Category: A Good Man is Hard to Find

A Good Man is Hard to Find is a fiction book and a collection of short stories written by Flannery OConnor. In the short story with the same title, the author focuses on the story of a familys vacation to Florida, during which this family meets a criminal named The Misfit. This research paper will focus on the analysis of Flannery OConnors A Good Man is Hard to Find.

A Good Man is Hard to Find is a book about a family trip that reveals some of the common interpersonal conflicts. The main characters of this story are the grandmother, her son Bailey, Baileys wife, and John Wesley. First, it is important to understand the plot of The Good Man is Hard to Find to analyze the themes and literary devices the author used. This book begins with the grandmother trying to persuade her son, Bailey, and his wife to spend their vacation in east Tennessee rather than Florida (Mambrol). She mentions a story about the Misfit, an escaped criminal on his way to Florida, and says the kids have already been there. Eight-year-old John Wesley urges that his grandma stays at home, but his sister, June Star, snarls that his grandmother would never do such a thing. One important aspect of this story is that it is told from the viewpoint of the grandmother, who is depicted as a selfish woman (Merchant 50). In the end, her choices and attitude towards her family cause the death of her family.

The grandma conceals her cat, Pitty Sing, in a basket in the car on the day of the trip. She dresses up and wears a hat with flowers on it so that if there is an accident, people would recognize her as a lady (OConnor 10). This shows the values that this grandmother has, as she is more concerned about how she would be seen in case of an accident, but she is not concerned with the life and well-being of her family. In the automobile, John Wesley expresses his dislike for Georgia, and his grandmother chastises him for disrespecting his native state (OConnor 10). Again, this shows the grandmothers lack of respect and affection for her family, which is an important theme of this story. When they travel through a cotton field, she remarks that there are plantation tombs in the center of it and quips that the plantation has Gone with the Wind (OConnor 15). She later narrates a story about an old suitor named Edgar Atkins Teagarden. Every week, Edgar gave her a watermelon cut with his initials, E. A. T. He once put it on the porch, and a black youngster ate it because he mistook the word eat for eat (OConnor 10). Over the course of this story, this family meets the criminal whose name is The Misfit. The latter steals the familys car their belongings and murders all members of this family.

One of the main themes of this short story is the grandmothers inadequate views on life and her values that, in the end, cause her and her familys death. One issue is that this grandmother puts the label good on anybody and everything, distorting the idea of a good guy until the title loses all significance (Actis). She initially uses it on a character named Red Sammy after he angrily rants about peoples overall untrustworthiness. He asks her why he allowed two strangers to charge their gasoline, and she responds he did it because hes a wonderful man (OConnor 12). Evidently, this episode shows that the grandmothers definition of good in this case appears to encompass gullibility, poor judgment, and blind trust and does not relate to the qualities of actually good people.

Moreover, this lack of judgment of the grandmother leads to her trusting a criminal who caused the death of her family at the end of the story. The Misfit is also labeled as good by her, despite his behavior (Sustana). When she identifies him, she asks him whether hed shoot a lady, but he never replies he would not, which the grandmother should have perceived as a sign that this is a bad man. Another aspect of this story is that the author never provides a name for the grandmother. The other characters have names, or some titles that identify them, for example, the Misfit. Hence, this short story prompts the readers to reflect on the relationships within a family and the lack of logical thinking and judgment of the grandmother that leads to a family tragedy.

In summary, this paper is a research on Flannery OConnors A Good Man is Hard to Find. This story is a fictional text which focuses on a family trip to Florida. Over the course of this trip, the family argues and meets a criminal. The plot of this story aims to show the selfishness and individualism of the grandmother. Moreover, the grandmothers lack of judgment that manifests in her labeling each person a good life eventually caused her and her familys death.

Works Cited

Actis, Leela. The Grotesque as a Tool of The Past in as I Lay Dying and A Good Man is Hard To Find, UVM Scholarworks, 2022, Web.

Mambrol, Nasrullah. Analysis Of Flannery OConnorS A Good Man Is Hard To Find. Literary Theory And Criticism, 2021, Web.

Merchant, Adrienne. Good vs. Evil as Seen in the Characterization of A Good Man is Hard to Find. Science Fiction, Web.

OConnor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing: Custom Edition, edited by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Prentice Hall, 2011, pp. 1-12.

Sustana, Catherine. Humor and Violence in Flannery OConnors A Good Man Is Hard to Find, ThoughCo, Web.

The story A Good Man is Hard to Find written by Flannery OConnor is considered to be rather tragic through the authors breakage of traditional happy ends. The short story is rich in literary devices and expressive means; OConnor managed to create a symbolic and imaginative work provoking and stimulating the readers to various considerations. Critical analysis of the story shows that the basic theme expressed by OConnor was that of foreshadowing highlighted through symbolism and imagination.

The centralization of Misfit at the very beginning of the story who is the killer of the family tells about the authors highlighting the concept of death. Grandmother embodied the features and feeling of death foreshadowing throughout the whole story. Not in vain the character does not want to go to Florida and being ignored she strives not to live a family even for a moment; it is like the feeling of tragedy foreshadowing and death coming presented through the grandmother.

She wouldnt stay at home for a million buck. She has to go everywhere we go (OConnor, 118).

The grandmothers desire to follow every step of the family is a kind of indication that she will suffer the same end as her family. (DiYanni, 2003) The imaginary of foreshadowing was illustrated by the author through the grandmothers dress she put on for a trip.

&a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print (OConnor,118).

The author managed to use the symbolization of death. After the death people are to be dressed in the best clothes they have; so, the grandmother was dressed in her favorite outfit as if she felt her end. OConnor underlines this aspect through the usage of imaginary:

&in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady. (OConnor, 119).

It is the grandmothers prediction of her death being completely unaware of it. Even though the feeling of death was embodied in the grandmothers character, her behavior contradicted it completely. (El-Haggan, 1998).

The symbolization and imagination can be observed throughout the whole story. The illustration of graves is considered to be one more foreshadowing symbol of the familys end.

&passed by a cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island (OConnor, 119).

It should be stressed that the number of graves was provided not accidentally because they fit the number of family members traveling to Florida. Five or six is used to denote five family members and a baby. The next symbol depicted by the author is devoted to the plantation.

Wheres the plantation?  John Wesley asked.
Gone with the Wind  said the grandmother. Ha. Ha.  (OConnor, 120).

Gone with the wind plantation is considered to be the authors symbolization of the family state as the death at the end of the story made their souls be gone with the wind either. (Bernardo, Karen).

OConnor seems to prepare the readers for the destiny of the family expected at the end. She tried to insert symbols everywhere, even in the name of the town being the place of a family death. The name of the place is Toombsboro; symbolically this title can be divided into two parts  Tombs and Bury. Involvement of southern accent provides the name Tombsbury which is similar to the original title. Further on the author tries to introduce imaginary death foreshadowing through the conversation between Misfit and the grandmother. Misfits reply to grandmothers answer symbolizes a tight grave through the description of the jail cell.

Turn to the left, it was a wall. Look up it was a ceiling, look down it was a floor (OConnor, 130).

OConnor strived to show that a tight grave for the soul is like a jail cell for the person. The realization of death is symbolized by the author at the end of the story when the grandmother stressed the importance of prayer.

It was the same case with him (Jesus) as with me except He hadnt committed any crime and they could prove I had committed one (OConnor, 131).

This imagination is represented in the role of executioner and jury for the grandmother and the whole family. (El-Haggan, 1998).

So, it is important to stress that the story A Good Man is Hard to Find is the illustration of the concept of death foreshadowing depicted through imaginary and symbolization of characters behavior and events in their life. The number of imaginary such as graveyard, dress, and conversations on the topics of death were aimed at preparing the readers for the tragic end suffered by the family. One should note that the author successfully presented the theme of foreshadowing involving the readers and allowing them to predict the destiny of the characters. The story appeared to be appealing and thought-provoking; Flannery OConnors works are great contributions to the world of literature.

References

Bernardo, Karen. Flannery OConnor: A Good Man is Hard to Find. Web.

DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. McGraw-Hill Humanities. 2003.

El-Haggan, Rasha. Flannery OConnor: A Good Man is Hard to Find. University of Maryland Baltimore Country. 1998.

OConnor, Flannery. Collected Works. Library of America, 1300 pp. 1988.

Introduction

A Good Man Is Hard to Find by OConnor is a magnificent piece of writing in the genre of Gothic short stories. The works narrative concerns a family of Southerners planning to travel to Florida, where a murderous convict has been recently seen. As a result, the family is tragically killed by the criminal after an automobile crash (OConnor). The story has a rich setting, which provides the features of its main characters and helps to convey the theme in a new way.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find by OConnor

The storys title makes a reader expect a casual narrative about marriage troubles. Moreover, the first scenes of the work do not make the ending (murder of the family by The Misfit) obvious since the concerns about him come from the old lady who complains about everything. The storys narrator seems to convey the details neutrally, in the third person and past tense, as though a columnist observes them. The storys protagonist is the grandmother of the family. The antagonist is The Misfit; the other characters are vaguely described in work and play roles of the old ladys subjects to whom she can complain. The grandmother seems to be the only character that changes her behavior throughout the work. The story takes place at the beginning of the 19^th century, in the South of the US, which is relatively uniform wherever the characters go (OConnor). The author employs a gothic style, dark humor, and symbols, such as the grandmothers hat, which signifies that she is a lady of high descent. The theme of the story is the uselessness of the old-fashioned Southern moral.

Conclusion

To conclude, A Good Man Is Hard to Find by OConnor is an exciting and intriguing Gothic story with an unusual Southern setting. Its theme of the failure of the remnants of past notions about morals is demonstrated through its narrative and characters. As a result, the story creates an ironic atmosphere that ends in the emergence of a chilling feeling because of the unexpected finale.

Work Cited

OConnor, Flannery. A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Faber Stories. Main, Faber and Faber, 2019.

Introduction

A Good Man is Hard to Find is a short story written by Flannery OConnor in 1953 and is mostly known for its controversial and grim ending. OConnor, being a Southerner, has been mostly using a Southern Gothic style in her writings; this genre is usually referred to as macabre and ironic, filled with dark romanticism and mysticism, where characters often have questionable morality and doubtful sanity (Genre: Southern Gothic, par. 2-4). Flannery OConnors works, especially the collection of short stories of the same name, A Good Man is Hard to Find, have become the exemplary pieces illustrating the style, and as I have always wanted to learn more about Southern Gothic, it became a pleasure for me to begin my acquaintance with the abovementioned short story.

Discussing the main points

The plot of the story is somewhat twisted, although the intrigue is not too complicated and the major part of it is being revealed by the middle of the story; however, the main issues and attractions of the story are not the plot itself, but the underlying emotions and the amazing language used for the narrative and the voice of each character. Casey N. Cep, an author of a book review about OConnors life, agrees, that she creates exceptional characters, living in every story and breathing on every page of her prose, are always cold and dark; their inner lives, like their creators, are considered unworthy, impenetrable subjects (par. 4). Indeed, while none of the characters in any way calls forth a desire to be identified with (except, perhaps for Pitty Sing, the cat), their speech, behavior, and motives look relevant, although sometimes insane, and their descriptions are consistent, the author makes sure that none of them act out of character. For example, the criminal calling himself The Misfit speaks in a certain way that allows to distinguish him as an uneducated, simple man who tries to be pretentious; he is using fancy and polite figures of speech which he mangles and wears silver- rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look (OConnor 146), but no shirt or socks. This character is a good example of the grotesque depiction of reality, which is part of the technique, often used by OConnor in her writings. Another outstanding writing strategy is the use of allegory in an ironic sense and sardonic humor with which she narrates the story. The dramatic and the situation irony of the story is noticeable in the plot twist when the family is consistently following the path leading them to a meeting with the feared criminal and their deaths at his hand, and in the sarcastic narrative, the author uses to describe the appearance and the actions of the characters.

This work made me think of the paradoxical issues of spending ones life without any sense and the ways of searching and finding grace, which constitute the key in OConnors works. John McDermott, the researcher of OConnors writings, supports this idea: irrational paradox & is the cause of the storys varying interpretations &.this time-controlled paradox that has led to many false starts. The paradox steeped in mystery complements the intractable blindness of both the Grandmother and The Misfit. (1). While according to the name of the story, a good man is hard, almost impossible to find in the twisted reality presented by the author, however, arguably, the grace of understanding is eventually bestowed on the protagonist and the antagonist (Ochshorn 113-117), although in a specific manner Flannery OConnor has chosen to depict it. Grandmother, moments before her death, acknowledges her wrongdoings and searches for kinship in the man who murdered her family in a final attempt to save her life. The Misfit, a grim and weathered criminal who believes that there is no pleasure in life, acknowledges as well, that the old woman could have been a good person, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life. (OConnor 156), thus noting that a person can only keep virtue under constant supervision and surveillance, living at gunpoint.

Conclusion

I believe that OConnors absurdist and sardonic story teaches us to see the social and cultural issues behind the awkward setting of the Gothic South and to reveal the critical evaluation of modernity hidden by the ironic narrative. In a book named The Companion to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People, Movements, and Motifs can be found another statement, concerning OConnors works, with which I agree wholeheartedly: Stories can be read without full awareness of their theological overtones, and their comic context and realization of the appropriate Georgia scene in terms of locale, language and manners are also worthy of full appreciation (Flora, McKethan and Taylor 299). Indeed, the writing strategies and the style she uses makes readers think of familiar issues in a completely different way, looking from a completely different angle, and while it is rather difficult to identify oneself with the events described, eventually the reader may begin to develop some understanding of the characters in the story, their motives, and behavior; in the end, it may even become possible to grow fond of these weird and clueless fictional individuals.

Works Cited

Cep, Casey N. The Artist as Invalid. The Oxonian Review 9.1 (2009). Web.

Flora, Joseph M., Lucinda Hardwick MacKethan, and Todd W. Taylor. The Companion to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People, Movements, and Motifs. Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press, 2002. Print.

Genre: Southern Gothic 2004. Web.

McDermott, John V. Flannery OConnors Validation of the Unreasonable in A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Notes on Contemporary Literature 40.1 (2010). Questia. Web.

OConnor, Flannery. Collected Works: A Good Man is Hard to Find. New York, NY: Library of America, 1988. Print.

Ochshorn, Kathleen. A Cloak of Grace: Contradictions in A Good Man is Hard to Find. Studies in American Fiction 18.1 (1990):113117. Print.

Selfishness and individualism are the two main themes of A Good Man is Hard to Find. In essence, the grandmothers determination to fulfill her own selfish goals leads to the demise of her entire family as well as her own life. This essay examines the grandmother and the Misfit, characters who stand in for selfishness and individualism, and includes exposition of OConnors literary devices.

The strident individualism that propels the grandmothers fateful actions manifests itself squarely in the character of The Misfit. The Misfit, like the grandmother, focuses exclusively on himself and employs the other people around him as pawns meant to achieve his own selfish needs and wants (Hooten 198). The objectification of others  in the case of the grandmother this means the objectification of her own family  results in an overall loss of cohesiveness, wherein community holds no value (Hooten 198). Set adrift, peripatetic and aimlessly moving from one empty community to another, The Misfit exemplifies this void [as] the lost individual who relates to the community through constantly shifting roles (Hooten 198). Consequently, it is possible to comprehend the characterization of the Misfit as the manifestation of selfishness.

Throughout the story, OConnor also makes use of figurative language. In the phrase &the dust coated trees looking down on them, she employs personification (OConnor 193). Where no one else lived save them and only trees, it was to strengthen those relationships. By donning a layer of dust, the trees, which are inanimate objects, become lively. Then, as the trees looked down on them, they understood that it was obviously impossible.

All other characters are given names by OConnor, but the grandmother, who plays the primary role, is simply identified by role. The grandmothers personality emerges quickly and deeply despite having no name; she is preoccupied with decorum and the importance of being a lady, fascinated with looks, and tied to an ambiguous Southern past. The grandmother wears a navy blue straw sailor hat, collars and cuffs [that] were white organdy trimmed with lace, and a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet that OConnor describes as accessories that she pins at her neckline so that in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (OConnor 187). This characters despite being the drive force for the story is seen as minuscule due to the nature of her persona.

The grandmother exhibits selfish behavior by purposefully manipulating her family for her personal ends, with no remorse or repercussions. Even though Bailey has specifically forbidden the cat from sharing the motel room with them, she purposefully misleads her son Bailey about her cat, Pitty Sing, which she smuggles into the car underneath her big black valise that looked like the head of a hippopotamus (OConnor 186). After the automobile crash and subsequent run-in with The Misfit, Pitty Sing subsequently causes the deaths of the entire family.

Flannery OConnors worry that selfishness and rabid individuality throw people apart and encourage the marginalization of individuals like The Misfit is reflected in the short tale A Good Man is Hard to Find. With the exception of their social viability, the grandmothers character and that of The Misfit have very nothing in common. Both continue to be extremely egotistical individuals who would lie, steal, manipulate, and even kill in order to further their own goals. This selfishness and independence clash at a catastrophic point in Flannery OConnors hands and cause the deaths of five innocent individuals. Even worse, one of their own is responsible for the murder.

Work Cited

OConnor, Flannery. A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Avon Book Of Modern Writing. Ed. William Phillips. New York: Avon Publication, 1953, 186-199. Web

Hooten, Jessica. Individualism in OConnors A Good Man is Hard to Find. The Explicator 66.4 (2008): 197-198. Web

Introduction

The short story A Good Man is Hard to Find, written by Flannery OConnor, which holds the same title as her debut collection of short stories published in 1955, is deemed as her most disturbing work of fiction given its content. It is dark, and it centers upon two personality traits that are not uncommon in people  selfishness and individualism. The analysis presents a view on them in retrospect to the main characters of the story  The Grandmother and The Misfit.

Main body

A Good Man is Hard to Find opens with a household discussion of a plan being made for a tour to Florida. The introduction of the characters happens gradually, but the main accent is put on the morally correct grandmother. The Grandmother, who with the later introduced Misfit, holds the most ground for analysis, lives with her son Bailey and his wife, alongside their two children. After waking up from a nap and having sneaked her cat in, underneath her big black valise that looked like the head of a hippopotamus, she comes up with an idea to revisit an old plantation, a little past a place called Toomsboro (OConnor 2). The son is reluctant but gives in on the basis that his children are driving him crazy. The cat that was sneaked in before jumps on his shoulders and causes a car wreck.

The two themes, selfishness, and individualism can be compared through these two characters actions. The Grandmother is a fairly tedious woman who thinks she is better than everyone around just because she is a lady, from which she automatically undertakes the right to pass on judgment on those around her. The Misfit is a character that has his own violent and malevolent killing behind him, and from him, you would not expect spiritual or moral guidance. Still, he holds a deep conviction that lacks in the other characters.

The constant introspection that the character has done allows him to step on some sort of higher ground and get the self-awareness that the reader finds lacking in The Grandmother. He knows about his imperfections, from which he forms primary philosophies, such as no pleasure but meanness and the crime doesnt matter (OConnor 13, 12). His beliefs may be corrupt but at least they are consistent when compared to the ones of The Grandmother.

The Grandmothers self-absorption, as well as her problems with memory, happens to be one of the main reasons for the familys downfall. Her lies about the cat and her decision to hide the fact she forgot where the house was situated demonstrate her lack of conscience. Moreover, when it comes to it, she only pleads for her own life in front of The Misfit  since she thinks he will not kill a lady. After shooting her, he observes: She would have been a good woman [&] if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life. (OConnor 13). Her usage of the label good, compared to The Misfits, reveals her last moment of discovery of her divine truth and that she never meant moral or kind but rather good if only someones values align with her own.

Conclusion

In A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery OConnor states that selfishness and extreme individualism can cause ones alienation from society and the world around them. The difference between The Misfit and The Grandmother is very little, except for their social status  a misfit or a lady, they remain, egotistical people, who always put themselves first and who lie and manipulate to be able to reach their goal. In the story, these two traits come together in a cataclysmic collide.

Work Cited

OConnor, Flannery. A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983.

Introduction

In the story A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery OConnor focuses on the lack of the good aspects that are supposed to lead to grace among human beings. The author shows the frailty of human beings and how they lack in spirituality. The story is presented through a short trip taken by the family, which is the focus of the narrative (OConnor 56). The characters are depicted as ordinary people who lack intellectual disposition. OConnors narrative has a lot of Christian themes. However, the characters have no religious traits.

The title of the short story and the regular reference to the good man indicates that the author is evaluating the spirituality of human beings. At another level, OConnor reviews the lack of this trait in society. In essence, the discourse explores the theme of the good man. In this paper, the author will analyze the theme of grace and religion about the difficulties associated with finding a good man. The characters who receive grace in the story will be reviewed. The analysis will be made from the perspective of the grandmother, who is the main character. She is the vehicle through which the good man is delivered in the novella.

Background to the Story

The text first appeared in a collection of short stories by OConnor. The stories were published in 1955(Desmond 129). Contrasting violence with humor through well-constructed characters paints OConnors philosophy and her Catholic faith. Many critics admire the authors prose and how she feeds her faith into the narrative. The declaration of her belief in the role of Gods grace in the lives of ordinary people is apparent (Desmond 130). The story has enough drama to make it disturbing, albeit in a humorous way. Nadal agrees with this observation by stating that OConnor is considered a visionary writer and a comedian of genius who recurrently resorts to distortion and excess-what is also called the grotesque- to convey her Catholic faith (26).

The narrative opens with innocent banter between the grandmother and her family. The family is made up of her son, his wife, and their two children (a boy and a girl). However, the introduction of the Misfit character is what is most interesting. The character is brought in at the beginning of the story. Although there are occasional mentions of the Misfit as the story progresses, the character is only seen towards the end of the story.

He comes to the front stage when he kills the whole family (Gretlund and Karl-Heinz 32). OConnor uses the character of the Misfit to explore the concept of grace as viewed through the eyes of Christians. The concept points to divine forgiveness from God. At the end of the story, it is the grandmother who is seen as attaining grace. She attains it at her moment of death. She reaches out and recognizes the Misfit as her child (Desmond 132).

It is noted that throughout the story, it is the grandmother who advocates for the Christian faith. It is through her comments that the idea of the good man is sustained and revealed. As far as OConnor is concerned, Gods grace is beyond the control of the individual. However, the character seems to exhibit spiritual blindness. As a consequence, they miss many opportunities to make connections that would reveal the truth. The spiritual blindness exhibited by the characters in A Good Man is Hard to Find can be described as a deliberate characterization to demonstrate the grace of God.

Ochshorn sees the story as a humorous and enjoyable narrative (113). The family embarks on a vacation that never was. According to Ochshorn, OConnor is deliberately unforgiving in the way she portrays the characters (113). All the characters repel compassion and are unlikeable. In essence, this is a deliberate move to create the premise for OConnors argument. OConnor opines that Gods grace is available to everyone, including those who are loathsome (Ochshorn 115). In an attempt to justify her characterization, Ochshorn claims that OConnor is most sincere in her Catholicism and her view of its expression in her fiction. She was troubled that her readers often identified with the wrong characters or with the right characters for the wrong reasons (113).

The Plot

The story is delivered through the third person narrative. It revolves around the grandmother. It focuses on her perspective of events. The initial argument was her opposition to the idea of traveling to Florida. Instead, she prefers going to Tennessee to visit her friends. When she lost the argument, she cunningly packs herself and her cat in the car together with her family. Her argument regarding her dressing may be viewed as comical.

However, it provides a foreboding of the events that would unfold later. She makes an effort to dress properly. She aims to ensure that she is recognized as a lady should she die in public. It is interesting that her concern was dying on the highway and not anywhere else. The concern, coupled with her preoccupation with the Misfit, seems to suggest that there is a likelihood that such a thing may take place. It can then be presumed that the author is preparing the reader for the violent events that take place at the end of the story (Brown 3).

The family stops at Red Sammy Barbeque for lunch. They discuss the Misfit with the proprietor. He observes that a good man is hard to find. According to Red Sammy, the world is increasingly becoming a more unfriendly and dangerous place (OConnor 7). However, it is what happens after the family resumes their journey that is captivating. The grandmother appears determined to avoid going to Florida. Instead, She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee (OConnor 137).

She convinces her son to divert to an old plantation that she recalls from her childhood. To win the support of the children, she claims that there was an old plantation house with secret passageways. Suddenly, the grandmother realizes that the plantation was not in Georgia but Tennessee. The sudden realization makes her upset the cats basket. It should be noted that the family was not aware of the cats presence. In fear, the cat leaps onto the drivers shoulder. As a result of his surprised reaction, the driver loses control and lands in a ditch.

Surprisingly, no one is injured. To the children, the accident is just an adventure. The family needs help to get the car back on the road. The help comes in the form of the Misfit. The grandmother, who had studied the face of the Misfit from newspaper cuttings, could not recognize him at first. However, she feels that he looks like someone she had known all her life. When he speaks, she realizes that it is Misfit. The Misfit intends to take the car. To accomplish his mission, the occupants have to be killed.

He tells his accomplices to take the family to the forest and kill them. The Misfit then wears Baileys shirt. When they are left alone, and on realizing what is about to happen to her, the grandmother frantically attempts to convince him not to kill her by flattering him (Gretlund and Karl-Heinz 56). She tells him that he is not a commoner. However, she soon realizes that her words do not affect the Misfit. The situation makes her speechless. According to OConnor, She (the grandmother) opened and closed her mouth several times before anything came out. Finally, she found herself saying Jesus. Jesus meaning Jesus will help you, but the way she was saying it, it sounded as if she might be cursing someone (13).

It is when the Misfit attempts to explain his behavior that the self-centered grandmother gets an opportunity to reflect on her worldly and Christian beliefs. It was a moment of epiphany. It is also moments before she is killed. Just before she is shot, she reaches out to touch the Misfit and softly tells him that he is one of her children.

Who Is a Good Man?

The grandmother seems to apply the label of a good man rather indiscriminately. The situation blurs the meaning. For instance, she first describes Red Sammy as a good man. The opinion is formed when he protests angrily about the general untrustworthiness of people. He had just allowed two strangers to draw gasoline and it is obvious that he had been swindled. The grandmother opines that he did it because he is a good man. According to Nadal, to a large extent, the description of the good man seems to embrace gullibility that is re-enforced by poor judgment and blind faith (25). None of these qualities are inherently good.

Ultimately, the term the good man is applied to the Misfit. In the exchange that arises between the two, grandmother asks the Misfit if he is willing to shoot a lady. The Misfit does not indicate that he would not shoot the grandmother. Being a lady is a significant part of her worldview, which she takes as a moral issue (The Other Gender: Women as Villains or Nobodies in A Good Man is Hard to Find 4).

Misfits response and the actions that follow prove that he does not subscribe to her moral codes. Grandmothers reaction is to desperately call him a good man. The reaction is an attempt to appeal to his assumed underlying values. They are values that the Misfit would not deny. It is observed that her view of good is skewed and is entirely based on the lack of common blood. The reader realizes that the label of the good man shows that the good she desperately applies to the people she interacts with is neither moral nor kind. In contrast, Misfits summarises his view of the gospel and values by saying:

Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead. He shouldnt have done it. He showed everything off balance. If He did what He said, then its nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didnt, then its nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can-by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness. (OConnor 151).

According to the grandmother, people are good only if their values are in line with her values, which are not defined. It is possible that she does not ascribe to any known form of belief that carries any values (Nadal 29). For instance, she describes Sammy as a good man.

The reason is that he trusts people without questioning. At another level, he is good because of his nostalgia about past innocent times. For example, he remembers the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more (OConnor 142). They are times that the grandmother can easily relate to. During her encounter with the Misfit, she describes him as good because she thought that he would not kill a lady. The assumption proved fatal.

Critics observe that the only recognizable good trait exhibited by the Misfit is the consistency of his moral code. The code is defined by his pleasure of being mean. Nevertheless, as Desmond observes,

The Misfit feels the mystery of evil in his bones, and he finds it incomprehensible. While there are surely elements of self-pity and self-justification in his statement, his mental suffering, his sense of guilt, and his questioning cannot be ignored or dismissed, because it reflects a spiritual condition that is both fundamentally human and conspicuously modern in temper. (145).

The observations suggest that there is a sublime element of spirituality in all human beings.

The Unlikely Recipients of Grace

In the story, the grandmother and the cruel Misfit are the two characters depicted as recipients of grace. They receive grace despite their many flaws, weaknesses, and sins. According to Christians, human beings can only attain salvation through Gods grace. Consequently, When he puts them back on, it seems as though he has a new view of the world, stating in the dramatic and memorable final line of the story, Its no real pleasure in life (The Other Gender: Women as Villains or Nobodies in A Good Man is Hard to Find 4).

According to Brown, the story should be understood from OConnors religious perspective (1). Grace and faith are evident in the lives of the characters. A case in point is the change seen in the grandmother. She appears to abandon her manipulative and self-centered ways (Brown 1). In essence, she has achieved grace. The transformation is similar to salvation in the Christian faith.

Christianity teaches that God has the power to forgive. He can take individuals whose lives were full of sin to heaven through the dispensation of grace. For instance, the grandmother was an unlikely recipient of grace (Walls 44). She is depicted as lying to her grandchildren. She actively manipulates her son. Also, she emphasizes the inadequacy of the present while regarding the past highly (Brown 25). She lacks self-awareness.

She is oblivious to her world. Also, she is full of self-righteousness and believes that she has the right to judge the goodness of other individuals. The rights also include the power to dictate to other people how to lead their lives. For instance, she advises the Misfit to pray. Praying is a righteous thing to do. However, she is unable to construct a coherent prayer (Nadal 31).

Misfit is an embodiment of evil. He is an unremorseful murderer. According to Walls, Violence catalyzes to produce the Grandmothers moment of grace at the climax of the story when the Grandmother makes the right gesture to the Misfit (43). The two characters are not good people. As such, it can be argued that they do not deserve Gods grace.

Conclusion

OConnor demonstrates that anyone can receive Gods forgiveness through His grace. For example, Misfit expresses the desire to know what Jesus did. In that instance, the grandmother experiences a moment of epiphany as she awakes from self-absorption. She proclaims that Misfit, who had just ordered her family to be murdered, is one of her children. Her comment should be seen as a figurative way of saying that both of them are human beings.

At this point, she is displaying compassion, a rarely exhibited emotion in her life. She receives grace before she is murdered. For the Misfit, he is open to grace as he realizes that there is no pleasure in life. It appears that killing no longer appeals to him. He realizes that he can change. The realization suggests that the elusive good man can only be realized through Gods grace.

Works Cited

Brown, Bob. Looking for the Good Man in Flannery OConnors A Good Man Is Hard To Find. n.d. 2016. Web.

Desmond, John. Flannery OConnors Misfit and the Mystery of Evil. Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 56 (2004): 129-137. Print.

Gretlund, Jan, and Westarp Karl-Heinz. Flannery OConnors Radical Reality, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2006. Print.

Nadal, Marita. Temporality and Narrative Structure in Flannery OConnors Tales. Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies 31.1 (2009): 23-39. Print.

Ochshorn, Kathleen. A Cloak of Grace: Contradictions in A Good Man is Hard to Find. Studies in American Fiction 18.1 (1990): 113-117. Print.

OConnor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1993. Print.

The Other Gender: Women as Villains or Nobodies in A Good Man is Hard to Find. n.d. 2016. Web.

Walls, Doyle. OConnors A Good Man is Hard to Find. The Explicator 46.2 (1988): 43-45. Print.

Introduction

A Good Man is Hard to Find is one of the most outstanding works by Flannery OConnor, a writer whose blood-chilling stories confront the usual stereotypes about religion, the good, and the evil. Indeed, in A Good Man is Hard to Find, OConnor condemns the conventionalism of faith and proclaims victory over Catholic dogma. Adrienne argues that in the story, the notion of evil incorporates social prejudices and societal stances.

Hani argues that religion serves as an instrument of social criticism, exposing the society of strangers and portraying the collapse of neighborly ties between people in modern American social life. Zhao suggests that absurdity and hypocrisy are the main topics raised in the story. This paper hypothesizes that all the authors, though from different angles, depict the story as an allegorical description of society based on conventions that are seen as primary sources of social evil.

The Bailey Family as Personification of Dogma and Convention

The story depicts a family  Grandma, her son Bailey, his wife, and three children  who set on a journey from Atlanta to Florida. The grandmother is aware that a dangerous criminal  the Misfit  is roaming about the area, but she does not cancel the trip. Hani suggests that the grandmothers interests revolve around the outer entourage of the trip. It is important for her to look like a lady and be perceived as a good person while she does not mind the danger her family is likely exposed to at her whim (Hani). Her definition of what it means to be good is symbolized by her very correct travel outfit. OConnor writes: In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (3). Thus, with the help of Lexis, the author conveys the fact that goodness, for the Bailey family, is narrowed down to following certain norms accepted in society.

The author narrates the story in the third person and, at the same time, gives glimpses of Grandmothers inner world using phrases such as she thought, she believed. The descriptions are detailed and convey the idea that the façade, the dogma, is more important to Grandmother than the inner world (Hani). The language Grandmother uses is high-flowing; thus, she begs the Misfit not to shoot a lady and names Mr. Teagarden a gentleman, which shows the importance of outer societal stances and norms adopted in the society. While speaking of a lady does not seem adequate in the context of killing, the use of this word depicts how far from reality Grandmas dogma is. Grandmother does not treat killing as an ultimate evil but perceives it as a matter of etiquette, something which should not be done not because of its moral value but due to its societal inappropriateness.

The Misfits language sharply contrasts that of Grandmothers; his sentences are rasp and short; the words and grammar he uses may be incorrect but understandable. Hani believes that this mode of speech characterizes him as a man who looks behind the façade and to whom it is more important what is said than how it is said. Thus, the author characterizes him as a person who is going to be into everything (OConnor 10). He is not a usual villain because he tries to understand God, the nature of sin, and his place in the world.

As the language of the characters is contrasted, there is a sharp contrast in what they stand for. While Grandmother, with her high-flowing language, may be seen as a symbol of hypocrisy and dogma, the Misfit, on the contrary, is a person who finally defeats conventionalism and dogma. He crushes the outer façade of conventions revealing their true essence and confirming that true feelings are more important than the outer decorum (Hani). Killing all the family, he kills all the family stands for: focus on material values, hypocrisy, and outer entourage.

Convention and Decorum as an Ultimate Social Evil

Merchant believes the idea that conventions and decorum are an ultimate societal evil is developed on two planes: in a symbolic way through epithets and allegories and in a more down-to-earth, reasonable mode where Grandmas love for convention ultimately leads all her family to their deaths. There are many symbols in the text connected to the family that point to the evil family members stand for and herald their terrible end.

Thus, on the way, the family sees a big black battered hearse-like automobile,; and hearse-like automobiles are used in burials for carrying corpses (OConnor 9). The driver look[s] down with a steady expressionless gaze a phrase that can be associated with death since death messengers are usually portrayed as black-hooded figures, expressionless and unemotional (OConnor 9). At the same time, the phrase may stand for dogma, which is unmovable and unemotional, and within which certain actions are committed without any emotional qualms, heartlessly and irrevocably.

As the narration progresses, the feeling of doom is enhanced through the use of comparisons. Thus, the author says that the Misfit pointed the toe of his shoe into the ground and made a little hole and then covered it up again, the process that copies burial on a small scale (OConnor 9). The action is part of a burial ritual that remains unchanged from times immemorial, covering peoples emotions and suffering. The journey undertaken by the Bailey family can be seen as the personification of the journey from a rich spiritual life towards the death of the spirit.

The author speaks about the sharp curves on dangerous embankments that symbolize the joys and sorrows of life now replaced with merciless tradition where there is no place for genuine feeling. (OConnor 6). On the road, the family passes six graves, equal to the number of people in the Bailey family. Finally, the family arrives in a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them (OConnor 6). The imagery here represents a cemetery where corpses lie under the trees watching over them. So, even while the family is alive, the author shows that they are already dead to all real feelings, sympathy, understanding, and compassion, and what remains is the outer decorum, an ultimate evil that transforms people from feeling individuals into heartless zombies.

From the logical viewpoint, we see the family trapped in an impossible situation by the conventions they follow and out of which they cannot find the way out. Indeed, when meeting a dangerous criminal who is as likely as not to kill them, family members behave in a socially appropriate way as if nothing happened. They do not shout, lose their self-control or try to run away but hold a polite conversation with the people who are about to kill them. Their behavior is highly illogical but can be well explained by dogmatic principles they have followed all their lives and cannot now break (Merchant). The death of the family may be seen as a result of their passiveness and unwillingness to break social norms even in a critical situation, the norms that, according to OConnor, are the sources of more evil than good in society.

Breaking Conventions as a Way to Freedom

On the face of it, the Bailey family, religious and sticking to conventions, should symbolize goodness, while the Misfit who kills them is a villain, but the story goes beyond such simplicities. Zhao states that the story revolves around absurdity as the family that stands for beliefs generally seen as good ones symbolize evil. In fact, by portraying the familys reverence for material things as opposed to inner beauty, their sense of superiority over others, as well as their infamous end, OConner shows them worthy of their fate. The Misfit, vice versa, is seen as the angel of death (Zhao). The very fact that [the Misfits] face was as familiar to [Grandmother] as if she had known him all her life can be construed as an association with God or Heaven (OConnor 9).

Usually, it is the face of Jesus that can be described this way. This allusion is further supported by the fact that though the Misfit kills the family, he gets no pleasure from the action. To him, it is some kind of duty he performs by putting an end to hypocrisy, superiority, and dogma. Thus, the death of the family in the story is not tragic; rather, it is seen as a necessary evil committed for the general good.

Conclusion

In her story A Good Man is Hard to Find, OConnor dwells into the nature of evil, painting convention and dogma as ultimate social harm. The concept of outer decorum is explored through the story of the Bailey family, who would rather die than give up the pretenses they live in. While Hani states that the story revolves around the social problem of alienation and decorum, Merchant believes OConnor portrays social evil through religious dogma and conventions adopted in society. Zhao echoes this idea, adding that hypocrisy and absurdity find their central place in the story. All the researchers agree that the Bailey family embodies the worst human qualities and personifies the ultimate evil.Moreover, their death is seen not as a tragedy but as a liberation from dogmas and conventions imposed on society.

Works Cited

Hani, Mohamad. Analysis of Social Problem in A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery OConnor. English Community Journal vol. 3, no. 1, 2019, pp. 342-349. Web.

Merchant, Adrienne. Good vs. Evil as Seen in the Characterization of A Good Man is Hard to Find. PEN, p. 58-62. Web.

OConnor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find: And Other Stories. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1955.

Zhao, Yang. The Absurd Theme in A Good Man is Hard to Find. 2017 3rd International Conference on Economy, Management and Education Technology (ICEMET 2017). Web.

Flannery OConnors essay discussing her own literary piece A good man is hard to find is a unique case. She insists as an author that people should not try to dissect stories, trying to analyze every single detail. Rather they should truly enjoy them first, find their own meaning in them, and not ask the author what he/she meant by implementing certain characters or actions in the story plotline. The readers perspective is always subjective; it implies forming ones own opinion by the end of any literary piece. A good story always leaves questions that need to be answered, and it is the readers responsibility to draw their own conclusions.

She mentioned that her story is quite controversial because of the excessive use of violence in the plotline. Many other authors criticized it because modern literatures reliance on the depiction of murder is quite common. However, it is not violence for the sake of a violence case. A good example is Clockwork Orange, where violence is used to prove a point that people are inherently evil. However, its use in this story resembles shock therapy, a testament of faith for the main characters. It is a stressful condition that makes ordinary people step outside their comfort zone and perform actions that are not typical of them.

The main character of the story, the Grandmother, is a very specific case because many interpretations of her actions exist. Some readers see her as an evil character who is comparable to the antagonist of the story, the Misfit. She attempts to beg a villain for her life despite him murdering her entire family a few moments earlier. It is very informative to see the authors explanation of her actions and understand that her motivation, according to Flannery OConnor, is the complete opposite. She does not want to save her own life; her intention is to change the sinner standing right in front of her by showing him Christian virtues like forgiveness. The Grandmother is sure that this gesture will leave a mark in the villains soul and eventually make him reconsider his way of life.

Introduction

A Good Man is Hard to Find was a short story written by Flannery OConnor with another stories collection in 1985. The story commences with an argument between Bailey and her mother about whether the trip needs to be in Tennessee or Florida. The journey entails Baileys children, wife, and grandmother. The grandmother reveals Misfits getaway towards Florida; hence, posing a threat to people. The essay examines the reasoning behind OConnors choice of disabilities in the story A Good Man is Hard to Find and describes one main characters deformity.

The Reasoning behind OConnors Choice of Disabilities

Disability in the work of OConnor is often considered to symbolize the moral failure of her disabled characters. Disability is portrayed as a way of communicating uncorrupted reality or as an attempt to critique cultural missteps (Deitermann 8). Further, she has revealed disability stereotypes by exploring deformed characters with an array of physical deformities and cultures related to those characters.

In the Good Country People, short story, Hulga has more depth than her disability; nevertheless, the short story stresses that she did not overcome her disability. Hence, Hulga is a character who is unashamed of her deformity as depicted in her statement Here I am, take me as I am (Eder 271). However, the society surrounding her is perturbed and uncomfortable by her missing leg. Even one character says, She could walk without malcing the awful noise& but she made it& because it was ugly-sounding (Eder 275). Her missing leg and heart condition have defined Hulga forcing her to remain close to home and seek refuge from the world, giving up on religion and devoting herself to studying philosophy and books.

Furthermore, her disability and disease have transformed her identity to one that is cynical of happiness in the world and otherwise perceives ugliness. In the story, the disease serves the role of making her persistently aware of her death. Despite being not perfectly moral, she is more definitely concerned with living a moral life and perceiving things than her convention-obsessed and insulated mother is (Eder 283). The author creates it clear that the qualities emanate from her disability and disease. Hence, OConnor uses the disability and disease of Hulga to reveal how true hardship and an awareness of ones death may change people.

Similarly, in the Life You Save May Be Your Own, short story, Lucynell is mute, deaf, and has psychological disabilities, although she can do work around the farm such as feeding the chickens and sweeping. The characters in this story reveal people with various forms of disabilities, either mental or physical disability. Each character has displayed deformities that make them alienated from society and make them lose some important things in the future. Lucynells physical disability stresses her innocence as compared to other characters in this short story. Mr. Shiftlet walks on both the ways of damnation and salvation (Deitermann 34). OConnor uses disabilities in The Life You Save May Be Your Own, to demonstrate the spiritual struggles between evil and good that people experience in life.

However, in the short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, OConnor illustrates the transformative influence of human compassion and grace. The transformations of two disabled character stereotypes, entrenched by the Misfit and the grandmother convey the message. The story portrays how humans always fail to accurately conceive what true kindness is using disabled characters. In addition, the short story reveals that despite a persons best efforts to be just and morally upright, the outcome is always a lack of acknowledgment of differing views and self-righteousness (Eder 7). By permitting the stereotypes to develop into round characters with the potential to transform, the writer shows that anybody may reform through grace.

Grandmother

An annoying lady who resides with Bailey and his family. She considers herself morally upright to others in the sense of her being a woman and often and freely passes judgment on other people (Eder 2). She asserts that her conscience is the guiding force in her life, for example, when she tells Bailey that her conscience would not permit her to take the children in the same direction as the Misfit. The grandmother criticizes the childrens mother for not traveling to a place that could permit her children to be abroad and compares her to the cabbage (Eder 1). In addition, she reprimands John Wesley for lack of respect for his home state, Georgia. Further, she takes any chance of judging the lack of goodness in the modern worlds people. She arrogantly wears her charily chosen dress and hat, and importantly that being a woman is a virtue that she has.

Nevertheless, before, she is murdered; the grandmother remembers that the house is in Tennessee and not even, near where she claimed it was. When the grandmother faces death she now discovers where to have gone wrong in her life. Instead of behaving as a superior, she now realizes that she has flawed as everybody else (Deitermann 6). Grandmother notices that she and the Misfit are similar as they are both sinners and requires grace.

Conclusion

OConnors work conveys empathy with different disabled characters as shown in A Good Man is Hard to Find in which a self-centered and stubborn grandmother guides the family trip to the unforeseen homicide. The writer has used disabled characters such as the Misfit and grandmother to illustrate the discrepancies between evil and good, salvation and violence in the story. Her portrayal of disability was more than either complaint or catechism; she neither insisted the suffering have read-made optimistic side through grace.

Work Cited

Deitermann, Julia. Flannery OConnors Kurzgeschichten  A good man is hard to find und The life you save may be your own. 3rd ed., GRIN Verlag, 2006.

Eder, Katharina. Flannery OConnor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find  an Analysis. GRIN Verlag, 2011.