You are sitting in your living room at home watching the nightly news. The lead story for the night is about a family of four that were murdered. After seeing and hearing about something like that we often ask ourselves, What could possess a person enough to kill another human being? What is it that drives a person to kill? Will we ever know? Many authors use this unique mentality in short stories. They write about what the killer thinks and how he/she acts on his/her thoughts. One of these stories is "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", by Flannery O'Connor. In this story O'Connor's victim, The Misfit, is an escaped convict. He was in the Federal Penitentiary for killing his father. Throughout the story O'Connor builds up this killers …show more content…
Since the grandmother and the rest of the family knew who this mystery man was, The Misfit immediately considered all of them to be a threat. He makes this assumption without considering the slightest possibility that the family might not turn him in. Once again his fantasy state-of-mind takes over. The thrill of the fantasy for the killer was having enemies, and that's the only way The Misfit looked at the situation. Moments later The Misfit releases some of his stress when he tells two of his companions to bring two of the children back into the woods. The grandmother hears gunfire and shivers in pain, not knowing the two children were just killed. She then begins to ask The Misfit about his life, "I just know you're a good man," the woman said (O'Connor 688). The Misfit slowly began to tell the woman about his parents and his childhood. He explained how his father looked down upon him; "you're a different breed of dog," he once said (O'Connor 688). The grandmother waits with anticipation as The Misfit tells her about his life. After hearing about his hardships and misfortunes, tells The Misfit to pray for help. He listens to her and shows no response. The Misfit did not know what he was punished for: "somewheres along the line I done something wrong and I got sent to the penitentiary I forget what I done lady. I set there trying to remember what it was I done and I
If you were to ask someone what their definition of a happy life would be, they would probably give you an answer like, “having fun.” This is completely untrue in Aristotle’s terms. According to Aristotle, for a man to lead a happy life he must learn each of the intellectual virtues, and practice each of the moral virtues throughout his life. These moral virtues are justice, courage, temperance, magnificence, magnanimity, liberality, gentleness, prudence, and wisdom. With so many virtues to constantly abide by, a man cannot know if he has led a happy life until his life is nearly finished. In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’ Connor, the question is
"Adversity defines the essence of who we are and who we desire to be!" This can be best realized in the rural southern regions of the United States during the late 19 forties and early fifties. Without a specific location of long-term concentration, this story finds three generations of a family taking a vacation (planning at least) to Florida despite objections from the grandmother. Factor in her impatient son (Bailey), his wife, and two smart-ass children have marginal respect for their grandmother resulting in a crew of authoritative, uncertainty, distant, and manipulative people about to engage on a trip that ends with certain doom for all with a twist indicative of self preservation and ironic irritation.
The misfit, despite his violent nature, engages in philosophical discussions about the nature of belief, and the existence of moral absolutes. He
The other identity mask that the Misfit puts on is the mask of the Lone Ranger. He, though, is not looked upon as a white Lone Ranger, but a black Lone Ranger. The mixture of good and evil inside of him is a meanness in whole. He feels that he has saved the grandmother by shooting her. He even turns to one of his two henchmen, Bobby Lee, and tells him something along the line of that she would have been a good woman if she would have had someone there to shoot her all the time. The only pleasure that the Misfit got out of killing grandmother is the meanness behind the action.
I firmly believe that people reap what they sew. In the story, “ A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the grand mother is a prime example of this scenario. Her pathetic ploys and acts of deviance cause harm to the family throughout the story and it ends up coming back to her in the end. You can tell that harms is inevitable for the family by some of the clues that are found in the grandmother’s
One of the most memorable lines from “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” comes from the Misfit when he says, “She would have been a good woman if it had been someone there to shoot her for every minute of her life (O’Connor 309).” Flannery O’Connor’s depiction of Christian faith can be seen in almost all of her works. Inevitably, the plots in all of O’Connor’s stories end with a shocking conclusion, and this leaves the reader with freedom to interpret the central idea. From the endless list of themes that O’Connor embeds into her stories, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” is largely influenced by divine grace, hypocrisy, bitter reality, and white supremacy.
Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a perfect example of how one wrong turn can change a person’s life for better or worse. O’Connor’s story is about a family taking a trip from Tennessee to Florida, and while on their trip they have the unfortunate encounter with a man named “the Misfit”. This man had recently escaped from prison and was very dangerous. During the trip the Grandmother expressed her memories of a home she used to visit as a child, which peaked the interest of the two young children in the car. However, memories can be deceiving and the Grandmother’s memory failed her in this instance.
As she moves towards him she murmurs, "Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my children." (137) As if in a trance from the old lady’s discussion about God and forgiveness, the Misfit recoils from her touch and shoots her three times. Although the grandmother is unable to change the Misfit’s habit of killing, her pure soul at the end of her life shocks the killer. He finally realizes that there are some truly innocent victims and after killing the old lady, he sees that his life no longer means anything.
This paper will present a rhetorical context for the use of violence in the short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” as she presented in her essay “The Element of Suspense.” The form of classical tragedy in this story will also be analyzed from the critical theories of Aristotle and Longinus. Tolstoy will be used to examine the use Christian symbolism. Nietzsche will provide a more well-rounded universal conclusion to the uses of tragedy and spiritual elements in this classic story.
His road however was quite different. The Misfit was only briefly mentioned at the beginning of the story. He was a criminal on the loose and was headed towards Florida. The author didn’t bring him into the story until closer to the end, which made this very dramatic. The Misfit seemed to be very unpredictable when he was first brought into the picture, once the accident happened.
Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find’ tells of a seemingly normal family with a bit of dysfunction. Throughout this tale, the author fabricates a number of characters, some inconsiderable, others full of depth and history that present themselves wildly open to interpretation. Looking into O’Connor’s past, it is clear to see her relationship with a number of these fictional minds and pull from these the meaning behind her hidden pain and anguish. We are therefore presented with a mother and sons family who are prisoners in a manipulative, destructive relationship.
Many people today do not believe in God, asking for proofs for his existence. Flannery O'Connor, raised in a very religious family, writes a short story "A good man is hard to find" to show readers that faith is very important and should be a part of everyone's life. To substantiate her belief, she confronts two characters with different views on religion - the grandmother, a woman who finds hope and salvation in faith, and The Misfit, an unbeliever and truly evil man. The plot of the story begins when the family has an accident and meets an escaped murderer, whom grandmother recognizes as The Misfit. She starts a conversation with him trying to convince him to spare their lives because he is "a good man at heart" (10), from a good family.
With his violent killing, the Misfit seems an unlikely source to look to for guidance, but he demonstrates a deep conviction that the other characters lack. Unlike the grandmother, who simply assumes that she is morally superior to everyone else, the Misfit seriously questions the meaning of life and his role in it. He has carefully considered his actions in life and examined his experiences to find lessons within them. He has even renamed himself because of one of these lessons, believing that his punishment didn’t fit the crime. He reveals a self-awareness that the grandmother lacked and questions it. He knows he is not a great man, but he also knows that there are others worse than him. He forms rudimentary philosophies, such as “no pleasure but meanness” and “the crime don’t matter.” The Misfit’s philosophies may be morally corrupt, but they are consistent. Unlike the grandmother, whose moral code falls apart the moment it’s challenged, the Misfit has a steady view of life and acts according to what he believes is right. His beliefs and actions
An item that has a deeper meaning to it sometimes it can be something small but can take it to the next level and give it a meaning. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” they are on the road and grandmother woke up remembering an old house she visited when she was young. Since she knew Bailey wouldn't want to go look at an old house, she lyed by saying “all the family silver was hidden in it… but it was never found (448)” Her lying to her son just to take her to a place she hasn't been in years must be awful but as the reader can see she is doing anything to visit the place. The house is a symbol of the past because to the grandmother it brings back memories of her childhood. In “Everything that Rises Must Converge” Julian and his mother were on
In the Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” we find out that the title indicates of what the story is about. The title actually came from the lyrics of a song written by Eddie Green in 1918. The title of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner is quite ironic really. The reader expects to eventually find a good man in the story, but is quite surprised at the ending of the story. The title "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is expressed clearly in this story by introducing a variety of male personalities that all have one thing in common; they are not truly good men.