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Tone In The Grandmother, By Flannery O Connor

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O'Connor’s incorporation of tone allows the reader to understand that the feelings made by the environment and characters are important to the theme of the story due to its effect specifically on the grandmother. At the beginning of the story when the family invites the grandmother on a road trip to Florida, she begins to complain stating that “the children have been to Florida before...You all ought to take them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be broad” (O’Connor 501 ). This tone from the grandmother can be portrayed as bossy and authoritative even though she attempts to disguise it with an excuse of bettering her grandchildren even though the family did not have to invite her on the trip. The …show more content…

The symbolism of the grandmother in the story shows how individuals may act when they are attempting to impress a group of people. This is proven in the story when the grandmother tries to portray herself as being well mannered but is instead perceived as very rude by the family. When the grandmother snuck her cat into the family car this symbolized the suffering and misfortune that was brought amongst the family on the road trip. The cat’s importance in causing the death of the family is highlighted in William Bonney’s analysis paper “ The Moral Structure of Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find”. He describes the grandmother’s selfishness for bringing the cat on the trip stating, “The grandmother’s pious and altruistic motives in the title story are undone when she selfishly protects her sense of order by smuggling her pampered cat...on the vacation trip against her son’s wishes” (Bonney 352). As the story continues, the relationship between the grandmother and the mom is divulged when the two argue about how each other hold themselves. Demonstrated when the grandmother states that the “Mother still had on slacks and still had her head tied up in a green kerchief” symbolizing her lack of care towards her public appearance (O’Connor 501). On the other hand, the grandmother is described as wearing “collars [that] were white organdy trimmed with lace” symbolizing that she is well mannered and holds herself to a higher standard caring about her public appearance (O’Connor 501). Continuing on in the story, the reader is introduced to a dark and mysterious man known as the Misfit. The significance behind the Misfit’s name comes from his experience with the law stating that “because I can't make what all I done wrong fit what I gone through in punishment”

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