It is a well-known stereotype that “nice guys finish last.” I use the term “stereotype” loosely, because, at times, it can feel like a universal law of nature. Most of us know how it goes. Two guys, one nice; the other not, both vie for the attentions of the same girl. The nice guy is ever sympathetic, expressive, and kind, but for all his efforts, the other guy, effortlessly employing an uncanny maneuver called “Being a Jack-Ass,” gets the girl. Thus, in the most paradoxical of paradoxes, it is in being almost exactly what women claim to want that many respectable young men fail miserably. And it is miserable. There is no greater injustice or frustration than that which spawns from watching someone you care about: someone who is worth the world and more to you walk away with someone who, as often as not, couldn’t care less. I can think of no more appropriate context for the expression “like casting pearls before swine.”
Now, I will grant that not every male on the planet is a misogynistic asshole. A lot of guys are by default perceived that way because of the before mentioned theft of affections. However, if he proves himself respectable and honorable, I should think that an honest nice guy would eventually come to terms with the fact that girl-in-question could have done a lot worse. On the one hand, it is tragic that she’s with another man, but on the other, there’s a certain righteousness in the first man’s sacrifice. We’ve all seen Casablanca, (or, if you haven’t, you may be exactly the other kind of guy I mentioned). Other examples include A Tale of Two Cities, and The Phantom of the Opera. In each, the one man relinquishes the woman he loves that she might be happy in a life with another, and possibly a better, man. And ...
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...ppreciative of the nice guy. Of course, only in the rarest of circumstances is any path easy, and each requires it’s own type of strength and persistence, but I have faith in the nice guy and not just because cinema has conditioned me so. I deem faith in the nice guy to be a sort of faith in humanity, and personally, I have to believe that regardless of whatever else happens, something better will turn out for those that are good or even just nice.
And so it is that I tip my hat and raise my glass to that unfortunate brotherhood. To him that goes without to make others happier. To him that watches lesser men succeed where he cannot. To him that waits for others to discover what he already knows. To him that, rejection after rejection, carries on with determination.
To all of the Nice Guys that finish,
but most importantly,
To the Nice Guys that finish last.
The concept of being a “good” person has painted the picture of how people have handled their lives throughout history. On the same note, this concept has also been the subject of much debate; such is the case in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. The protagonist, the unnamed grandmother struggles to find the “good” in others and herself. O’Conner uses foreshadowing, characterization, and a distinct point of view to make her point. In my interpretation, her point is that only through conflict and turmoil can good truly be found.
There are plenty of on this earth who are egocentric. They feel that as if every decision they make is important and feel as if they are more important than everyone else. Flannery O 'Connor explores this type of mindset in her short story A Good Man is Hard to Find. The story focuses on a family of six who are going on a trip from Georgia to Tennessee after the Grandmother reads an article about a serial killer heading to Florida.
A human being is a complicated entity of a contradictory nature where creative and destructive, virtuous and vicious are interwoven. Each of us has gone through various kinds of struggle at least once in a lifetime ranging from everyday discrepancies to worldwide catastrophes. There are always different causes and reasons that trigger these struggles, however, there is common ground for them as well: people are different, even though it is a truism no one seems to able to realize this statement from beyond the bounds of one’s self and reach out to approach the Other.
It's very sad to think that a woman and a man could have ever thought this way. However, it's even sadder to think that some still do. Women everywhere suffer abuse, mental or otherwise, at the hands or their (pri)mates every day. They must find the strength in themselves and the confidence to know that THEY are the ones who determine their own fate…and to realize that no one has the right to put them down. Our foremothers worked hard to make sure that we had choices-- not obligations. And when we let someone else take those choices from us, they are really taking our freedom, and our life.
O’Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” The Story and Its Writer. Charters, Ann. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/ST. Martin's, 2011. 676-687. Print.
Generally speaking, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a story that accomplishes a picture of what humans are capable of doing to obtain what they want and their hypocritical actions in society that help them get through with it. At last, the old lady seemed to have an epiphany and realized that she was at her most vulnerable moment ever. She died knowing that all she ever cared for was what leaded her to her death. On the contrary, Misfit’s outcome in the story displays the prevalence of evil in this world.
...ch somehow we all bear complicity, and with both joy and trouble intensifed by love, linking us to others who share in the human condition.
O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. By Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.
“There Are No Good Men to Find”, makes the perspective of an “A Good Man is Hard to Find” very different view. By comparing what author: Armond Boudreaux stated in his article about how we felt pity for the grandmother, when all along we knew she was not a good human being; makes me question my judgment while digesting many reads now. Doing a reverse perspective helped both authors bring their stories
“…in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart” –Anne Frank (Frank 237). Frank, a young Jewish girl who, among many, suffered terribly during the Holocaust still believed in the good in people. She believed, after being forced to hide in an attic and being taken to a concentration camp (where she would eventually die), that people are really good at heart; but what does it take to be good? The short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor confronts us with what it means to be “good” through the use of the characters, plot, setting, and theme.
In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Conner follows a family on their way to Florida. This family gets into some trouble along the way because of the grandmother and her big mouth. The focus of the narrative is on the grandmother and her not so typical lady ways. She is an older southern woman who thinks she is a lady based of what she wears and her way of speaking. Throughout the story, the grandmother acts selfishly, is judgmental and dishonest which put the family in danger. It is the grandmother’s lack of self-awareness about these characteristics that leads to the death of her family.
Literary Analysis of “A Good Man is Hard to Find”- Worry about yourself instead of others!!!
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 ...
Many males like to compare doing things wrong or not well is, “like a girl.” When someone throws a baseball badly, for example, males would say the person was throwing like a girl. This is used as an insult to make the person feel weak and bad at what they are doing. In another case when women are looked down upon is when they get over emotional in some cases. In many occasions crying or getting emotional about something is considered to be girly. Only females cry, in Hamlet, there is a scene where Hamlet cries and says that it is “girly” and he needs to suck it up. This is because girls are looked at as weaker and more emotional than males are. For a final point, men also seem to see women as objects instead of people. Females are often called inappropriate names for multiple reasons some that shouldn’t even exist. If a female even turns a man down, like Ophelia did to Hamlet, they think they have the right to call that girl names. These names make the female feel insecure and bad about herself for trying to stick up for herself. When females try to change the way that men preserve them, they are doing the “wrong thing.” This idea of the fairer sex expands further than in Hamlet by William Shakespeare or other forms of
When we sacrifice our time to help someone in need, whether it is a great or small need, we become a part of their life and can help alleviate heavy burdens. We feel good for looking outside ourselves and contributin...