Finding Mercy in A Good Man Is Hard to Find In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," Flannery O'Connor represents her style of writing very accurately. She includes her "themes and methods - comedy, violence, theological concern - and thus makes them quickly and unmistakably available" (Asals 177). In the beginning of the story O'Connor represents the theme of comedy by describing the typical grandmother. Then O'Connor moves on to include the violent aspect by bringing the Misfit into the story. At the end of the story the theme changes to theological concern as the attention is directed towards the grandmother's witnessing. As the themes change throughout the story, the reader's perception of the grandmother also changes. In the beginning of the story the negative characteristics of the grandmother are revealed. She is portrayed as being a very egocentric person. The grandmother is very persistent about getting her way. She appears to be very insensitive of the feelings of the other family members. She consistently tries to persuade the family to go to Tennessee rather than to Florida. Also, she rebelliously took the cat with her on the trip when she knew the others would object. As a result of her selfishness the family had to make a detour to stop and see the house that she insisted upon visiting. Not only is the grandmother portrayed as being selfish, she's also very annoying. She talks from the moment they leave the house all the way until they have the accident. She is constantly talking about the scenery or telling a pointless story. She seemingly has good intentions to break the tension between the family members, but her intentions definitely fail. Instead of breaking the tension, she causes everyone to become agit... ... middle of paper ... ...maybe he will have a conscious this time. In agreement with O'Connor, the reader gains the insight that the story is "'something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida'" (Asals 178). Instead, the story is an account of a woman who shows mercy on a man who is not deserving of her grace. Works Cited Asals, Frederick. "On 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Rpt. in Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. 4th ed. Ed. Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1998. 177-78. O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." 1955. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. 4th ed. Ed. Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1998. 193-203. ---. "On 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Rpt. in Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. 4th ed. Ed. Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1998. 175-76
In her short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor seems to portray a feeling that society as she saw it was drastically changing for the worse. O’Connor obvious displeasure with society at the time the story was written is most likely her religious and conservative upbringing in the “old south.” O’Connor shows her point of view through an old woman named the grandmother. She uses the grandmother to depict Evidence of society’s demise is woven into the story, and presented through an interesting generational gap between the old and the new (the grandmother and her family). O’Connor use of irony throughout the story is a clear representation of the way in which she portrays the events yet to come.
Literary Analysis of “A Good Man is Hard to Find”- Worry about yourself instead of others!!!
In the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, written by Flannery O’Connor, the theme of the mysterious definition of a “good man” is apparent. The true definition of a ‘good man’ is flawed, but one must also realize that it is difficult to universalize simply because every person is entitled to their own opinion. O’Connor conveys this theme through her excellent use of diction, imagery, foreshadowing, and symbolism as well as through a creative use of repetition and an omniscient point of view.
Understanding a story requires understanding the characters and how they feel. Misfit, the character from “ A good man is hard to find,” is a man who had be...
In conclusion, there are many literary elements used throughout “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Persuasion is just one of the literary elements utilized throughout this story. The use of persuasion by Flannery O’Connor adds interest to the plot and influences the way characters are portrayed throughout this story. The use of persuasion and other literary elements is also what makes “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” unique in many
A murderer was in the family’s presence. The grandmother was begging for grace from the misfit in every way possible. The character of the selfish grandmother, in Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” tries to use her manipulative ways to fight the Misfit’s urge to kill her. She is unrelenting in her actions to control those around her. Grandmother portrays a stubborn, devious character who wants what she wants and is going to see that she gets it.
Bloom, H. (1999). Plot Summary of “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Bloom’s Major Short Story
In” A Good Man is Hard to Find” there are many factors that can be the theme. The theme can be about a family as a whole that lacks love for the grandmother, or about a family that goes on a trip that wound up having an accident, which puts them at the wrong place at the wrong time. Both of these themes are obvious to any reader, but it does not quite seem to match this author’s depth style way of writing. In a brief write up on Flannery O’Connor, it says “O’Connor is a moralist, she focuses an uncompromising moral eye on the violence and spiritual disorder of the world.” By knowing this about the author O’Connor we can look deeper into this story and find morals of two characters as the theme. The two characters are the Grandmother and the Misfit. Even though they are both different as night and day, they both have morals and stands by their morals no matter what.
O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2007. 202-212.
Douglas, Ellen. "O'Connor's 'A Good Man is Hard to Find.'" Contemporary Literature Criticism. Eds. Carolyn Riley and Phyllis Carmel Mendelson. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1976. Vol. 6. 381.
Flannery O’Connor is a master of the ironic, the twisted, and the real. Life is filled with tragic irony, and she perfectly orchestrates situations which demonstrate this to the fullest extent. A Good Man is Hard to Find is an excellent example of the mangled viewpoint which makes her work as compelling and striking as it is.
O'Connor, Flannery, "A Good Man is Hard to Find", The Norton Introduction to Literature. Portable Tenth Edition, Booth, Alison, and Mays, Kelly J., New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2011.
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.
O'Connor, Flannery. ""A Good Man Is Hard to Find"" 1953. Literature and Its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. 497-508. Print.
O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." 1955. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. 4th ed. Ed. Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1998.