A Good Man Is Hard To Find Symbolism Analysis

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The story of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” is an interesting story about a family taking a road trip and ending in tragedy. The characters in this story are unique in many ways. The grandmother is a typical old lady who cares more about her appearance than her own family. The Misfit symbolized death and believes that all sins will be punished even if one forgets committing the sin. This author uses symbolism all through the story. This story has a great deal of symbolism. An example would be the Misfit. In one point of the story the Misfit says “"I found out the crime don't matter. You can do one thing, or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you're going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it." (O’Connor 150) This statement symbolizes that crime and sin are the same. The person who committed these two acts will be punished even if he or she does not remember committing the act. Whether the act is big or small one will still be held accountable for his or her crime. This demonstrates a major part of the Christian belief that all sins are punishable by death. Another character that represents symbolism is the grandmother. …show more content…

She was only concerned about looking respectable. This was demonstrated in the story where it stated that “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 138) She shows her selfish nature by caring more about being viewed as a lady, than the welfare of her family. At the end, she pleads for her life and not the life of her family. She continuously stated that the Misfit was a good person and that he would not shoot a lady. She never once asked the Misfit to spare her family. Also, the Misfit symbolize

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