A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor Essay

In O’connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” the author writes this story with a strong focus on religion and faith. O’connor does not give the two main characters names, the grandmother and the misfit, in representation of the human race in which good and evil exist. The grandmother is one of the three main characters who are not given a name, along with the children’s mother and the misfit. At the same time, since the grandmother is only referred to as the grandmother, O’Connor uses this character to represent the everyday person. The character of the grandmother is self centered and at times manipulative “She wanted to visit some of her connections in Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind.”

In today’s society, several individuals have come across a point where they were on the verge of the death. Murder is constantly being thrown across headlines, news reports, and social media throughout America. It has become a disastrous factor throughout many individual’ lives. Viewing families suffer from their lost loved ones, as well as the murder of innocent lives have been tremendously relevant in today’s society. What many individuals fail to understand, is what actually happens during their last seconds on earth. Throughout the short story, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” O’Connor uses a Grandmother to convey to the readers the actually value of goodness an individual tends to gain when confronted with death. Just as revealed in the short story, violence frequently triggers an individual’s actions when presented with death. In “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” Flannery O’Connor uses theme, conflict, and religion in order to portray the false acts of goodness projected by the grandmother.

Flannery O’Connor had her roots set in Milledgeville, Georgia, which happens to be one of many states that when combined, form what is known as the “Bible Belt” of America. In respect to this, O’Connor talks about her beliefs: “This means that for me the meaning of life is centered in our Redemption by Christ and what I see in the world I see in relation to that” (O’Connor 482-483). As O’Connor was a devout Catholic, violence was not a direct preaching, but Joyce Carol Oates writes that “succumbing to the divine through violence . . . is immediate and irreparable” (O’Connor 483). By utilizing the element of setting, to surround the reader in Southern culture and heritage; as well as her blunt use of foreshadowing, to keep the action

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor challenges readers to look at life through a different lense and causes her audience to make connections to the modern world from the text. Throughout the entire story, O’Connor addresses issues that are still relevant to this day by thoroughly developing each character and using each character to bring up issues that are intriguing to the audience. A Good Man is Hard to Find is a story that challenges readers to make connections and think about the world through a different lense. These thought provoking qualities are the reasons why A Good Man is Hard to Find is a must read for readers of all ages.

During the family trip in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” to Georgia, the grandmother attempts to exude a lady-like facade. The grandmother wears “white cotton gloves...a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets … a

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” I connected with the grandmother. However, I did not connect with her throughout the story, only towards the end when she is alone with The Misfit. “You

Flannery O’Conner grew up in the backwoods of Georgia, where she found her inspiration for her writing. Her Southern heritage was not the only thing that influenced her though; often her Roman Catholic faith would impact her stories as well (Ellis 35-36). She described herself as a “Catholic peculiarly possessed of the modern consciousness” (qtd. in Hubbard 38) and stated that “the best of [her] work sounded like the old testament would sound if it were being written today” (qtd. in Kreyling 85). As such, O’Conner is known for her portrayal of religious themes throughout her writings. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Conner utilizes violence in order to develop the grandmother’s character within the story, and by doing so, she is able to demonstrate the difference between having a moral code and being virtuous.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find,” written by Flannery O’Connor tells the story of a dysfunctional family headed to vacation and their inevitable death. The family, including their matriarch, the grandmother, represents the delusion perfection that many modern Christians have. The family displays an extreme sense of vanity, self-centeredness, and disobedience during the first half of the story. The first half of the story does not follow a specific pattern nor does it hold significance to the family’s lives. O’Connor uses the first half of the story to show her audience that the family is heading down a path of destruction due to their narcissism and current lifestyle. In the second half of the story, O’Connor quickly introduces the

Born in 1925, the Southern author Flannery O’Connor focused on writing in a Southern Gothic style deeply rooted in religion. Her stories examine the ideas of morality and ethics; in this case, she focused mainly on goodness and evil. She also includes different literary devices to show her overall meaning in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. She ends with violence as a way to show the characters coming back to reality and finding their moment of grace. In the short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” O’Connor employs the use of foreshadowing and irony as a narrative device, establishing a sense of tragedy and challenging the thoughts on goodness and morality.

Throughout "A Good Man is Hard to Find," characters profess and act upon superficial and distorted moral codes, which are often at odds with their true natures or the expectations of society. For instance, the grandmother's tag as a lady of supposed high standards is contradicted by her manipulative and selfish behavior, evidence of the duality within her character. Her hat, the emblem of her self-proclaimed ladylike status, becomes meaningless in the face of her ultimate fate. This irony not only serves to unsettle the reader, but also to critique the false moral righteousness of individuals. My analysis of these contrasts reveals O'Connor's commentary on the flawed perception of goodness; the characters' actions speak louder than their empty claims to morality.

The self-righteousness of mankind has plagued the world since the beginning of time. Through this story and the similarity of unassured similarity of the characters the author shows the swiftness in which accusations are strung about, only to see that the accuser is full of sin as well. Flannery O’Connor attempts to convey this message in the story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Upon introduction to the Grandmother, the reader is expected to see her as a strong willed woman who is set in her ways, and indirectly attempts to attain her desires by careful manipulation, yet, in the end, she meets her demise. Another character, The Misfit, has escaped prison and is on the loose in the Deep South, terrorizing all that he encounters.

Perhaps lingering memories of times past allow grandmother to conclude that good men are hard to find. While grandma comments that he is a good man, his wife comes to the table with the food and a contributing thought that no one can be trusted (as she looks at Red). To this point, even a routine stop for a bite to eat never escapes the harsh realities of the grandmother as she tries to deal with choices, and the resulting consequences from her youth.

In response to the grandmother calling him a good man, he says, “Nome, I ain’t a good man, but I ain’t the worst in the world neither” (83). He acknowledges the fact that he isn’t a good man, and accepts it. The grandmother compared to the Misfit is inconsistent, and unaware of how she is not living up to her own

Many people have a different definition of a “good” man. Flannery O’ Connor short-story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” gives readers a brief view on the subject. In the story the foundation for what makes a good man seems to only come from the grandmother. However when she is faces with a disadvantage by Misfit, he puts a twist on her views, and shatters that foundation. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is neither a happy nor sad story, both characters have many flaws and seem undeserving, but through an unexpected encounter they both found grace and redemption.

In the short story, “The Good Man Is Hard to Find” the grandmother describes a “good man” vaguely. The grandmother pertains the label “good” broadly, putting a shadow over the definition