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Literary analysis a good man is hard to find
"a good man is hard to find" essay
"a good man is hard to find" essay
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Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is hard to Find” is about a family on vacation which tragically ends as a result of a murderer and his gang intrusion. Grandmother’s insistence for the family to go to Tennessee rather than Florida prompts the family to divert from the main path as they embark on search for some lost treasure that is false. This risky decision makes the family to be befallen by the Misfit. At the beginning of the story there is a foreshadowing hinting the reader that the family is destined to encounter a Misfit on their trip to Florida (Desmond 130). For instance, “Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it” (O’Connor 45). This a clear forecast of what was envisaged to befall the family towards the end. However, there is an aspect of irony in the story because the Misfit that befalls the family seems to be more of Christian than what the grandmother thought. The author is very religious making me to believe the mentioned “good man” in the story title is actually God. Moreover, the story …show more content…
portrays the grandmother to be a good Christian, but her focus seems to be solely based on appearance (Westarp 132). She also believes that having a great outer shell and wearing nice clothes makes her a better person to some extent. Thus despite the fact that she claimed to be perfect in Christianity, she also did many questionable things such as using racial slurs, manipulating her family members, and lying (Kirk 76). DeShazo 1 O’Connor uses characterization in showing the break down of discipline and respect in the society and this message can be understood from the previous generations to present ones. The grandmother represents the past because of her “Southern Hospitality” heritage. This is illustrated in the following quote, “The old lady settled herself comfortably, removing her white cotton gloves and putting them up with her purse on the shelf in front of the back window.” The grandmother later states that, “In my time...children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else” (O’Connor 46). When the grandmother asks John what he would do if the Misfit confronts him he replies, “I’d smack his face” (46). Towards the end of the story this turns out to be totally untrue. The character of the Misfit is also an indication of humanity breakdown, and the loss of family values in today’s culture. The story also implies that the father of the Misfit had some run-ins and a darker side with the Authorities. This is illustrated in the Misfit’s explanation to the grandmother where he states that, “Daddy was a card himself. You could never put anything over on him. He never got in trouble with the Authorities though. Just had the knack of handling them” (47). O’Connor also uses symbolism in the story to represent faith and death.
Showing that the stray of the family from the main path on their way where they end up been killed, is a symbolism of how people frequently “stray” from God thereby following the wrong path spiritually. “Toombsboro” which is the name of a town referred in the story is a symbol of death. This is due to the fact that grandmother thought that it was in this town that the old plantation was. This made her to be sidetracked, the same case as her faith in Jesus (Westarp, 136). However, it is at the time when she knew that she would die when she began to aggressively preach the Misfit’s gospel. Towards the end of the story, clouds are no more since they had faded away making the sky empty, just the way the faith of grandmother was empty (Asals 76; Kilcourse
43). DeShazo 2 The theme of the story is supported very strongly in the entire story and it is portrayed as outlined in the title of the story, “A Good Man is hard to find.” This theme is supported by the grandchildren; the Misfit and finally Jesus Himself. This implied when the grandmother states, “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose on it. I couldn’t answer my conscious if I did” (O’Connor 48). This makes her to be subjected to a situation of striving to answer her conscious by attempting to convince herself as well as the Misfit that he is a good man. At this point the Misfit admits, “None, I ain’t a good man” (48). This results to the Misfit blaming Jesus for his actions. The Misfit makes an unworthy comparison with Jesus by commenting that the latter “threw everything off balance” making him to be punished for sins that he never commit just like the Misfit himself a comparison which leads to the killing rampage (Kirk, 77; Desmond 130).
Both “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, and “Spunk” are very ironic stories. In O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, a family gets ready to vacation in Florida. The Grandmother is against going to Florida and tells the family about how there is a criminal named the Misfit is loose and is killing innocent people. She convinces the family to go visit a house from her childhood, but she gives them the wrong directions. She is too embarrassed to admit her
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.
The Effective Use of Tone in Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," begins with a. A Southern family preparing to go on what seems to be a typical vacation. The story is humorous at first, because the reader is unaware of how the story will end. The tone changes dramatically from amusing to frightening and plays an important part in making the story effective. The narrator starts the story giving background information about the grandmother and her son, Bailey. The narrator explains that the "grandmother didn't want to go to Florida" (320).
“A Good Man is Hard to Find,” written by Flannery O'Connor tells a story of a dysfunctional family on a roadtrip to Florida to illustrate the theme of self-awareness. The main protagonist in this story is the self-centered Grandmother whose lack of self-awareness is the reason why her family, including herself, are murdered by The Misfit (the Floridian convict). Throughout the story, the Grandmother considers herself as a good woman; however, it is through dialogue that reveals her true self. In reality, she is selfish, manipulative, inconsiderate, and dishonest. No matter how much she attempts to manipulate others into thinking she is full of integrity and a good example to follow, her actions contradict everything she wants people to believe.
...dly evil character, The Misfit, is able to help the grandmother to find grace makes him redeemable as well. Whatever the reason was for Flannery O’Connor to write A Good Man Is Hard To Find, it will forever be one of her best works as well as one of the best and most unusual short stories of all time.
“A Good Man is hard to find,” a short story written by Flannery O’ Connor, is one of the most interesting stories I’ve ever come across to in my life. Born as an only child into a Catholic family, O’ Conner is one of the most “greatest fiction writers and one of the strongest apologists for Roman Catholicism in the twentieth century (New Georgia Encyclopedia).” She was a very strong believer in her faith and she used her stories as a tool to send the reader a message that were most likely ignored and almost never uttered out loud. The story revolves around a grandmother who believes to be high and mighty around others. This results in her downfall later on.
In Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find", setting is used as a way to predict the tragic outcome of the story. The story's end is unexpected when first read, but upon closer inspection one can see several clues and foreshadowing techniques O'Connor used to hint at what would eventually happen, specifically in her use of setting. The outcome of the story is hinted at through the description of the family's scenic drive through Georgia, Red Sammy's, and the deserted road they travel on.
Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard To Find” portrays a very random type of foreshadowing. The radom foreshadowing in this short story is implied with little elements that may seem irrelevant to the reader, but really is a sequence of variables that makeup the fabric of story. Just like the ring, in the movie Lord of The Rings, which may have came across as insignificant but then turns out to be a very ascential object in the movie. O’Conner uses this type of random foreshadowing to convey the plot of the story to the reader. For example, O’Conner’s gives us tidbits of information like the time the family left from Atlanta (8:45) and the mileage of the car at 55890“The grandmother wrote down this down because she thought it would be interesting to say how many miles they had been when they got back”.( O’Conner 448) Or, “ She knew that bailey would not be willing to loose anytime looking at an old house” (O’Conner 451-452). Conversely, these random events are use to hint to the reader the events that ill later unfold. We read where the grandmother and her family stop for lunch at Red Sammy’s and conversed with...
A story without style is like a man without personality: useless and boring. However, Flannery O’Connor incorporates various different styles in her narratives. Dark humor, irony, and symbolism are perhaps the utmost powerful and common styles in her writing. From “Revelation” and “Good Country People” to “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” all of O’Connor’s stories consist of different styles in writing.
O’ Connor forces the reader to wonder which characters are “Good Men”, perhaps by the end of the story she is trying to convey two points: first, that a discerning “Good Man” can be very difficult, second, that a manipulative, self-centered, and hollow character: The Grandmother is a devastating way to be, both for a person individually and for everyone else around them. The reader is at least left wondering if some or all of the clues to the irony I provided apply in some way to the outcome of this story.
Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is about the misfortunes a family experiences while embarking on a vacation, but it goes further to depict the divergence between the superficial conflict in everyday life and the true battles in life threatening situations. O’Connor’s use of tone, syntax, and diction helps to develop the characters and illustrate the struggle of good versus evil, shedding light on the harsh reality of the prevalence and depth of real evil.
They stop at “The Tower” for barbecue when they run into Red Sammy’s Famous Barbecue. The family enters the tower and starts to play some old music and dance and take a load off. The wife of Red Sammy comes out to talk to the family about how cute June is while she is dancing to her tap routine but June is not amused with her flattery. Again the grandmother is ashamed of how un lady like Junes response was. The grandmother also asks Sammy if he has heard of anything about the criminal on the loose, Sammy wife replies "I wouldn 't be a bit surprised if he didn 't attact this place right here," (CITE HERE) Sammy replies with "A good man is hard to find," Red Sammy said. "Every- thing is getting terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more." (CITE HERE) After eating they got back on the road to drive some more. Later on the grandmother woke up by her own snoring in Toombsboro and she recalled a plantation with six white columns along the front and oak wood trees leading up to it. She decided since Bailey would not want to take her there she would lie about there being a secret panel in the house which got the kids excided and eventually bailey gave in and started going down the dirt
In the short story, “The Good Man Is Hard to Find” the grandmother describes a “good man” vaguely. The grandmother pertains the label “good” broadly, putting a shadow over the definition of a “good man” until it loses its meaning completely. She first applies it to Red Sammy after he furiously complains of the universal untrustworthiness of people. Red Sammy states, “Two fellers come in here last week, driving a Chrysler. It was an old beat-up car but it was a good one and these boys looked all right to me. Said they worked at the mill and you know I let them charge the gas they bought? Now why did I do that?” (1,045). The grandmother said he did this because he is “a good man.” She next relates the label “good” to the Misfit. After she identifies him, the grandmother asks, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” (1,049). Even though he hates to admit it, The Misfit says, “I would hate to have to” (1,049). Because being a lady is such a meaningful part of what the grandmother believes as being ethical, the Misfit’s answer confirms to her that he does not share the same moral principles as she does. The grandmother begins to desperately call him a good man and that he comes from ...
The story begun with the grandmother not wanting to go to Florida, but Tennessee where she has some friends to see. She ironically dresses in her Sunday best. She is dressed very nicely with, "A navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet"(382). A strong foreshadowing imagery can be seen in this line. Knowing the ending of the story, the grandmother's elaborate dress symbolizes a preparation for her funeral. When a person die, he or she usually are dressed in their best outfit, just like the grandmother is dressed in what seems to be her Sunday best.
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,