A Good Man Is Hard To Find

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

"A Good Man Is Hard To Find" and "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been"

In the short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” there is irony all through the pages. It shows how you should follow your gut instinct when you think you shouldn’t go somewhere, when you know something bad is going to happen. In the story it also talks about how the grandmother wore her nice clothes in case of an accident, she wanted to look like a lady in case anything bad was to happen. The grandmother was constantly talking about the good in people, but was she a good woman?

In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," Flannery O'Connor represents her style of writing very accurately. She includes her "themes and methods - comedy, violence, theological concern - and thus makes them quickly and unmistakably available" (Asals 177). In the beginning of the story O'Connor represents the theme of comedy by describing the typical grandmother. Then O'Connor moves on to include the violent aspect by bringing the Misfit into the story. At the end of the story the theme changes to theological concern as the attention is directed towards the grandmother's witnessing. As the themes change throughout the story, the reader's perception of the grandmother also changes.

Working Thesis: In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, O’Connor uses the corrupt, manipulative character of the grandmother, as well as the story’s plot and theme in order to emphasize the flaws of the church and the need for grace.

The twist and turns of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” leave the reader perplexed and riveted, relaying that the utmost thought went into the outline of the story. The author leaves the readers waiting for good to prevail over evil but never lets them have their intended ending as most stories do which is what gives this story it 's intriguing draw. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor uses literary techniques such as conflicts, foreshadowing, imagery, simile, and irony to create eccentric characters and a twisted plot.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a story about a family, the feature character is an old women, the grandmother, just like many of O’Connor’s stories. The family is going on a road trip to Florida and the grandmother attempts to divert the trip to Tennessee instead of the original destination. She warns her son Bailey of an escaped convict, The Misfit, telling him, “The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida” (1). The road trip gets diverted with the grandmother requesting they go see a house from her memory. Unbeknownst to the other travelers the grandmother had hidden her cat in the backseat of the car. The cat jumps out and causes a car wreck, which leads the family into a run-in with The Misfit and his crew. The grandmother recognizes The Misfit, eventually leading to the murder of her

     The plot of “ A Good Man Is Hard To Find” really starts to take action when the family crashes their car and in waiting for help sees a car creeping around the bend, and here O’Connor does a good job setting the tone and image. “The car continued to come on slowly, disappeared around a bend and appeared again, moving even slower, on top of the hill they had gone over. It was a big black battered hearse-like automobile. There were three men in it.” (308) When O’Connor describes the vehicle as black and hearse-like you can tell instantly that the family is in trouble and the Misfit is about to be met. In the eyes of the narrator the family does not know their in trouble until the men exiting the car show they have guns and the grandmother identifies one of the men as the Misfit. Identifying the Misfit may have been the most crucial mistake the grandmother made the whole story, because due to her identifying the man she may have set her family up for death. The grandmother’s son, Bailey, recognizes this and after the Misfit has been recognized and the story says, “ Bailey turned his head sharply and said something to his mother that shocked even the children. The old lady began to

In the story A Good Man Is Hard To Find, a family is off on a vacation to Tennessee. In the midst of their journey they are encountered by a wanted criminal, The Misfit. In brief summary, the grandmother leads the rest of the family down a dirt road that she has mistaken for a road she used to live on. While driving down this road, they flip the car over in a ditch. At this point they are confronted by The Misfit who has witnessed this accident. The setting in this story began playing a big part a while before when the grandmother was alerting the family of the known Misfit being on the loose. At this point I interpreted that later in the story, the family would encounter this man. On the scene of the accident, I really came to terms with how troubled

In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the grandmother and the Misfit become the main focus even though the other characters are involved in the story. Throughout the entire story, The Misfit is portrayed as the symbol of evil because he was in jail; he escaped from jail, and he committed murders. The grandmother believes to be greater than the people that she are around because of the “good” that she portrays. The conventional meaning of good, or possessing or displaying moral virtue, is not the particular good that the grandmother is trying to portray throughout the story. The grandmother believes that good

A good man really is hard to find. But what is the real definition of a real man? Maybe it is not just the prince charming you see in fairy tales or the perfect guy walking down Sixth Ave. that you pass by everyday to work. Maybe a good guy is simply someone that is good what they do. In this case the relationship between the grandmother and the misfit is just that. The only thing is if the reader sees it as clearly as the author would like them too or simply as she does.

Mary Flannery O’Connor, the writer of many short stories known for their cruel endings and religious themes, wrote “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” in 1955. “Her works combine flat realism with grotesque situations; violence occurs without apparent reason or preparation.” (Roberts 429). “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is about a southern family’s trip to Florida which takes a dramatic turn. This story was written in O’Connor’s first collection of short stories. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a compelling story of tragedy that utilizes humor and irony to draw the reader’s attention, and two major characters to convey the authors central theme.

Flannery O 'Connor is a Christian writer, and her work shows Christian themes of good and evil, grace, and salvation. O’Connor has challenged the theme of religion into all of her works largely because of her Roman Catholic upbringing. O’Connor wrote in such a way that the characters and settings of her stories are unforgettable, revealing deep insights into the human existence. In O’Connor’s Introduction to a “Memoir of Mary Ann,” she claims that Christians live to prepare for their death. This statement is reflected in her other works, including her short story “A Good Man is Hard To Find.” After reading “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” many questions remain unanswered

In Flannery O'Connor's eccentric short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the reader is introduced to her fundamental theme of Identity through a typical southern family. O’Connor’s exceptional use of fictional elements such as characterization, point of view, and setting further develop this theme in her work. She does so by familiarizing the use of violence, humor, and salvation along with point of view and setting to create a deeper connection between her work and the reader.

A Good Man is Hard To Find is a story that tells the story of a family going on vacation to Georgia. Although the grandmother is not believed to be interested in the trip, it turns out that she is highly interested in going out and looks for the best way towards meeting her dream. She had prepared for the trip for a while and engages the enraged Bailey through the trip since he did not want her to come. On the first stop they reach a gas station where they refer to a man who had been reaped off due to his gullibility that it was down to him being a good man. Although Sammy’s wife does not have the same reaction the grandmother notes that he was a good man and they engage in different issues that are affecting the society. On the trip she encourages the children to visit a house on the woods that was believed to have been occupied by a man when the Grandmother was young. It is an intriguing aspect to the children and due to their curiosity they engage in the trip towards viewing the new house. To Bailey’s dismay he reacts angrily to the idea and when they enter the forest the grandmother remembers that it was not in Georgia but Tennessee (O'connor) . They are attacked by The Misfit