Antagonist In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

As Agatha Christie once said, “The tragedy of life is that people do not change.” In the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor uses the protagonist and antagonist in the story to demonstrate this quote. The story was written in 1953 by Georgia native Flannery O’Connor and has a southern gothic genre. The story is about a family traveling to Florida for their annual vacation with the Grandmother, the story’s protagonist, who does not want to go. She gives the logic they should travel to Tennessee instead so the avoid an escaped convict named the Misfit, the story’s antagonist, who is allegedly traveling to Florida. In all of her efforts to change the travel plans, the family still runs into The Misfit and his fellow escapees

The protagonist is from “the old south” which makes it a big deal that she doubts her faith in Jesus during the story. "Maybe He (Jesus) didn't raise the dead," the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her.” (348). The quoted text shows her growing uncertainty and lack of strength as the short story persist. She begins to repeat herself as reassurance for herself. "Listen," the grandmother almost screamed, "I know you're a good man. You don't look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people!" (345). As Desmond brings up, “no one should be called good—a mistake the Grandmother makes repeatedly in her encounter with the Misfit. (144). The Grandmother calls the Misfit good numerous times to reassure herself that he is good and she is doing the right thing. Though the protagonist began as a manipulative person, she grows weak and loses her power during the story. The antagonist in the story, The Misfit, has an effect on the change in the Grandmother’s personality because she wants to save him and provide him with grace. Since the Grandmother wants to redeem The Misfit and give him grace so bad she is willing to do whatever it takes, leading to her death. The Grandmother keeps repeating herself while talking to The Misfit to try and convince him and keep convincing herself. "Listen," she said, "you shouldn't call yourself The Misfit because I know you're a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell."(345). As Bethea notes, “The grandmother’s role as grace-bringer is by now a received idea, largely because the author said it is so.” (246). The quoted provides the readers with an example of this showing how hard she is trying to convince him he is a good man. Her biggest lapse of weakness in the story is when she sees The Misfit as her own child and