Family Structure In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

1497 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: family in society

The encounters various people come across in their life define the characters and personalities they develop. Family structure, an experience element frequently ignored, plays a significant role in the development of an individual’s personality. Outstandingly, the family is a sanctified union that greatly cultivates the character of an individual. The traits that a person develops from the family as they grow up in highly contribute to the type of parents they become in future. From the past to date, authors have always created awareness on how everyday family activities can influence the character of those involved. Events that negatively affect an individual could lead to dysfunctional families in future. O’Connor and Hemmingway are not …show more content…

At the time, a family being a strong union was highly valued. Nevertheless, the story, “A Good Man is Hard to find”, does not reveal any of this structures. In spite of criticisms from her antagonists at the time, Flannery O’Conner went ahead to write the narratives. She was a staunch follower of South Roman Catholic. In her short story, she regularly refers to religion demonstrating to the reader how irrelevant religion was, especially among the Americans. It is only when the grandmother is almost to pass on when she feels a sense of loveliness overwhelming her. This story also depicts the failure of family members to uphold respect for themselves. Flannery O’Conner focus on three geographical settings namely Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia. The entire narration depicts conflicts among family members on issues such as the venue of the vacation, the route to use, and whether to allow pets or not among others. The most provocative role is that of the grandmother, who the main character, being described as a proper lady. Her character fails to portray this description as she is careless about the life of others, complacent, and selfish. She fails to play the role of a real grandmother to the

Show More
Related

  • The Journey in A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

    685 Words  | 2 Pages

    In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," Flannery O'Connor's character searches for grace and redemption in a world full of sin. Grimshaw states, "each one, nonetheless, is free to choose, free to accept or reject Grace" (6). The Grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find," is on a journey for grace and forgiveness in a world where the redemption she is searching for proves to be hard to find.

    Read More

  • Irony and Foreshadowing in Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find

    1618 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

    1220 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story, 'A Good Man is Hard to Find', the main character is the grandmother. Flannery O'Connor, the author, lets the reader find out who the grandmother is by her conversations and reactions to the other characters in the story. The grandmother is the most important character in the story because she has a main role in the stories principal action. This little old lady is the protagonist in this piece. We learn more about her from her direct conversation with the son, Bailey, her grandchildren, June Star and John Wesley, and the Misfit killer. Through these conversations, we know that she is a lady raised from a traditional background. In the story, her attitude changes more than once to accommodate the surroundings that she is in. With the data provided, we can tell that the grandmother goes from not wanting to go to Florida, to anxious to go, and in the end, I felt as if she went off the deep end. All of the sudden, the only thing she really concentrates on is Jesus and her not being killed.

    Read More

  • Mercy in Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard To Find

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Grandmother In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    863 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor shows the dynamics of a 1950’s family, hypocrisy and finally grace. In the story, the family is taking a vacation by driving to Florida. The grandmother, who is one of the central characters, convinces her son to take a side trip to visit an old plantation that she had seen in her youth. Only she misremembered about the plantation and it wasn’t there at all. On the way, the family has an accident and their car ends up in a ditch. This is where the family meets The Misfit. This story is a Southern Gothic, that has damaged characters who meet a violent end.

    Read More

  • Flannery O Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is a short story written by the Flannery O 'Connor and was officially published in 1955. The author Flannery O 'Connor was raised in a Roman Catholic family, went to a Catholic school for 16 years, and had a strong Catholic faith. Most of O’Connor’s work of literature indicated her Roman Catholic beliefs; "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is one of the stories that contain a religious message behind it. The story is mainly about two different characters; the grandmother and The Misfit, who met each other by a chance in the middle of nowhere on the road. The grandmother is known as the “good,” innocent, religious, old lady and The Misfit is known as the “evil” escaped criminal that has no faith in God. The focus of this essay is “grace,” in personal knowledge; God has the power to allow every human being “grace” whether good or bad, and has the ability to let anyone; good or bad go to heaven. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” when the grandmother reaches out to touch The Misfit and calls him one of her children “a child of God” hoping to change his emotions and stop him from killing her, that moment is called a “moment of

    Read More

  • Irony in a Good Man is Hard to Find

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    Flannery O’ Connor’s story: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the tale of a vacation gone wrong. The tone of this story is set to be one irony. The story is filled with grotesque but meaningful irony. I this analysis I will guide you through the clues provided by the author, which in the end climax to the following lesson: “A Good Man” is not shown good by outward appearance, language, thinking, but by a life full of “good” actions.

    Read More

  • A Good Man Is Hard To Find Grandmother Analysis Essay

    1785 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the beginning of the short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the grandmother is quickly seen as a frivolous, grouchy, and oppressive person. The not so amicable but rather clever family is at endeavor, going on a get-away to Florida. At first, the grandmother dreaded going on the family vacation to Florida because of detainees having gotten away from the neighborhood jail; declining to be forgotten, the grandmother followed along. Along the drive, the grandmother thought back of her past loves and going to a specific manor that stood before the war. Flannery O’Connor symbolically uses the grandmother’s character as the Christian concept of grace. Grace being the divine pardon from God which is available to anyone simply by asking. Flannery O’Connor’s, “A Good Man is hard to Find”, exemplify situational irony; the misfits caused the grandmother initial fear regarding travel; however, it was the

    Read More

  • Self Centeredness In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    1253 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the author uses the character of the grandmother to show the dangers of self-centeredness. Although the grandmother lacks self-awareness, she still describes herself as a good woman, a lady. The grandmother is an old, southern, Caucasian woman; her way of speaking and how she dresses are indications that she considers herself a lady. Throughout the story, the grandmother’s selfishness, judgmental actions, dishonesty, and forgetfulness 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.

    Read More

  • A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    In” A Good Man is Hard to Find” there are many factors that can be the theme. The theme can be about a family as a whole that lacks love for the grandmother, or about a family that goes on a trip that wound up having an accident, which puts them at the wrong place at the wrong time. Both of these themes are obvious to any reader, but it does not quite seem to match this author’s depth style way of writing. In a brief write up on Flannery O’Connor, it says “O’Connor is a moralist, she focuses an uncompromising moral eye on the violence and spiritual disorder of the world.” By knowing this about the author O’Connor we can look deeper into this story and find morals of two characters as the theme. The two characters are the Grandmother and the Misfit. Even though they are both different as night and day, they both have morals and stands by their morals no matter what.

    Read More

  • The Grandmother Symbolism

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor represents symbolically, that leads her readers, to ideas and images, of what it is to be a good man. If a man looks, acts, or dresses a certain way, does not mean they are a good man. The symbolic story reminds readers of the Old South; racism, segregation, and inequality. The Grandmother represents Old South, meaning, kids respected their elders, and people were proud to call the South home. Also, the story describes the children as being disrespectful, and Bailey disregard of this mother native state. As Bailey was driving through Georgia, there is distinct symbolism that associates with each character’s fate. For example, thy sky, when the Grandmother spoke to Red Sammy at the restaurant, her perception of a good man, and the dirt road the family traveled on.

    Read More

  • Manipulation and Deception in A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor

    1487 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lessons are learned through mistakes and experiences, but to completely understand the lesson, a person must be smart enough to profit from their errors and be strong enough to correct them. However, this was not the case for the main character in the short story; A Good Man is Hard to Find written by Flannery O’Connor. In this tale of manipulation and deception, O’Connor depicts the main character, the grandmother, as a shrewd self-centered woman, who considers herself morally superior than the other individuals. Throughout the entire story, she is seen using her manipulative tactics on everyone, which brought her to a sinister ending. O’Connor expertly portrayed the grandmother as a character that did not correct her negative characteristics throughout the story. To prove this statement, the use of time will be applied to help focus on the main idea of the grandmother not changing her deleterious ways throughout this story.

    Read More

  • The Misfit and the Grandmother in Flannery O’ Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • A Good Man is Hard to Find

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Conner tells the story of a family in route to their Florida vacation and the trouble the grandmother gets them in. The grandmother does not want to go to Florida on vacation and tries many methods of changing her son, Bailey’s mind. Although she tries many methods, none of them have the effect on him she desires. Bailey is as stubborn as his mother, completely shutting the door on every proposition his mother makes. When she finally makes some progress in delaying their travels things go horribly. Bailey and his family discover the hard way just how ironic life can be.

    Read More

More about Family Structure In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Open Document