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Characterization In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

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Exploring the idea that all men are born sinners, O’Connor demonstrates immoral indulgences entertained by various characters. Readers are introduced to grandmother, an elderly woman whose consistent unscrupulous behavior exhibits her inner motives. Grandmother uses subtle, indirect confrontation to get her way until she is faced with The Misfit, a runaway criminal who believes that crime is a justifiable. In “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” Flannery O’Connor uses characterization to display a loss of morals, imagery to portray evil in society, and symbolism to emphasize the struggle of obtaining grace to prove how life is nihilistic without religion. Characterization is used not only to amuse readers, but to also display an understanding of human nature, in this case a decline in values. June Star is described as critical with a nasty motormouth. She is rude to everyone surrounding her although adults seem to find her charming; “’Ain’t she cute?’ Red Sam’s wife said leaning over the counter. ‘Would you like to come be my little girl?’ ‘No I certainly wouldn’t,’ June Star said. ‘I wouldn’t live in a broken-down place like this for a million bucks!’ and she ran back to the table. ‘Ain’t she cute?’ the woman repeated, stretching her mouth politely. ‘Aren’t you ashamed?’ hissed the grandmother” (O’Connor 121). In life, there are a multitude of ways to reply to various comments and she could have courteously declined. Her response allows her to be represented with an absence of

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