Rhetorical Analysis Of O ' Connor 's `` A Good Man Is Hard And Find ``

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor uses grotesque and flawed characters to reflect her own faith on the Roman Catholic Church. Set in the rural South during the 1950s, O’Connor takes readers on a journey from a satiric family comedy to a brutal cold blooded murder. An analysis of O’Connor’s use of religious symbolism and foreshadowing through characters and setting will be conducted in order to better understand her views and faith of the Catholic Church. This paper will also argue the belief that religious wisdom is the key for moral guidance.

A literal interpretation of the grandmother portrays an elderly southern woman attempting to maintain the proper and genteel values of the South. The grandmother places great importance on her appearance and the opinions of others. This importance is revealed at the beginning of their journey when the story compares the grandmother, a reflection of the past, to the daughter-in-law, a reflection of the present:

Flannery O’Connor also begins her story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” with the introduction of Grandma, the main character. The grandmother appears to represent godliness and Christianity. She is said in the story to have “lacked comprehension, but… had a good heart”.

Filled with imagery and foreshadowing, Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” uses in-depth, symbolic diction to tell the carefully layered story. Although this work utilizes many colors to enhance ideas, the most common and powerful colors were red and black. There were many instances within the story when red and black foreshadowed the family’s impending death. Although there may be many forms of unintended or intended symbolism within the story, these two colors were instrumental in the formulation of its message.

In the twentieth century, Flannery O’Connor was recognized for his characters to be lacking in spirituality. In the story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” this is portrayed by the grandmother who revealed the caution of the Misfit. However, it was the grandmother’s actions that foreshadowed the gory ending to the story. This novel takes place In Georgia in the 1940s and in the second part it takes place in a ditch in the middle of nowhere where the family has a car accident. Flannery O’Conner uses foreshadowing in a Good Man Is Hard To Find to clue the reader about future events caused by the misfit.

The use of foreshadowing in the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” helps the reader create a prediction of what might happen further on in the story. O’Connor uses the Grandmother to be the main speaking force, at which she warns her family about the “Misfit” breaking free from prison and on the run. Grandma says, “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it” (498). The Grandmother disapproves of her family traveling to Florida since the Misfit is on the loose and heading towards Florida as well. This is foreshadowing that predicts that the family will eventually run into the Misfit during their travel. While on the road, the family gets into a car accident where they end up running into the Misfit

After I read the story over for a second time, a lot of symbolic quotes stuck out to me. On page 45, the town that the family drove through was called ‘Toomsboro”. When I first read the story, I didn 't think anything of it but after reading it for a second time and knowing whats about to happen I realized that it was symbolic as

In Flannery O’Connor’s, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, a family gets into a car accident while on road trip. A car pulls up on the side of the road and three men get out. When the grandmother realizes that one of the men is an escaped convict who is looking for trouble she tries to persuade the Misfit to spare her life. Unfortunately, all of the family members are killed with no remorse because of the grandmother’s selfish morals to push to save her own life instead of others. The turning point begins when the grandmother is alone speaking with the Misfit after her family members have been killed.

In Flannery O’Conner’s story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” was her most famous piece of literature in her short career. We will also discuss the many foreshadows that go on in this story and what they necessarily mean to the characters and the story itself. This story she uses ones violence to achieve salvation by forgiving the very person the harm was done to. In this essay we will discuss how the very idea of salvation/grace can be interpreted in the very violence that salvation/grace would not usually survive.

The family consists of the grandmother, the father, the mother and three children. The grandmother attempts to persuade her son to go to Tennessee rather than Florida because she is worried about a criminal on the loose who is also going to Florida. On the road to Florida they take a side road for the reason that the grandmother wants to see an old house. The father refuses to take that side road, but he gives up after the children begin to insist. To

    “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” one of O’Connor’s best works, describes a family on a trip to Florida and their encounter with an escaped prisoner, The Misfit. Although “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is an early work in O’Connor’s career, it contains many of the elements which are used in the majority of her short stories. The grandmother, a selfish and deceitful woman, is a recipient of a moment of grace, despite her many flaws and sins. A moment of grace is a revelation of truth. When the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and reaches out to touch him, the grandmother has a moment of grace that enabled her to see The Misfit as a suffering human being who she is obligated to love. The grandmother realizes that nothing will stop The Misfit from killing her but she reaches out to him despite this. The Misfit rejects her love and kills her anyway. This moment of grace is very important

A Good Man is Hard to Find Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find is filled with foreshadowing which the first time reader will not grasp, but leaps out of the pages for repeated readers. When first read, A Good Man is Hard to Find, the reader does not value the importance of the grandmother charter and her warning. She is thought to just be a rambling, nagging old lady. Even the grandmother does not realize the importance of what she is saying. The grandmother warns of the misfit in the first paragraph of the novel, “’Here this fellow calls himself the Misfit is loose from the federal pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people.”’ The first time reader simply sees

The short story “A Good Man is Hard To Find” is an intellectual dialog that has hidden meanings in each character. It’s important to note that there is no hero in this story because each character is in need for redemption. Specially, the Grandmother, whose character is most expressed throughout the short story, is in need for grace. Similar to the other characters, the Grandmother is selfish and mostly complains and manipulates others to get what she wants. In addition to that, the Grandmother’s character is flawed and is in need for redemption. Notably, this can be seen in the interactions between the Grandmother and the other characters of the story. Also, the Grandmother has no principles of her actions but except for the motive of vanity and the way she views herself. For one example, the Grandmother is with her family on a long road trip and dresses very eloquently as if she was attending a wedding (O'Connor 137). The Grandmother expresses that if there were an accident, people would know she was a lady because of the way she was dresses (O'Connor 137). With this in mind, the character of the Grandmother shows that her principles are selfish. Overall, the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor is about a grandmother’s need for redemption which is expressed by her interactions on the road trip with her family, her encounter with the Misfit and how she views a good man.

As discussed earlier, Southern Gothic includes irrational, evil, and horrific thoughts, many which seem to contradict one another without a deeper look into their true meaning. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a story seemingly fully made with these contradictions and examples of Southern Gothic literature. This is mostly seen through the behavior of the Grandmother. Throughout the beginning of the story, she almost makes herself appear a protagonist and reveals her cruel selfishness. The Grandmother even accused her own son, Bailey, of putting his own kids in danger just to get him to change his mind for her own personal gain (O’Connor 5). Furthermore, the Grandmother makes racist comments regarding a black child to her grandchildren in the car (O’Connor 10). Ironically, the Grandmother sees herself as “a valiant defender on social decorum in a world of barbarians” (Bandy 114). Once faced with the potential of death at the hands of the Misfit, the Grandmother’s tune changes to her religious beliefs and tries to convince the bandit of her way of moral thinking (O’Connor 28). Bandy continues and accuses the Grandmother of this hypocrisy by stating that the Misfit has given a greater deal of thought into Jesus than she ever has (114). These extreme examples of good and evil through the Grandmother’s journey in this story do not seek to explain or answer the hypocrisy we all share, but solely to show the tragic reality of the human condition in a uniquely Southern Gothic

The grandmother who was not named in the Story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor, had a larger than life personality and she likes to pass judgement on to others. This character lived with her son Bailey, her daughter in-law and her two grandchildren in the state of Georgia. The grandmother is the main character in this story, she is smart, ladylike, judgmental, and the whole story revolves around her.