Irony In 'A Good Man Is Hard To Find'

A Good Man Is Hard To Find- [1] Title The title “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, by Flannery O’Connor, uses irony to show perception on what it means to be good. The grandmother deems many men as good, “Now why did I do that’...’Because you’re a good man!”(O’Connor 1215). However, not all these men are good men and she uses the term ‘good man’ very flippantly. The Misfit is another one of the men she deems as good, in the end, the grandmother dies upon believing this. The Misfit states, “She would be a good woman...If it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” (O’Connor 1222). Where the grandmother believes everyone is a good man, the Misfit believed that only in death, can one be good. A simple perspective determined

The grandmother has an obvious distaste for Irish people when she states, “But Sophie take after Natalie’s husband’s family, their name is Shea. Irish… But now I know why the Chinese beat the Irish. Of course, not all Irish are like the Shea family, of course not. My daughter tell me I should not say Irish this, Irish that.” (Jen 1251). With the negative connotation on this sentence, it is clear that she holds contempt for her daughter’s Irish family and for their American teachings. However, by the end of the story, a similar phrase is stated, “ Of course I shouldn’t say Irish this, Irish that, especially now I am become honorary Irish myself, according to Bess. Me! Who’s Irish? I say, and she laugh. ” (Jen 1258). This statement has a more positive and lighthearted connotation and the Grandmother has accepted the different ways to discipline a child but still stands by her own Chinese disciplinary actions. Different does not necessarily mean bad, and tradition is not always

With nothing that demands her attention, the narrator is left with only the wallpaper to focus herself on. She describes the paper as a living thing and how, “On a pattern like this, by daylight, there is a lack of sequence, a defiance of law, that is a constant irritant to a normal mind.” (Gilman--). She begins to fixate on the paper, to an unhealthy degree, battling with the numbness of her mind that boredom brings. The point where the narrator has truly lost all sense of mind can arguably be when the narrator states, “Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be. You see, I have something more to expect, to look forward to, to watch. I really do eat better, and am more quiet than I was.” (Gilman----). Although she is eating better, she is losing her connection to reality. As she speaks less to her husband and handmaid, she sinks deeper into the bends and whorls of the wallpaper receding further into her