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Literary analysis a good man is hard to find
Conclusion a good man is hard to find
A good man is hard to find
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The short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor, is a gruesome and pessimistic view of man’s ability to possess goodness, but shows that when faced with death a person can be redeemed. The author illustrates this lack of goodness through the portrayal of the main character’s moral hypocrisy, self-centeredness and transformation to relay a message of redemption. O’Connor’s depiction of a southern grandmother's flimsy display of virtues, while interacting with her family, changes during the final stages of her life when she encounters a violent criminal. This story shows that people have the choice to display moral excellence, but that option is often exercised only when a person is faced with a burgeoning pressure, such as …show more content…
According to Sarah Gleeson-White, “O’Connor’s fiction challenge(s) idealized. . . visions of white southern womanhood-the southern lady and the southern belle-that have dominated southern gender regimes” (Gleeson-White). O’Connor uses this character to convey that even the most supposedly perfect humans lack goodness. The author illustrates this lack of goodness through the portrayal of the main character’s moral hypocrisy. When her grandson made a snide comment, about their native state, she immediately admonished him for being judgmental and told him that was something she would not have done. When her granddaughter chimed in with a disrespectful comment the grandmother said, “children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else,” (O’Connor 450) when she was young. In a display of hypocrisy, when the grandmother saw a small child she used the racial slur, “pickaninny,” to draw her grandchildren's attention to the child. By focusing on the child, with her condescending comments, she displayed a lack of kindness and supported the author’s pessimistic view of man's ability to possess
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.
Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find is a short story about a family who is shot and killed by a criminal, named The Misfit, on a family road trip. This story is filled with themes such as immorality, subtle manipulation, and egocentrism. Through the character known simply as ‘The Grandmother’, I believe that O’Connor’s goal is to try and enlighten the reader of society’s faults. Much like The Grandmother, we as humans have the tendency to sacrifice the security of everyone else just to satisfy our own welfare.
The grandmother, the main character of the story, is manipulative. Her definition of a ‘good man’ refers to the characteristics that a ‘good man’ should possess. She believes that the true definition of a good man is a southern gentleman: respectful, chivalrous, and courageous when necessary. From the beginning, the reader is given the indication that the grandmother is determined to get what she wants and will do whatever she can to do so. And, from the second line of the story, O’Connor suggests that anything the grandmother says might have an alternative motive. “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind” (1284). This is relevant to the theme in that a person may have alternate motives, even if they seem to be doing things selflessly from an outsider’s perspective. When the grandmother mentions that she doesn’t want to go to Florida, her son Bailey assumes it’s because of the Misfit killer who has escaped from prison. However, in actuality, she wanted to visit other family and friends in Tennessee.
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.
In “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” O’Connor introduces the reader to a family who represents the juxtaposition between old and new Southern culture. The grandmother, in particular, represents the old South because she focuses on her appearance, manners, and other attributes that are considered the stereotypical image of femininity. She is a self proclaimed lady whose “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” (405-406). In fact, she yearned to dress ideally so that “in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead...
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.
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.
The Grandmother, and Asa Hawks do not think of themselves as terrible, which makes them present their corruption differently. The Grandmother shows her corruption through racism and Asa Hawks shows his corruption through religion. The Grandmother is racist and very cold-hearted person who does not care whether she hurts anyone’s feelings or not. She is racist when she rides by a black person and talks bad about them, not knowing anything about them. The family is on their way to a trip and they drive past mountains seeing people working. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Her attitude towards races is vey noticeable when she says, “’Little Niggers in the country [do not] have things like we do. If I could paint, I’d paint that picture’” (“A
She was already important, because she was a “lady”. Her relentless effort to present herself a southern lady is the source of her pride, unlike Mrs. Loisel which is her beauty. She liberally and often makes judgment of others. She claims that her ethics is a guiding force in her life and her ideas reflect an old-fashioned, somewhat upper-crust Southern mindset. it's has to do with blood, with what kind of family into which you're born. We learn in passing that the grandmother's family had a plantation, the remains of which she points out to the kids It's has to do with blood, with what kind of family into which you're born. . She aches for the good old days when children were well-mannered, folks were trustworthy, and there were pretty plantations to visit. "In my time," said the grandmother, folding her thin veined fingers, "children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else. People did right then." She also manipulated her son, mostly because he wouldn’t take her opinion to account. "Just you read it. I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did.” (O'Connor) The grandmother lied to him, her daughter in law and grandchildren in order to do what she wanted. She confides in no one, she kept to herself when she realized that she confused the two places, because she was too prideful to admit
O’ Connors, “A good man is hard to find” is a short story about a grandmother who causes her family to get into a car accident and end up in a deadly predicament with, ‘The Misfit’, who had escaped from the federal pen. The characters are clear, with both motivation and credibility. O’Connors use of third person is brilliant, even though there’s one weakness with the point of view. The theme is enlightening; changing from evil to good. Not only is this short story enlightening, but it is also entertaining and keeps the attention of the reader throughout the entire story.
In “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, O’Connor introduces the reader to a family representative of the old and new Southern culture. The grandmother represents the old South by the way in which she focuses on her appearnace, manners, and gentile ladylike behavior. O’Connor writes “her collars and cuffs were organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady”(O’Connor 118). In this short story, “the wild diproportion of the terms, the vapid composure that summons up the ultimate violence only to treat it as a rare social opportuinty, and the cool irony with which O’Connor presents the sentence makes it both fearful and ludicrous”(Asals 132). The irony that O’Connor uses points out the appalling characteristics of the grandmother’s self-deception that her clothes make her a lady and turns it into a comic matter. Flannery O’Connor goes to great length to give the reader insight into the characters by describing their clothes and attitudes. The fact that the grandmother took so much time in preparing herself for the trip exemplifies the old Southern tradition of self-presentation and self-pride. The grandmother takes pride in the way she presents herself because she wants everyone to know that she is a “lady”.
In her well-known short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor skillfully describes the difficulty of finding a morally upright human being, whether it is a man or a woman. No one is perfect, everyone has inadequacies and shortcomings, and she presents this cleverly in her story. She is able to support this view of mankind through her characters. They are self-centered, egotistical human beings who can be judged by their words and actions. This is especially true of the protagonist (the grandmother) and the antagonist (the Misfit). The grandmother tries to portray herself as a virtuous woman, but in the end O’Connor shows that her actions are always self-serving and that morally, she is not that different from the Misfit.
The following day the family heads off to Florida. Another major point of irony happens as the story revolves around the grandmothers traditional southern values of respect for other people; especially elders, respect for your home and country. At the same moment as the grandmother is lecturing her grand kids about respecting their home state she sees a young Negro boy and says: “Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!” (Pg 208). Her hypocrisy becomes evident as she wants the family to do what she says not what she does.
In Flannery O 'Connor 's short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, the theme of good vs. evil unravels throughout the series of tragic events. The Grandmother’s epiphany introduces the idea of morality and the validity is left to the interpretation of the reader. By questioning the characteristics of right and wrong, morality and religion become subjective to personal reality and the idea of what makes individuals character good or bad becomes less defined.