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The irony in a good man is hard to find
The irony in a good man is hard to find
Critical analysis of "a good man is hard to find
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Too often in the short stories I’ve read the author sets up everything to look as if it will all turn out alright, but as the story progresses further and further a feeling of distrust settles in my stomach and the realization that there is something more going on bites me. This is a plot device often used in short stories and mainly the Southern Gothic. A prime example of this type of literature would be “A Good Man is Hard to Find” written by Flannery O’Connor. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” follows a grandmother as she convinces her family to take their vacation in Tennessee rather than Florida where the recently escaped convict ‘The Misfit’ is headed. The family goes along with it and drive until the grandmother convinces her family to take …show more content…
The grandmother pleads with him and says that she knows he is a good man and wouldn’t harm a lady. The Misfit disagrees and even says “I can't make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment. (O'Connor, F. 1988) There is some irony in that the grandmother spends the whole story speaking about what a lady she is and how a good man is hard to find, yet throughout the story she continues to display characteristics such as hypocrisy, dishonesty, and selfishness. We can see said qualities in actions such as her lack of sympathy as her family is slaughtered around her. (SparkNotes Editors, 2007) The Misfit, on the other hand, is more sensible with his lot in life. O’Connor’s story is good for this. It makes you question your own beliefs and if you’re a radical like grandma, or a radical like the Misfit. I call both of them radicals because they are in their own way. While the grandmother’s view of life was a little more idea, she didn’t quite live the idea herself and it ultimately led to her downfall. The Misfit is a radical in the sense that his ideas and beliefs are morally wrong, but he is just in his ways and it gives him
The Misfit is a complex character created by Flannery O’Connor. He is talked about first when the Grandmother reads his criminal background at the breakfast table. Right when the Misfit meets the family the Grandmother starts questioning his faith and past, and through the Grandmother’s persistent behavior that you find out the truth behind the Misfits hard exterior. The reader understands that the Misfit was brought up by parents who were the “finest people in the world” (O’Connor 1312). With this type of background, how can one expect the Misfit to be such a cold blooded killer? Because of his kind nature in the beginning of the story, it’s almost impossible to understand how he could just kill. Through deeper analysis one can characterize the Misfit with a heart of gold, but the mind of a villain. This characterization is true because somewhere along the line he was wrongly accused of murdering his father and was brutally punished and he was mistreated by the justice system. The Misfit knows he was innocent and neither Jesus nor the justice system could rid him of the punish he received. It’s not because he is an evil person, he says himself “I never was a bad boy that I remember of… but somewhere along the line I done something wrong and got sent to the penitentiary. I was buried alive” (1314). The Misfit states he was never the worst person, but he also says himself that he was never good either, so the reason behind the Misfit’s homicidal condition is not because he is an evil person but due to his distrust in Jesus Christ and the justice system.
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
“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.
The grandmother character in A Good Man is Hard to Find is the Christian icon of the story, while the Misfit represents all that is evil. True to her southern roots, ...
Misfit clearly understood the difference between good and bad unlike the grandmother but there philosophical positions, his by determination and hers by accident are not so far apart. Hence the statement “Why you are one of my babies” (135) indeed he is one of her babies for her lack of values is his lack as well. These two faces are so close like a mirror images. The Misfit can be said to be completely evolved from the
Flannery O’Connors’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” is filled with irony. Verbal, dramatic, and cosmic, without irony of these kinds, this short story would not be as powerful as it is. O’Connor’s use of several different kinds of irony helps in communicating a strong message about humans and human condition and to successfully engage her readers.
Manipulation has been her go to tool for her entire life. She lies and tells The Misfit “I know you're a good man. You don't look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people!” Though she doesn’t believe a word of this. Then the Grandmother’s family is taken into the woods and shot. Hysteria has taken over her and she pleads for her own life. She doesn’t beg for her family. She tries to manipulate The Misfit. “’Listen,’ she said, ‘you shouldn't call yourself the Misfit because I know you're a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell.’” The Misfit, unlike the Grandmother knows exactly who he is. He is a bad man. He embraces this life and accepts who he is. He tells the Grandmother ”I ain't a good man… but I ain't the worst in the world neither.” The Misfit has lost all his humanity and compassion. He realizes this about
In several different scenarios, the grandmother is shown as manipulative, snobbish, and slightly senile and judges based on appearance. For example, when the family meets Red Sam at the gas station, he mentions his tendency to allow complete strangers to charge gas, and he is curious why he would allow strangers like the grandmother to do so, and the grandmother replies, "Because you're a good man" (427). The grandmother makes this determination with a very small amount of knowledge of who Red Sam is, and without any information or significant insight about him as a person. Additionally, after the accident happens and the misfit makes his first appearance, the grandmother immediately notices his ability to put the family at ease with genuine kindness. This evaluation by the grandmother motivates her to compliment the dangerous criminal, and she even goes as far to call him a good man. While it is likely she is just attempting to earn approval with the misfit, it is still another example of the grandmother making shallow generalizations based on outward appearances and behavior without knowing the person. Furthermore, irony is strategically placed in the story when the grandmother encounters the misfit and calls out to him that he was her baby, indicating that she saw herself mirrored in the demeanor of the misfit. Consequently, the misfit mentions that she would have been a good woman, “If there had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life”
“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.
The grandmother has never truly understood what being saved means. She is also ignorant to what salvation is. The Misfit is missing the ability to empathize and bind with other people. He does not hold respect for human life. In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, it says “She would of been a good woman, The Misfit said, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (430). In “‘One of My Babies’: The misfit and the grandmother”, written by Stephen C. Bandy, it says “The Misfit has already directed the execution of the Grandmother’s entire family, and it must be obvious to all including reader and the Grandmother, that she is next to die” (108). These example justifies that The Misfit does not have any regard for human life. The only people that he has are the two goons that help him murder people. The grandmother sees that The Misfit has never had anyone to take care of him. At the end of this story she tries reach out to him on a spiritual level, but he shoots her three times in the chest as soon as she touches
At the beginning of the story we are led to believe that the grandmother is morally superior to the other characters in the story, especially The Misfit. Who we are led to believe is an evil criminal, but in fact the rolls are reversed. The Grandmother sits lower on the moral ladder than The Misfit. She looks judgmentally on other people but never turns that look toward herself. She believes this until the end of the story right before she is killed. Even though The Misfit commits horrendous crimes, he still admits that he is not a good man.
The grandmother says “I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people,” showing how she is trying to find a shred of hope in a murderer. O’Connor’s use of southern diction and religious banter develop the grandmother away from superficiality and towards genuineness. The grandmother says “’Listen,’…’you shouldn’t call yourself The Misfit because I know you’re a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell.’” The Misfit replies “I pre-chate that, lady,’” by using the phonetic spelling instead of proper diction O’Connor is showing that the grandmother believes he is a fellow southerner. The grandmother is talking to The Misfit about salvation and she has an epiphany, O’Connor writes “His voice seemed to crack and the grandmother’s head cleared for an instant. She saw the man’s face twisted close to her own as if he were going to cry and she murmured, ‘Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!’” After discussing religion and seeing his perspective the grandmother finally feels real sympathy for The Misfit; up until that point the grandmother had been trying to compliment and talk her way out of being killed along with the rest of her family. Unfortunately this is also when the struggle between good and evil ends with the grandmother being killed, “The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest.” The Misfit then says “‘She would of been a good woman’ … ‘if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.’” He realized that her gesture at that moment was out of pure kindness and
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.
Irony in a Good Man is Hard to Find Flannery O’ Connor’s story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the tale of a vacation gone wrong. The tone of this story is set to be one irony. The story is filled with grotesque but meaningful irony. In this analysis I will guide you through the clues provided by the author, which in the end climax to the following lesson: “A Good Man” is not shown good by outward appearance, language, thinking, but by a life full of “good” actions. The story begins with the grandmother trying to persuade the family not to travel towards Florida but perhaps go to Tennessee instead.
The Misfit is the complete opposite of a typical hero, or “Good Man”, but he is honest, he is true to himself, and he knows that he is not good. When the Grandmother and the Misfit are talking, the Misfit is very mannerly towards the family he even apologizes towards the family: “I’m sorry I don’t have on a shirt before you ladies” (Ochshorn). The Misfit never lies about who he really is. He knows that he is not a good man, and he does not try to be something he is unable to be. The Grandmother is the complete opposite, she truly believes that she is good and lies to herself and everyone around her so she will be accepted. The Grandmother says to the Misfit, “I just know you’re a good man. You’re not a bit common” (O’Connor), to which he replies, “Nome, I ain’t a good man, but I ain’t the worst neither” (O’Connor). It is refreshing to see someone admit and know that they are not good, and that they will never be