Changing Minds

The title of this interesting short story is called “A Good Man is Hard To Find” by Flannel O'Connor. This is a story about a family and their grandmother that go on a vacation to Florida. A misfit breaks free from prison and is heading for Florida. The family crashes and is encountered by this man and changes dramatically when this non-normal moment occurs. It shows who they really are in a time of conflict. By scrutinizing the words and actions of various characters prior to and during conflict, we can get some sense of his or her true nature. The following essay is an examination of the Grandmother, June Star, and John Wesley.

The grandma experiences conflict and no conflict, she acts differently in these situations. She is a weird character because she doesn't have a name, just grandma. The grandma goes everywhere when the family goes on trips. From the beginning she doesn't want to go to Florida, but the rest of the family does. She stretches the truth a lot about things that don’t need to be stretched. She is reading the newspaper and found an article about a guy they call the misfit escape from jail. She says “I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that on the loose”(1) this shows that she is afraid or scared of this man. The next morning grandma was the first person ready in the car, which is weird because she didn't want to go there in the first place. She takes her cat and Bailey (the father) doesn't want the cat to come but he doesn't know, I believe she did this on purpose. She starts to talk about a house that she remembers as a child. She convinces the kids to see it and Bailey. She convinces Bailey to go because she said that “It would be educational for the kids”(53). ...

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...to become rude by kicking the back of his father’s seat. This is his tactic to get what he wants. After the crash John starts asking questions like “What you got that gun for?”(78) and “What you gonna do with that gun?”(78) which doesn't help his situation. John Wesley becomes this questioning kid that doesn't care what the situation is he just wants to get answers.

This quote “So it more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off” relates to “A Good Man is Hard To Find” for a number of reasons. One is the grandma comes out and changes who she is when the man shows up. She becomes a new person when something serious happens. It shows everyone's true colors when they are in certain situations such as this one.