never able to readjust her life because the parallelism was only broken through her death. Flannery O'Connor's “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a representation of each individual's understanding of the word “good”, and how it aligns with their personal desires, therefore making a “good man” very difficult to find indeed.
While reading Flannery O’Connor “A Good Man is Hard to Find” we read that a family of five are on a roadtrip to Florida where they go every year. We have The Grandmother who derailed her family from the actual road to see a house she thought was in those parts of town. When all of a sudden her helpers are the murders she is afraid of. The murder “The Misfit” kills off the rest of her family and leaves her to dwell in her sorrow that she will be next. The Grandmother tries to maneuver her way out of dying by sweet talking The Misfit into thinking she can love him as her own child and that he doesn’t have to kill anymore. When she tries to reach for him he moved back and shot her. The Grandmother didn’t want him to be violent anymore and thought
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.
Lessons are learned through mistakes and experiences, but to completely understand the lesson, a person must be smart enough to profit from their errors and be strong enough to correct them. However, this was not the case for the main character in the short story; A Good Man is Hard to Find written by Flannery O’Connor. In this tale of manipulation and deception, O’Connor depicts the main character, the grandmother, as a shrewd self-centered woman, who considers herself morally superior than the other individuals. Throughout the entire story, she is seen using her manipulative tactics on everyone, which brought her to a sinister ending. O’Connor expertly portrayed the grandmother as a character that did not correct her negative characteristics throughout the story. To prove this statement, the use of time will be applied to help focus on the main idea of the grandmother not changing her deleterious ways throughout this story.
Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find is one of the most well-known short stories in American history. A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a disturbing short story that exemplifies grace in extremity as well as the threat of an intruder. The story tells of an elderly grandmother and her family who embark on a road trip to Florida. The grandmother is a stubborn old woman with a low sense of morality. While on the trip, the grandmother convinces her son to take a detour which results in a broken down car and an encounter with a convicted fugitive, The Misfit. Although the grandmother pleads for mercy, The Misfit kills off the rest of her family. Through the grace she finds in her extreme circumstance, the grandmother calls The Misfit her own and implores him to spare her life. The Misfit does not oblige her and states after her death, “She would have been a good woman if it had been someone to shoot her every day of her life.” Through Flannery O’Connor’s disturbing and shocking display of the grandmother’s demise, she gives the reader a sense of the threatening power of an intruder and the idea of extreme situations bringing about a state of grace. The reason for such a powerful work may have resulted from Flannery O’Connor’s religious upbringing as well as the state of the nation at the time.
“A Good man is hard to find,” is about a family who decide to go on a trip to Florida. The story revolves around a self absorbed grandmother who loves to talk about how everything used to be back in her day and takes the time to dress herself so that “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (358).” She sneaks the family cat with her despite her son’s disapproval of bringing the creature along violating her boundaries to how a lady would act. The family encounters an accident along the way and happens to come across ‘The Misfit,’ a runaway criminal. Using ‘The Misfit’ as a tool, O’ Connor sends a message to her readers of how hypocritical a person can be when it comes to belief.
Flannery O’Connor's perception of human nature is imprinted throughout her various works. This view is especially evident in the short stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” She conveys a timeless message through the scope of two ignorant, southern, upper class women. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O’Connor presents readers to a family who is going on a road trip with their selfish grandmother. She is a religious woman who does not follow the set standards that she preaches. Similar characteristics are exposed in “Revelation.” As the self centered Mrs. Turpin sits in the waiting room, she contemplates on her own status with God. Nevertheless, she still commits the sin of judging others. In both of O’Connor’s short stories, these controversial protagonists initially put up a facade in order to alienate themselves from their prospective societies. Although the grandmother and Mrs. Turpin both believe in God, O’Connor utilizes theme to expose that they also convince themselves that they can take on His role by placing judgement on people who, at the most fundamental level, are in the same category as them.
in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" Flannery O' Connor uses symbolism to give more meaning to her short story. O'Connor writes a story of a Grandmother versus a Misfit, or good versus evil. This short story is about a family going to Florida, who takes a turn down a dirt road, which only causes them to get in an accident, and be found by the Misfit. This encounter prevented them from ever arriving Florida, because the Misfit ends their lives. Using symbolism, O'Connor creates a story with much meaning to the Grandmother, nature, sky, woods, their surroundings, roads, and cars to portray the constant battle between good and evil.
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.
"A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor is a short story that depicts a family's vacation to Florida that turned into an abysmal tragedy when they met with the Misfit, a convict who escaped from prison. This story is meant to be interpreted as a parable, whereby O'Connor made skilful use of symbolism to bring about messages such as the class-consciousness and the lack of spiritual faith that exist amongst human.
In her well-known short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor skillfully describes the difficulty of finding a morally upright human being, whether it is a man or a woman. No one is perfect, everyone has inadequacies and shortcomings, and she presents this cleverly in her story. She is able to support this view of mankind through her characters. They are self-centered, egotistical human beings who can be judged by their words and actions. This is especially true of the protagonist (the grandmother) and the antagonist (the Misfit). The grandmother tries to portray herself as a virtuous woman, but in the end O’Connor shows that her actions are always self-serving and that morally, she is not that different from the Misfit.
The following day the family heads off to Florida. Another major point of irony happens as the story revolves around the grandmothers traditional southern values of respect for other people; especially elders, respect for your home and country. At the same moment as the grandmother is lecturing her grand kids about respecting their home state she sees a young Negro boy and says: “Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!” (Pg 208). Her hypocrisy becomes evident as she wants the family to do what she says not what she does.
In Flannery O’Conner’s, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the story begins with the family going on a road trip to Florida. The Grandmother who is very critical, selfish, judgmental, forgetful, and dishonest and almost enjoys manipulating others to get her way. The Grandmother holds herself in very high regard and
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.
In" A Good Man is Hard to Find" there are a variety of themes. The themes in this short story are: the grace of the grandmother and The Misfit, the vague definition of a “good man”, and the class of the grandmother. All of these themes are apparent to any reader, but it does not quite seem to match O’Connor’s depth style way of writing. The two characters, the Grandmother and the Misfit change from beginning to end. Even though they are both different as night and day, they both have principles and stand by their principles no matter what the circumstance.
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” the readers are lead to believe that the Grandmother is a good Southern woman who lives her life by God’s grace, and the Misfit is a horrendous, murderous, mad man that believes in nothing. Although these first impressions seem spot on at a first glance, the actual characteristics and traits of these characters are far more complex. The Grandmother and Misfit have a very intriguing conversation before he murders her, but in the short time before her death, the readers see the grandmothers need for redemption and how the murderous Misfit gave her the redemption she so desperately needed,