Elmore Leonard once said “I don’t judge in my books. I don’t have the antagonist get shot or the protagonist win. It’s just how it comes out. I’m just telling a story.” “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, written by Flannery O'Connor, is one of the most interesting stories that we have read in this class. The protagonist in this story is the grandmother and the antagonist is The Misfit. In any other short story, the protagonist and the antagonist would not have much in common, but that is not the case in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”. The three major similarities between the grandmother and The Misfit is that they are both the oldest one in their groups, they are both hypocrites, and they both are missing important spiritual relationships. When …show more content…
The Misfit is clearly a criminal, but he calls himself “The Misfit” because he “can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment” (429). The Misfit deflected responsibility from himself and refuses to bear the results of his conflicts. Furthermore, the grandmother continuously declares that she is a so called “lady” though she is clearly racist, and is the reason why her family gets murdered. The grandmother made her son that she wanted to see until she realized that it was in a different state. In addition to all of this, she begs for her life, but never asks The Misfit to spare her family. In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, it says “Throw me that shirt, Bobby Lee,” The Misfit said. The shirt came flying at him and landed on his shoulder and he put it on. The grandmother couldn’t name what the shirt reminded her of” (429). The grandmother did not even recognize that The Misfit had killed her son and taken his …show more content…
The grandmother has never truly understood what being saved means. She is also ignorant to what salvation is. The Misfit is missing the ability to empathize and bind with other people. He does not hold respect for human life. In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, it says “She would of been a good woman, The Misfit said, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (430). In “‘One of My Babies’: The misfit and the grandmother”, written by Stephen C. Bandy, it says “The Misfit has already directed the execution of the Grandmother’s entire family, and it must be obvious to all including reader and the Grandmother, that she is next to die” (108). These example justifies that The Misfit does not have any regard for human life. The only people that he has are the two goons that help him murder people. The grandmother sees that The Misfit has never had anyone to take care of him. At the end of this story she tries reach out to him on a spiritual level, but he shoots her three times in the chest as soon as she touches
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.
While the grandmother knows she is selfish and manipulates people for her own personal gain, The Misfit does not do bad things for himself. He believes he is being a savior to society. The Misfit thinks he was wrongly convicted and is commit...
Pride is a very relevant issue in almost everyone's lives. Only when a person is forced to face his pride can he begin to overcome it. Through the similar themes of her short stories, Flannery O'Connor attempts to make her characters realize their pride and overcome it.
The parents pay little attention to the grandmother and when they do, they are often quite rude. The unruly children are representative of the breakdown of respect, and discipline, and are consequently a forecast of future generations. The Misfit represents evil. At one point the Misfit likens himself to Christ, in that they both were punished for crimes they did not commit. Christ accepted death for the sins of all people, however, and not only did the Misfit not do that, but he also killed other innocent people.
...nd shot Grandmother pleads and bargains with “The Misfit”. This plea-bargaining draws to a climax when the Grandmother says “Why, your one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” “She reached out and touched him on the shoulder.”(218) This stirs something in “the misfit” and he snaps back and shoots her.
Flannery O’Connor is known for her grotesque tales, and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is no exception. The story follows a family’s journey to Florida and their encounter with a wanted criminal, the Misfit. While the family drives through the woods, the Grandmother startles Bailey, the driver, which causes him to wreck the car. A car stops by the accident, but unfortunately it is the Misfit and his henchmen. The family is quickly killed off by the Misfit’s henchmen, leaving the Grandmother alone trying to persuade the Misfit to not kill her. Following the Grandmother’s epiphany, the Misfit shoots her after she tries to touch him. O’Connor presents the ending in an ambiguous way, asking readers if the Misfit will remain the same criminal he was
The grandmother said that the Misfit was one of her children in an attempt to console him into thinking that she was not someone that he wanted to kill. The reason that she says that has some symbolic underlying tones. She symbolizes Jesus, saving His flock from the perils of life, while the Misfit represents Lucifer, out to undermine the very fabric of our belief system.
There are three phases of thought for the Grandmother. During the first phase, which is in the beginning, she is completely focused on herself in relation to how others think of her. The Second Phase occurs when she is speaking to The Misfit. In the story, The Misfit represents a quasi-final judgment. He does this by acting like a mirror. He lets whatever The Grandmother says bounce right off him. He never really agrees with her or disagrees, and in the end he is the one who kills her. His second to last line, "She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life," (O'Conner 152). might be the way O'Conner felt about most of us alive, or how she felt that God must feel about us.
In the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” written by Flannery O’Conner in 1953, a family goes on a trip. Everything other than the original idea of going on a trip is directed by the grandmother. She forces the family to go on a detour to find a house that she wants to see, she causes a crash when she realizes the house is in a completely different place—Tennessee, instead of Georgia, and finally she identifies The Misfit, and exclaims to his face that she knows who she is. The grandmother is the cause of almost everything that happens in the story, and her mistakes eventually fatally doom the family. She constantly annoys and holds back the family, and is selfish, only caring for herself.
The granny and the misfit are two completely opposite characters that possess two different beliefs. The grandmother puts herself on a high pedestal and the way she calls the misfit ‘a good person’ based upon his family background gives the reader an idea of what the grandmother acknowledges to be considered as ‘good’. Self absorbed as sh...
The grandmother pleads with him and says that she knows he is a good man and wouldn’t harm a lady. The Misfit disagrees and even says “I can't make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment. (O'Connor, F. 1988) There is some irony in that the grandmother spends the whole story speaking about what a lady she is and how a good man is hard to find, yet throughout the story she continues to display characteristics such as hypocrisy, dishonesty, and selfishness. We can see said qualities in actions such as her lack of sympathy as her family is slaughtered around her. (SparkNotes Editors, 2007) The Misfit, on the other hand, is more sensible with his lot in life.
After a few words, the Grandmother recognizes the Misfit and announces it to him. As soon as he is recognized, he turns into the person that the Grandmother pre-labeled him as being. During the conversation, the read can see all of the Grandmother’s flaws. For example, we see her selfishness when she seems to care more about her own life than the life of her family because she constantly pleads for the Misfit to let her go. The interaction between the two reaches a climax when the topic about Jesus is brought up. From the Grandmother’s view on Jesus we can see her one dimensional mind because her belief is the typical Christian doctrine. However, at this point is where a change in the Grandmother can be see, because she says “"Maybe He didn't raise the dead."(O’Connor 1184) For the first in the story and probably in the Grandmother’s life she has questioned something that has been to engrained in her. Finally, at the last seconds of her life the Grandmother realizes that the Misfit indeed is a good person and reaches out to him and says “You're one of my own children!” (O’Connor, 1185) Unfortunately, for the Grandmother the Misfit is not a dynamic character and he shoots the Grandmother multiple times to her
This selfish act jeopardizes the family when the cat causes Bailey to wreck the car. The grandmother’s egotism places them directly in the path of The Misfit. However, the most disturbing act of selfishness displayed by the grandmother is her lack of concern for any of her family’s life when faced with death. She only acknowledges Bailey’s life when she hears the gunshots and is never concerned for the other members of the family. As the grandmother realizes that her life is coming to an end, she finally displays compassion instead of selfishness. She truly feels for The Misfit and his dreadful past. The grandmother’s unspeakable acts of selfishness are transfigured into blessings when she offers grace to The Misfit (Bandy, 2003). Unfortunately, this epiphany is realized too late. If she had not manipulated every aspect of the trip for her own selfish reasons, her family might still be alive.
The Misfit knew that he wasn’t good. At the point that The Misfit became visibly distressed, the grandmother finally putting the well-being of someone else ahead of hers, reached out to the man that had just murdered her family and tried to comfort him. This act of compassion startled The Misfit and he killed the grandmother by shooting her in the chest. “Hiram and Bobby Lee returned from the woods and stood over the ditch, looking down at the grandmother who half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child's and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky”
She also implies that she is in church when she asked him multiple times if he prays. The last part of her character that is revealed all throughout the story, from the beginning to the end, is that she's very talkative. Toward the end of the story she is trying to appeal to him and she continues to talk to him even after her son rudely hushes her. This is ironic because after she is shot the misfits states, "she would've been a good woman if it had been someone there to shoot her every minute of her life" (page 12). This shows the Misfits misogynistic character trait because he does not value the opinion or voice of women. His statement clearly shows how he would prefer a woman that is seen and not