In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” a grandmother and her son’s family are preparing to take a trip to Florida. The grandmother has read a news article about a convict who calls himself “The Misfit” that has escaped from the federal penitentiary and is presumably heading toward Florida. She tries to persuade her son to go to another destination but he ignores her. On the way to Florida the family observes peculiar sites. The grandmother mentions an old plantation homestead that she visited as a young lady and embellished her memories so that her family would want to visit it. The son finally gives in to the whining of his children and makes the detour. On the dirt road, the grandmother makes a revelation and jumps in her seat, causing her feet to fly up, which causes her stowaway cat to jump out of its hiding place and onto the neck of the son. This causes the car to crash, which is witnessed by another car that was driving slowly up on a hill. The occupants of the car, three men, appear at the crash site to investigate the situation. The grandmother recognizes one of the men as The Misfit; The Misfit watches over the female family members while the other two men take the son and the grandson into the deep, dark woods. After a few moments gunshots are heard. Then soon after, the wife, the granddaughter, and the infant are escorted into the woods followed by additional gunshots. The grandmother tries to convince The Misfit that he is a good man, but she too is shot (294-308). It is quite brilliant the way the author makes small innuendos of the demise of the family. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” setting plays an enormous part of the story. When the grandmother describes the views from the automobile, she gi... ... middle of paper ... ...readers. It is critically acclaimed for the various ways it can be interpreted. The setting could distinguish that it is a horror story, a dark comedy, a religious reflection, or a story about a dysfunctional family. Works Cited Desmond, John, and Charles E. May. “Flannery O’Connor’s Misfit and the Mystery of Evil.” Critical Insight: Flannery O’Connor (2011): 144-54. Literary Reference Center. Wed. 31 Mar. 2014. O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” 40 Short Stories. Ed. Beverly Lawn. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2013. 294-308. Print. O’Connor, Flannery. The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor. Ed. Sally Fitzgerald. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1979, Print. Streight, Irwin H., and Charles E. May. “Flannery O’Connor: Critical Reception.” Critical Insights: Flannery O’Connor (2011): 77-109. Literary Reference Center. Fri. 18 Apr. 2014.
Asals, Frederick. Flannery O'Connor : The Imagination of Extremity. University of Georgia Press; Reissue edition. Athens, Georgia, 2007.
Wrestling, Louise. “Flannery O'Connor's Mothers and Daughters.” Twentieth Century Literature 24.4 (1978): 510-522. JSTOR. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.
Flannery O’Connor’s Catholic faith shows heavily in her writing’s, but yet most of her characters are Protestant. Protestants fall under Western churches, and follow the principle of Reformation. Flannery wants her characters to suffer, to feel anguish and find redemption. While Flannery O’Connor has written many complex texts with different themes, her faith is always the fueling force behind her creativity. Contrary to popular belief, O’Connor’s notions have only widened her points of view in her writings. O’Connor uses faith in her work to show the readers spirituality and grace.
Scott, Nathan A., Jr. "Flannery O'Connor's Testimony." The Added Dimension: The Art and Mind of Flannery O'Connor. Ed. Melvin J. Friedman and Lewis A. Lawson. New York: Fordham UP, 1966. 138-56.
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)
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 story without style is like a man without personality: useless and boring. However, Flannery O’Connor incorporates various different styles in her narratives. Dark humor, irony, and symbolism are perhaps the utmost powerful and common styles in her writing. From “Revelation” and “Good Country People” to “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” all of O’Connor’s stories consist of different styles in writing.
All of O’Connor’s writings are done in a Southern scene with a Christian theme, but they end in tragedy. As Di Renzo stated “her procession of unsavory characters “conjures up, in her own words, “an image of Gothic monstrosities”… (2). Flannery O’Connor was highly criticized for her work as a writer, because of her style of writing, and her use of God. It was stated that “…whatever the stories may have meant to her, they often send a quite different message to the reader”… (Bandy). But the stories of O’Connor take a look at the way people depict themselves on the outside, but inside they are
“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.
1) O’Connor, Flannery, A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Women Writers: Text & Contexts Series). Rutgers University Press, 1993.
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.
In 1953, Flannery O’Connor wrote “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” which turned viral and preemptive, due to a very controversial ending. Although Flannery lived only 39 years, she successfully made a name for herself as an American writer, publishing two novels and 32 short stories. Her southern gothic stories examined questions regarding morality and ethics, and featured flawed characters. Growing up in Georgia, she set out to highlight the sentimental nature of Christian realism, and although her stories were disturbing, she refuted the opinions of those who characterized her as cynical. In the last decade of her life, she wrote over a hundred book reviews, which were inspired by her religious Roman Catholic faith. She successively demonstrated her intellect, often confronting ethical themes from some of the most challenging theol...
Whitt, Margaret. Understanding Flannery O’Connor. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. 47-48, 78. Print.
...sque, and in Flannery O’Connor’s artistic makeup there is not the slightest trace of sentimentally” (qtd. in Bloom 19). Flannery O’Connor’s style of writing challenges the reader to examine her work and grasp the meaning of her usage of symbols and imagery. Edward Kessler wrote about Flannery O’Connor’s writing style stating that “O’Connor’s writing does not represent the physical world but serves as her means of apprehending and understanding a power activating that world” (55). In order to fully understand her work one must research O’Connor and her background to be able to recognize her allegories throughout her stories. Her usage of religious symbols can best be studied by looking into her religious Catholic upbringing. Formalist criticism exists in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” through Flannery O’Connor’s use of plot, characterization, setting, and symbolism.