The Grandmother in Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find 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. Although this story is told in the third person, the reader’s eyes are strictly controlled by the meddling, ever-involved grandmother. She is never given a name; she is just a generic grandmother; she could belong to anyone. O’Connor portrays her as simply annoying, a thorn in her son’s side. As the little girl June Star rudely puts it, “She has to go everywhere we go. She wouldn’t stay at home to be queen for a day” (117-118). As June Star demonstrates, the family treats the grandmother with great reproach. Even as she is driving them all crazy with her constant comments and old-fashioned attitude, the reader is made to feel sorry for her. It is this constant stream of confliction that keeps the story boiling, and eventually overflows into the shocking conclusion. Of course the grandmother meant no harm, but who can help but to blame her? O’Connor puts her readers into a fit of rage as “the horrible thought” comes to the grandmother, “that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee” (125). O’Connor uses many symbols to warn the reader of the impending doom that is about to befall the unknowing travelers. The grandmother is, of course, worried about The Misfit, and, not surprisingly, the family brushes off her concern. Here again is another conflict. If the grandmother can be blamed for the accident, can the family then be blamed for taking the trip in the first place? The grandmother warned them didn’t she? This may sound foolish, but it does follow the same logic. The grandmother also foreshadows the horrible events to come with her choice of attire to ride in the car. The “purple spray of cloth violets” (118) that she had placed on her blouse were to serve a purpose.
One of the climaxes of A Separate Peace happens at the first scene of violence. Until this scene, the reader is unaware of Gene’s “evil side”. He is so overtaken by his jealousy and rage toward Phineas that he succumbs to his emotions and causes Finny to fall off of the tree branch. This shows the immature, childish side of the characters. Not only are they climbing trees, which is a behavior commonly practiced among children, but children also do not know how to handle feelings and emotions, and commonly react with violence. Gene then proceeds to dive off of the branch like nothing happened, apparently satisfied with his “achievement”; showing the reader that, like a child, there is little or no remorse for one’s actions.
He suggests flogging, but he gives no evidence as to why flogging would be more effective. Since Jacoby does not consider any other alternatives to prison such as community service, loss of privileges, or in extreme cases, exile, his argument that flogging is the best alternative is unconvincing to the reader. Also, he fails to define flogging or give proof that physical punishment would lower the high crime rate in the United States. Thus, while his article raises compelling concerns about the American prison system, Jeff Jacoby fails to persuade his audience that flogging is the best alternative to
The grandmother is the central character in the story "A good man is hard to find," by Flannery O'Connor. The grandmother is a manipulative, deceitful, and self-serving woman who lives in the past. She doesn't value her life as it is, but glorifies what it was like long ago when she saw life through rose-colored glasses. She is pre-scented by O'Connor as being a prim and proper lady dressed in a suit, hat, and white cotton gloves. This woman will do whatever it takes to get what she wants and she doesn't let anyone else's feelings stand in her way. She tries to justify her demands by convincing herself and her family that her way is not only the best way, but the only way. The grandmother is determined to change her family's vacation destination as she tries to manipulate her son into going to Tennessee instead of Florida. The grandmother says that "she couldn't answer to her conscience if she took the children in a direction where there was a convict on the loose." The children, they tell her "stay at home if you don't want to go." The grandmother then decides that she will have to go along after all, but she is already working on her own agenda. The grandmother is very deceitful, and she manages to sneak the cat in the car with her. She decides that she would like to visit an old plantation and begins her pursuit of convincing Bailey to agree to it. She describes the old house for the children adding mysterious details to pique their curiosity. "There was a secret panel in this house," she states cunningly knowing it is a lie. The grandmother always stretches the truth as much as possible. She not only lies to her family, but to herself as well. The grandmother doesn't live in the present, but in the past. She dresses in a suit to go on vacation. She states, "in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady." She constantly tries to tell everyone what they should or should not do. She informs the children that they do not have good manners and that "children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else." when she was a child.
If one were to do an analysis on the character Harriet Wheelwright, they would see that her character changes throughout the novel. In the beginning, the readers see Harriet as a snobbish character, one that flaunts her family heritage in everyone’s face. This is seen when Johnny explains what his family heritage is:
As the book begins, Gene is unsettled by Phineas and somewhat mystified by him. Like a legend from a western tale. As the book moves on and Finny starts to change Gene’s life, Gene appears to become very insecure and afraid of what will happen next. On page 11 it says “ ’We’d better hurry or we’ll be late for dinner,’ I said, breaking into what Finny called my ‘West Point stride’.” Which signifies the insecurity phase of Gene’s life. He was a stickler to the rules, didn’t want to be late. He was always concerned with what was right, and proper. But Phineas changes all that in him, and rather quickly too. When Finny decides to skip dinner and wrestle instead, Gene becomes confused, but goes along with his every word, and action.
Gene Forrester and Phineas formed an illusion of a great companionship, which was sincere when they jumped from the “forbidden” tree. “We were the best of friends at that moment,” said Forrester when he remembered the instant (Knowles 10). Forrester “looked deeper” into his relationship with Phineas and became jealous of his talents, “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying that a little, which was perfectly normal” (18). A “silent rivalry” was developed between Forrester and in his mind Phineas. Forrester attempted to become “better” than Phineas by studying more and maintaining a highe...
...couldn’t see anyone as his enemy. Even Gene had his own enemy to kill, “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone (Knowles 196).”
O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." Literature for Composition: Reading and Writing Arguments about Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. By Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, and William E. Cain. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2007. 404-414. Print.
...e likely to reproduce. He also states that the ability to change to the environment also make it vital to survival. The tulip in regard to its complexity has changed to fit desire.
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.
In the novel, Gene fights a competitive war through ignorance and his mind’s creation, changing his endeavors and goals. Gene narrates this notion of mutual competition with Finny as when he is “more and more certainly becoming the best student in the school; Phineas was without question the best athlete, so in that way we were even. But while he was a very poor student I was a pretty good athlete, and when everything was thrown into the scales they would in the end tilt definitely toward me. The new attacks of studying were his emergency measures to save himself. I redoubled my effort” (Knowles 55). Here G...
When Gene comes to terms with the accident causing Finny’s injury and leading to his death, Gene finds his separate peace. As Gene walks around the Devon School, fifteen years after being a student, he says, “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (204). Here Gene’s recognized confession demonstrates that he has removed himself from his innocence, thus allowing him to acknowledge accountability for Finny’s injury. Gene also takes away with him an understanding of how Finny never faces an enemy and completely loses his image of innocence. After his confession, Gene points out, “Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone. Other people experienced this fearful shock somewhere, this sighting of the enemy, and so began an obsessive labor of defense, began to parry the menace they saw facing them by developing a particular frame of mind” (204). This valuable comprehension now follows Gene and his separate peace, because he knows one who has no hatred is not afraid of any enemy. Although symbolizing an image of peace, Finny finds his separate peace once he accepts the presences of the time period’s event, specifically World War II. At the hospital, Finny was looking over the things that Gene had packed in his suitcase, because he broke his leg once again. While doing so, Finny tells Gene, “I wish to God there wasn’t any war. . . I don’t know if I can take this with a war on. . . What good are you in a war with a busted leg!” (189-190). Continuing to look through his suitcase, Finny goes on to Gene and says, “I’ve been writing to the Army and the Navy and the Marines and the Canadians and everybody else all winter. . .They all gave me the same answer after they saw the
The Second World War in Europe was a two-front war: it was fought on both the Western Front and the Eastern Front. Much like World War II, Gene’s war in A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a two-front war. Unlike World War II though, his war was not fought within Russia or France, but his mind and his social life. Throughout A Separate Peace, John Knowles shows that even though Gene is not in Europe fighting the horrific war, he fights his own war at Devon. On page two hundred four, Gene narrates “my war ended before I even put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed by enemy there.” At face value, a reader might interpret this to mean that Gene’s enemy is Phineas, but as one looks deeper, it is discovered that his
Throughout the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the author uses the motif of perception and reality to convey the theme that one’s preconceptions and denial can alter their perception of reality. For instance, Finny’s denial of Gene causing his injury, Finny’s denial of World War II, and Gene’s belief that Finny is secretly jealous of him all convey the idea of a denial-altered reality.
At the end, Gene soon realizes that he was the enemy all along. A Separate Peace states that “To keep silent about this amazing happening deepened this shock for me. It made Finny seem too unusual for—not friendship, but too unusual for rivalry. And there were few relationships among us at Devon not based on rivalry” (Knowles 63). Gene then knows that he is the enemy and impulse toward destruction – and believes he overcame the enemy after causing Phineas’ death. He separates from Phineas and develops his own identity and adulthood. Knowles states “I could not escape that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case”