The Flannery O’Connor story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” illustrates a parallel between the Misfit and the grandmother, showing that good and evil are not mutually exclusive in an individual. The grandmother and the Misfit display a flowing, changing state of character, representative of this shift. Flannery O’Connor develops these two characters on the surface as simply being a good person and a bad person. However, there is more to each character than the surface level, as they exhibit traits that wouldn’t ordinarily seem fitting in regards to what would be expected. It is this complexity in human characteristics that O’Connor takes the time to develop and show the audience the depth of humanity.
William Burke defines the bond between the Misfit and the grandmother by observing a “shared moral principle” (99). This moral principle is the belief that they deem themselves a good person, though, for entirely different reasons. As the family begins its trip, despite her initial objections, the grandmother is content with the ride (O’Connor 203). Her agreeable nature portrays her as being a kind old woman and therefore the good person she strives to be. Despite his criminal history, the Misfit is introduced as a considerate motorist, stopping to help the injured family and their damaged vehicle (208). Considering his reputation, had he truly been a man of evil, the family would have been in immediate danger, as opposed to just the point from when the grandmother recognized him. Upon the realization that the Misfit may, in fact, be no different than one of her own children, her subsequent murder reveals the Misfit’s own regrets about his misdeeds (O’Connor 212).
On the other hand, the grandmother and the Misfit both “act...
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...s in mind “A Good Man Is Hard to Come By” because a solely good man is a rarity among individuals. Regardless of the role the person may have in society, a grandmother or a criminal, perhaps, there are more intricate blends in a personality than just good or evil.
Works Cited
Burke, William. "Protagonists and antagonists in the fiction of Flannery O'Connor." The Southern Literary Journal 20 (1988): 99.
Evans, R. (1997, January). A good man is hard to find. Short Fiction: A Critical Companion, Retrieved November 23, 2008, from Literary Reference Center database.
Kane, Richard. "Positive deconstruction in the fiction of Flannery O'Connor." The Southern Literary Journal 20 (1987): 45.
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.
Literary Analysis of “A Good Man is Hard to Find”- Worry about yourself instead of others!!!
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
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.
Anyone who has had the opportunity to take time to read and work with the fiction of Flannery O 'Connor, cannot fail to be impressed by the level of quality in its production. According to Michael Meyer in his book The Bedford Introduction to literature, “Despite her brief life and relatively modest output her work is regarded among the most distinguished American fiction of the mid-twentieth century.” She wrote two novels and a total of thirty one short stories (420). Critics, reviewers, including sophisticated readers use the word powerful to describe her work. Firstly because of its quality, for example the mordantly comic characters, the strong narrative lines and the violence which are depicted so brilliantly. Secondly the totality of her vision and the entire expression of her imagination are combine to generate her literary power (Asal, 1). During her brief career the most predominant form of writing for Flannery was short stories, what exactly is a
To conclude, Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” is filled with irony and it is what makes the story so interesting. Without the use of these ironies the story would have been very different for the readers. Flannery O’Connor uses irony to enhance her writing and to push the readers to want to read further. She also uses this irony to explain some of her own concerns about the human condition. Verbal, dramatic, and cosmic ironies are all present in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and are used skillfully by the author to enhance the reader’s experience.
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.
Works Cited Bandy, Stephen C. "One of my babies": The Misfit and the Grandmother in Flannery O'Connor's short story 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'. Studies in Short Fiction; Winter 1996, v33, n1, p107(11). O’Connor, Flannery. The Complete Story of the. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
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.
“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.
Flannery O’Connor's perception of human nature is imprinted throughout her various works. This view is especially evident in the short stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” She conveys a timeless message through the scope of two ignorant, southern, upper class women. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O’Connor presents readers to a family who is going on a road trip with their selfish grandmother. She is a religious woman who does not follow the set standards that she preaches. Similar characteristics are exposed in “Revelation.” As the self centered Mrs. Turpin sits in the waiting room, she contemplates on her own status with God. Nevertheless, she still commits the sin of judging others. In both of O’Connor’s short stories, these controversial protagonists initially put up a facade in order to alienate themselves from their prospective societies. Although the grandmother and Mrs. Turpin both believe in God, O’Connor utilizes theme to expose that they also convince themselves that they can take on His role by placing judgement on people who, at the most fundamental level, are in the same category as them.
Elmore Leonard once said “I don’t judge in my books. I don’t have the antagonist get shot or the protagonist win. It’s just how it comes out. I’m just telling a story.” “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, written by Flannery O'Connor, is one of the most interesting stories that we have read in this class. The protagonist in this story is the grandmother and the antagonist is The Misfit. In any other short story, the protagonist and the antagonist would not have much in common, but that is not the case in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”. The three major similarities between the grandmother and The Misfit is that they are both the oldest one in their groups, they are both hypocrites, and they both are missing important spiritual relationships.
O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." The Story and Its Writer An Introduction to Short Fiction. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2011. 1042-053. Print.
Beginning the story of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the readers are introduced to an elderly woman and
Whitt, Margaret. Understanding Flannery O’Connor. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. 47-48, 78. Print.