In Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find", setting is used as a way to predict the tragic outcome of the story. The story's end is unexpected when first read, but upon closer inspection one can see several clues and foreshadowing techniques O'Connor used to hint at what would eventually happen, specifically in her use of setting. The outcome of the story is hinted at through the description of the family's scenic drive through Georgia, Red Sammy's, and the deserted road they travel on. The depiction of the family's surroundings while driving through Georgia offers many hints to their tragic deaths. At first it seems the O'Connor is just providing vivid descriptions of the land, but continuing through the story one begins to realise a constant theme within the setting. While driving the family "passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island" (660). What makes this passage so significant is the fact that there are six people traveling in the car, insinuating that the family will also end up in graves. As if this was not a big enough of a hint, later on in their travels the grandmother recalls an old plantation that she had visited in the neighbourhood of "Toombsboro" (662). Upon hearing this location, the word tomb comes to mind, symbolising death. It is also interesting that she thinks that the old plantation is in this specific town, since her wanting to go to the house is initially what causes the family's untimely end. The run down atmosphere at Red Sammy's gives the reader an eerie and ominous feeling of what is to end up of the family. The first bit of description that is given about Red Sammy's is that it is a tower. Towers are seen as being large and intimidating, and inside is described as being "a long dark room" (661). This gives the impression of Red Sammy's as being dark, dingy, empty, and neglected. This impression is then reinforced by June Star, saying that she "wouldn't live in a broken down place like this for a million bucks!" (661).Everything about this place is run down. Even Red Sammy's car, which he is seen fixing upon their arrival, is broken. This provides a foreshadowing to the family's car, which will also soon break down after their accident. The color red is also brought up, in Red Sammy's name, bringing to mind what the colour red symbolizes, such things as fire, blood, death, and the devil.
Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard To Find” portrays a very random type of foreshadowing. The radom foreshadowing in this short story is implied with little elements that may seem irrelevant to the reader, but really is a sequence of variables that makeup the fabric of story. Just like the ring, in the movie Lord of The Rings, which may have came across as insignificant but then turns out to be a very ascential object in the movie. O’Conner uses this type of random foreshadowing to convey the plot of the story to the reader. For example, O’Conner’s gives us tidbits of information like the time the family left from Atlanta (8:45) and the mileage of the car at 55890“The grandmother wrote down this down because she thought it would be interesting to say how many miles they had been when they got back”.( O’Conner 448) Or, “ She knew that bailey would not be willing to loose anytime looking at an old house” (O’Conner 451-452). Conversely, these random events are use to hint to the reader the events that ill later unfold. We read where the grandmother and her family stop for lunch at Red Sammy’s and conversed with...
The grandmother and The Misfit of Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' are backward, opposite images of each other. However, the grandmother does have similarities with the character, Ruby Turpin in O'Connor's short story, 'Revelation'.
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.
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.
In the short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find, written by Flannery O’Connor, the theme that the definition of a ‘good man’ is mysterious and flawed is apparent. The reader must realize that it is difficult to universalize the definition of a good man because every person goes through different experiences. Thus, these experiences affect his or her viewpoint and in turn flaw ones view on a good man. 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.
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 stronger foreshadowing is when O’Connor states the reason for the grandmother’s beautiful dress, "In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady." (11). She herself predicts her own death.
“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” is a Southern Gothic short story written in 1953 by Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) in a style that portrays the unfortunate demise of a family’s trip to Florida. Flannery O’Connor was raised as a Roman Catholic in the Bible Belt of the United States, which significantly influenced her purpose and style of writing towards themes of religious revelations and journeys (Flannery). This short story is a typical Foster quest story in that the family is oblivious to the fact that they are on a quest, but on their journey cut short to Florida, they learn more about themselves and others than they ever could have learned in their home-state of Georgia (Foster). Style is the manner in which an author chooses to write to their audience (“Style”). Style reveals a lot about the writer’s personality and through “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, Flannery O’Connor reveals her desire to convey God’s grace and religion in everyday life through religious symbols in characters and their actions.
In "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" Flannery O'Conner writes about a family that most people can easily identify with. A trip to Florida is about to be undertaken by the family and the grandmother
In most of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories a number of characters have a hard time seeing an ultimate reality in their life. They tend to have a distorted grasp on reality but not all in the same way. In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the Misfit and the Grandmother are prime examples. The actions and the way of life of the Misfit and Grandmother are mostly due to the fact that they are living in an false reality where they are in their own little world, where in the Misfit’s world everything goes with no worry of repercussion in the Grandmother’s case she can do no wrong because she has a false perception of what is right.
Secondly, the foreshadowing of the family's death is the graveyard when they "passed by a cotton field with five or six graves fenced" (383). It is not an accident that the numbers of graves "five or six" matches the exact number of people in the car. Though there are five people and a baby, it is evident that a baby is not a full person. So, it is appropriate to say that the number of graves is five or six.
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.
“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and “Good Country People” are two short stories written by Flannery O’Connor during her short lived writing career. Despite the literary achievements of O’Connor’s works, she is often criticized for the grotesqueness of her characters and endings of her short stories and novels. Her writings have been described as “understated, orderly, unexperimental fiction, with a Southern backdrop and a Roman Catholic vision, in defiance, it would seem, of those restless innovators who preceded her and who came into prominence after her death”(Friedman 4). “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and “Good Country People” are both set in the South, and O’Connor explores the tension between the old and new South. The stories are tow ironically twisted tales of different families whos lives are altered after trusting a stranger, only to be mislead. Each story explores the themes of Christian theology, new verses the old South, and fallen human nature.
Before they reach the restaurant, the grandmother points out six fenced gravestones in a field.... ... middle of paper ... ... This plea-bargaining draws to a climax when the Grandmother says “Why, you’re one of my babies.
Themes lay the precise foundation, which stories or rather a piece of literature are founded on. It goes without saying that they are often quite a number in any given text and their addiction by any reader from the text is key to an acute analysis of any fictional work of art and literature. In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", a number of themes portray themselves, with disillusionment playing out dominantly. Moreover, in A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor employs the various characters, the grandmother, Bailey, Red Sammy and The Misfit, among others to exemplify that disillusionment is undeniably, a negative virtue. Hence; it is capable of spurring ill ideas and activities as a common repercussion.