Good To The Misfit

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.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” tells a twisted story of a typical family going about a road trip embedded with ethical pit stops along the way. The story revolves around a cynical grandmother and how her unconventional attitude and habits set the stage for an interesting turn of events. Through manipulative antics, a prejudice character and an ironic story line, author Flannery O’Conner creates a captivating tale that shines a lights on readers’ own moral codes. The author does this by making an example of a woman completely unaware of her own immoral acts.

An ardent Catholic as she was, Flannery O’Connor astonishes and puzzles the readers of her most frequently compiled work, A Good Man Is Hard to Find. It is the violence, carnage, injustice and dark nooks of Christian beliefs of the characters that they consider so interesting yet shocking at the same time. The story abounds in Christian motifs, both easy and complicated to decipher. We do not find it conclusive that the world is governed by inevitable predestination or evil incorporated, though. A deeper meaning needs to be discovered in the text. The most astonishing passages in the story are those when the Grandmother is left face to face with the Misfit and they both discuss serious religious matters. But at the same time it is the

In the Flannery O'Connor story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the author introduces us the grandmother’s characteristics in the beginning. The grandmother thinks she is superior to everyone else because she is a “lady." She judges others and criticized Bailey wife because she believes the mother doesn't take the children somewhere abroad. She is dishonest, dissimulation, and selfish. The Misfit appears at the end of the story. He is showing that he doesn't care about anything or believes in Christ or religious matter. The grandmother tries to influence him that he can be a good person. The grandmother is a contributing factor that tries to show the Misfit that he can be a good man. The grandmother was in fault of being selfish. The moral

The story provides evidence that good and evil can not be determined by one contributing action. An individual who wants to assist those is not considered the same type of good man as an individual who has respectable morals, but still decides to murder. O’Conner illustrates to the reader that The Misfit was considered a good man because both he and the grandmother shared the same values, so she believed he would never shoot a woman. The grandmother believed Red Sammy to be a good man because he was humble to an individual who he felt was in need. The Misfit was still considered evil he killed the family, but the grandmother insisted that he was good.

As Bandy mentions, the grandmother and the misfit are often intertwined in many critics’ reviews of A Good Man is Hard to Find (1). One of the most obvious ironies they share is that you perceive one as being the opposite of the other for the wrong reasons. With the grandmother, as stated before, one may assume her to be a good person, while she is in fact the opposite. While the Misfit would most likely be associated as a murderer and a horrible monster, he in fact is a decent human being. Wynne emphasizes the humor in the grandmother’s attempt to save herself by calling the Misfit one of her children (1). As if she is good and therefore he, being of the same good blood, must also be good. In these aspects I completely agree with these writer’s interpretations of the grandmother and the

The grandmother replies to Red Sammy stating that he did that due to the fact that he is “a good man.” The Grandmother further applies the phrase good man to the Misfit. The Grandmother asks the Misfit, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” (1,049). Misfit replies, “I would hate to have to” (1,049). The Grandmother believes that Misfit is a good man based on this even though The Misfit hates to accept that he would not shoot a lady. She further complains that the family should never abandon their doors open without the worry of burglary as they have always done. She places part of the blame on Europe for her nation’s decline and curses Europeans for spending a lot as thrift appears to be another aspect of her definition of decency. Curley argues that the Grandmother’s sense of goodness is built on traditional morals (Curley 47). In fact, in the wake of the imminent cruel murder, she believes that her old age and “respectability” will stop the Misfit from hurting her. But for Misfit, the definition of a good man is futile. He believes that he is not always a good

In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the title “good” is brought into question as a story that presents the moral complications of an old woman and a convict unfolds in a rather elaborate net of events. The old woman, a grandmother, who believes she’s superior to others by being a “lady” manages to press judgment on a man, the convict, who lacks the lenience in moral belief to accept criticism due to his own powerful convections and self-awareness. He’s a man with a different set of morals that seem to be carefully considered through experience and reflection, the question then becomes who considers themselves to be “good” and how does the meaning of “good” change as the main characters of this complicated tale interact? In the beginning of the story the grandmother is worried about taking a trip to Florida, because the Misfit, an escaped convict is headed there.

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.

Using the word “good” for the qualities that she believe should be in people, the grandmother sets a proper standard. She tells Red Sammy that he is “…a good man” (O’Connor 409). Red Sammy and the grandmother begin to talk about how times have changed. He and the grandmother discuss when times were better. Red Sammy conveys the title of the story by commenting on how it isn’t easy to trust people “A good man is hard to find. Everything is terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more.” (O’Connor 409). The grandmother continues by saying that Europe was to blame.

Good is defined, by The Oxford Dictionary, as “that which is morally right”. Throughout history, the definition of “good” has been analyzed, in order for the true meaning, of this abstract word to be revealed. Through the interactions between the Misfit and the Grandmother, Flannery O’Connor exposes the dark side of human nature, showing the dangerous classification, of individuals as innately “good” or innately “bad”. The exigence of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is to reveal the rigidity of society’s concepts of “good” and “bad”.

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

The grandmother, the main character of the story, is manipulative. Her definition of a ‘good man’ refers to the characteristics that a ‘good man’ should possess.

I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!” (O’Connor 355). She is pleading the Misfit for her life only by saying the word lady repeatedly and offering him the money. She is also praising the Misfit by calling him a good man and trying to save her life. She was also careless about her family. When her family is taken down into the woods, she continues to talk to Misfit. She ignores the sound of when her son and rest of the family were being shot. She is apparently oblivious to many things. She was ignoring everything but the Misfit. “The shirt came flying at him and landed on his shoulders and he put it on. The grandmother couldn’t name what the shirt reminded her of” (O’Connor 354). The grandmother doesn’t even realize that shirt was her son Baileys. She had no interest in knowing where that shirt came from and what happened to my family. For the concern of her life only, she tries to persuade the Misfit the same way she tried with her family. “I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people!” (O’Connor 352). She is trying to manipulate the Misfit and hopes that he will bear her. She is thinking about no one else but the sake for herself. However she fails once again to influence the Misfit.

The grandmother believes The Misfit is “good” because he will not shoot a lady, which is a denial in her faith to keep her moral principles. Her theory proves to be false. The only thing “good” about the Misfit is his uniformity in living out his moral cipher of there is no pleasure but meanness in life.