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A Good Man Is Hard To Find
When spending time with dear friends and family, so often do we take time to reminisce about how
good things used to be. So often do we look so far back that we disregard what is currently
happening around us as we think of a time where gas used to be a dollar and fifty seven cents. A
Good Man is Hard to Find is a short story written by Flannery O'Connor. It is the story of a family
living in Georgia which intends on going to Florida for vacation. This road trip sadly takes a turn
for the worst when the family ends up in a tragic automobile accident and lands at the mercy of the
Misfit. There is a general theme in this story of how living in the past can lead to not being prepared
for the future, and it is visited numerous times throughout...show more content...
The Continued Persistance of Nostalgia
This persistence of living in the past is quite visible to the reader as we progress through the story.
After the family had embarked on their vacation road trip it was not long until the
Grandmother had begun to speak about landmarks they were passing as well as scenes that she
would like to paint. While the children were rather unamused by their grandmothers recanting of
the past, the Grandmother was living in only her memory this is further reflected with how excited
the Grandmother seems when passing an old family graveyard. "They passed a large cotton field
with five or fix graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island. "Look at the graveyard!" the
grandmother said, pointing it out. "That was the old family burying ground. That belonged to the
plantation."
"Where's the plantation?" John Wesley asked.
"Gone With the Wind" said the grandmother. "Ha. Ha.""( 354/355) Shortly afterward, the
Grandmother decides to tell the children a story about her life when she was younger. This story is
about how a many with the initials E.A.T would bring her watermelon every Saturday afternoon.
One afternoon she had not been home and the gentleman had left the watermelon
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Thesis Statement For A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Shayla S. Corbin
Ms. Pearce
English 1302
Sunday, November 12, 2017
"A Good Man is Hard to find" I.Introduction
A.Written by Flannery O'Connor
B.Christian Theme (Bandy 107)
C.Named after a Popular song (Desmond 129)
D.The fiction imagination (Evans 181)
E.Thesis Statement: In Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find", the
grandmother's journey from being controlling and selfish to graceful symbolizes a Christian's
journey toward salvation.
F.Context of spiritual realities
G.Faith messages embodied in the characters
II.The Grandmother
A.She is Nameless (Evans 184)
B.She is one of the three main characters (Evans 184)
C.She didn't want to go to Florida (Bandy 113)
III.Grandmother's personality
A.She is Self–Centered (Bandy 109)
B.She wants to go to Tennessee (bandy 109)
C.She manipulates her Family (Link 127)
D.She tries to change Baileys mind about the trip (Bandy 113)
IV.Grandmothers' external appearance
A.She dresses in Sundays best (Link 126)
B.Her Family wears casual attire (Link 126)
C.She dressed to be killed (Bandy 114)
D.Proper ladylike appearance (Bandy 114)
V.Grandmother's internal flaws
A.She Displays unchristian morals (Link 127)
B.Speaks racist words (bandy 108)
C.Grandmother's Dishonesty
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A good man is hard to find
Critical Essay #1
A Closer Look Into
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
By James ENC–1102
The short story I chose for my critical essay is a story that caught my attention with a gentle and
inspiring title and as I began to turn pages it suddenly evolved into a theme that caught me off
guard and I quickly became intrigued by elusive style of writing the author used to express this
story in a unique form of literature. After reading Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to
Find", I will discuss the vivid historical and cultural context the author revealed to the story's setting
in relation to its style and how the main character is exposed to different parallels of what she
considers to be a good man in time that is dealing with...show more content...
The relation between the definition of Southern Gothic Literature and the historical context and plot
which the story contains is almost identical in characteristics and perfect placement by the author to
give the story a sense of significance where it is relevant in all elements.
While researching this short story you complete a close reading you come to recognize the close
details that come to expose a theme that is elusive and shows different parallels of what Grandma
considers being a good man within different parts of the story. In order to bring further
understanding I am going to give you a brief summary on the short story.
The story begins in Georgia in the 1940's–1950's with the Grandma as the main character who is
trying to manipulate her son named Bailey and his wife from traveling to Florida because of the
danger of a man called The Misfit who has escaped from prison and instead tries to persuade them
to travel to Tennessee. Eventually, the Grandmother doesn't succeed at convincing him to travel to
Tennessee so both of them head off toward Florida along with Bailey's wife, their young daughter
June, their eight year old son John Wesley, the young baby, and Gandmas cat. They drive for a
while and Grandma talks to her granddaughter of her early days when she was a maiden
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A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay
'A Good Man is Hard to Find' by Flannery O'Connor In this short story by Flannery O'Connor,
there are many characters that each bring a certain tone and mood to the story. The grandmother
brings a slightly softer tone, the kids bring a playful, sassy tone, and the Misfit and his gang bring
a really dark tone. Each character comes together to bring the story to the great, exciting story
that it is. The grandmother starts off the story with a warning to her son, saying that she wouldn't
dare take the children to Florida with a guy like The Misfit on the loose. According to the new
paper that she'd read, The Misfit was headed to Florida as well. She said that she'd feel terrible
about it if she were the parents. Bailey, her son, ignores her, and decides that they are going to
Florida anyway. The grandmother means well, but her son only sees her suggestion as being
annoying and not necessary. Throughout the trip to Florida, the two kids, June Star and John
Wesley played games and made shapes out of the clouds and listened to their grandmother's stories,
reminding the readers of their childhood road trips. They bring a playful, more vibrant light to the
story, and are refreshing to read about. The group later...show more content...
She tells the children stories of the house and how it has a secret panel in the wall of the house.
The kids go crazy wanting to go back and find the secret panel, and start screaming and yelling and
kicking, begging their father to turn the car back around. Finally, Bailey caves in after some words
were said. They journey down the long dirt road, driving through twists and turns, when the
grandmother comes to the sudden realization that the house wasn't in Florida, it was in Tennessee,
where she'd originally wanted to go. She makes a sudden movement, and the cat she'd snuck in the
car jumps out and scratches Bailey, causing them to go off road and flip the
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A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor
One of the most memorable lines from "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" comes from the Misfit
when he says, "She would have been a good woman if it had been someone there to shoot her for
every minute of her life (O'Connor 309)." Flannery O'Connor's depiction of Christian faith can be
seen in almost all of her works. Inevitably, the plots in all of O'Connor's stories end with a shocking
conclusion, and this leaves the reader with freedom to interpret the central idea. From the endless list
of themes that O'Connor embeds into her stories, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" is largely influenced
by divine grace, hypocrisy, bitter reality, and white supremacy.
The feeling of white supremacy can be repeatedly seen in O'Connor's writing, including "A...show
more content...
No, it's just a way for her to prove how whites had more power than blacks back in the twentieth
century. When she is exposed to nostalgic elements of her genteel past such as an abandoned
plantation that "had six white columns across the front" and was once owned by whites, it is
clearly visible how difficult it is for the Grandmother to cope with the world she now lives in
(O'Connor 303). Her longing to desperately revive the past is so strong that "...the more she
talked about it, the more she wanted to see it once again" (Enjolras 37). Symbols like the
plantation are reminders to her of the South that she used to enjoy as a child "...when whites were
the masters and the blacks their slaves by right" (Enjolras 37). She is now part of a racially infused
South, where the oppressed African–Americans are improving their lifestyle and living amongst
whites.
This is not the only instance when the racial roles play a significant part in her life. When she
sees the little black child in the countryside during the road trip and boldly refers to her as a
'pickaninny," it seems as if she considers the child a type of animal because she is so unlike her,
revealing that she has never experienced poverty and misfortune as African–Americans did
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A Good Man is Hard to Find Essay
A Good Man is Hard to Find I firmly believe that people reap what they sew. In the story, " A Good
Man Is Hard to Find," the grand mother is a prime example of this scenario. Her pathetic ploys
and acts of deviance cause harm to the family throughout the story and it ends up coming back to
her in the end. You can tell that harms is inevitable for the family by some of the clues that are
found in the grandmother's behavior. For example, in the opening paragraph of the story, she is
complaining perversely for the family to go on vacation in East Tennessee instead of Florida. The
rest of the family wants to go to Florida but yet she is determined for them to do as she says. I
believe that this is an early indication as to...show more content...
She should have been grateful instead of hateful because the family didn't have to drag her along if
they didn't want to. I know that Bailey is her some, but why does she constantly aggravate him? My
mother picks on me occasionally but never to the extent of the grandmother.
The grandmother was a very dishonest person. She began telling little John
Wesley ( her grandson), about a plantation she used to visit. She pointed to an old grave yard
visible to the road. The more she thought about it the more she wanted to go back and see it. She
knew that the family would not be up for seeing an old run down hat. What does she do? She begins
to lie profusely, telling John Wesley about a secret trap door that has never been found to this day.
This, in turn, cause the children to want to go visit the house and after constant ridicule the father
turns the car around.
They begin to go down a narrow dirt road. The cat jumps out of the bag and in turn causes the car to
wreck. When they get out of the car she decided not to tell them that the plantation she was thinking
about was in Tennessee, not Georgia. By her bringing the cat along and insisting that they go see the
house, causes them to wreck. Her childish behavior was the cause of all of this.
When they have an encounter with the misfit, she constantly pleads for him not to harm her or her
family. She tells him to believe in Jesus. Fearing for her life she
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A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
Introduction
English literature is composed of various different stories and they add to millions. Various writers
have different styles of plotting their story and presenting their characters, they have used various
styles and various literature elements to try and develop their characters to convey the information
they want to send to the readers. Of the entire literature book I have read, I came across a story
book in which the writer has tried to utilize the use of almost all the writing styles and literature
element to write "A Good Man is Hard to Find", this the best book for literature students.
The author of the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" has used various literature styles to try and
provide...show more content...
The main characters of this story are the grandmother, Misfit and Bailey family. The author uses
the grand mother to plan for all the factors that will contribute to the death of the whole family.
This is by bringing in of the cat into the car without the families knowledge, the luring of the
children for the change of direction to a plantation and finally the identification of Misfit. These
are the main factors that led to the death of the family. For the author to defend the topic of the
story "A Good Man is Hard to Find", he brings into picture Misfit and the prisoners. Here the author
presents them with the most evil act of having no mercy and killing of the children to justify the
heading of the story. Through these evil acts the author convinces the readers that indeed a good
man is hard to find in the world we are living today. He further supports this when Misfit said,
"I found out the crime don't matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take
a tire off his car, because sooner or later you're going to forget what it was you done and just be
punished for it."
This words he use before taking the mother, the child and the grand mother to the forest to be
killed. The author uses Bailey family to present a very happy family that will experience the end of
their happiness on the hands of the evil people.
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'A Good Man Is Hard To Find'
The story I will work on is "A Good Man is Hard to Find", I choose this story because of the
tragedy moments, and a family vacation that turns upside down. To begin my essay, I want to start
a body paragraph with four components: the main idea, evidence, analysis, and a link to the thesis.
To start off, I want to introduce the family, the misfits, and a proper thesis statement. Then
transition to my first body paragraph with a main idea that relates to my thesis. Next, I will include
quotes from the text as a primary source, and quotes from the secondary source by using the library
database as evidence from the text. Third, the paragraph will be analyzed, and the main idea
explained. As for the final component, I will make the last sentence
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Literary Analysis Of A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Johnathan Ramirez
Dr. Klein
English 1302
15 October 2017
Literary Analysis Essay
"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.
Manipulation is a major theme in the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find". In the story, the
grandmother...show more content...
The second theme exhibited by the grandmother is her class and racial prejudice, as most characters
in southern gothic stories do. The grandmother exudes a sense of self–righteousness that she
explains is imbedded in her because she came from a good family. Throughout "A Good Man is
Hard to Find" descriptions of the south come up often. Most of the images are portrayed when the
grandmother is reminiscing about "In my time" and on the "plantation" (114). Her insistent attitude
and obsession about visiting the plantation shows the grandmother truly enjoyed that time period
and implies she had no problem with the racial segregation in that era. She remembers back to
when she was a young girl and Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden would bring her watermelon. "but she
never got the watermelon", " because a nigger boy ate it when he saw the initials E.A.T.!" (115). It
is clear the grandmother feels it is appropriate to use the N word when referring to African
Americans, even years after slavery era. As the grandmother glamorizes Negroes and life on the
plantation, it is clear she admired the ways of the Old South, a true characteristics of Southern
Gothic writing. Her stereotypical character projects a prejudice that leaves the audience
uncomfortable throughout the story.
Flannery O' Connor's skillfully webs subtle ironic instances throughout the story that, later, helps
readers see the bigger picture. After much debate about not traveling to
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Research Paper: a Good Man Is Hard to Find
Research Paper: A Good Man is Hard to Find
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. The setting of
the story is never really clear to the reader. The author never really comes out and says where and
when the story takes place, but with a few clues an idea is given on a pretty clear setting of "A
Good Man is...show more content...
This could have been the case between he misfit and the grandmother both. But it's never really
clearly said. The misfit could have been known as the evil villain of the story. The grandmother
was slowly beginning to turn into one but never made it all the way. "So take a chance, and take a
look at Flannery O'Connor. Prepare to laugh, to be shocked, and to think. But most of all, be
prepared to see." –Welborn. There are many symbols in A Good Man is Hard to Find. "A Symbol is
something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a
material object used to represent something invisible." –Symbol. The first most obvious symbol is
the Grandmother's hat. She wears the hat for one sole purpose; if she were to die she would want
the ones who found her body to be able to identify her as a lady. When she prepares for the car
trip, she prepares for any accident that may occur. For the grandmother the only thing that seems to
matter to her is that she is recognized as a lady, this reveals her selfishness and flimsy moral
convention. When the grandmother first gets ready for the trip, the hat is in perfect condition. No
tears, no nothing. When the grandmother gets involved in the car accident, just like her moral
convictions, her hat begins to fall apart. The rim of the hat begins to tear as she faces the misfit and
is thrown from the car. When the
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A Good Man Is Hard To Find Analysis
In the Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" we find out that the title
indicates of what the story is about. The title actually came from the lyrics of a song written by
Eddie Green in 1918. The title of "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Conner is quite
ironic really. The reader expects to eventually find a good man in the story, but is quite surprised at
the ending of the story. The title "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is expressed clearly in this story by
introducing a variety of male personalities that all have one thing in common; they are not truly good
men. For example, Bailey, the father of the family, shows that he does not care too much about
anything and he treats his mother with much disrespect,...show more content...
The title leads you to believe the story will go in another direction, which makes the ending a
surprise.
The title is ironic because it has the reader thinking that the story will include an ending of finding
a good man, rather than finding one of the worst. The reader is searching the story for a good
man, when there in fact is not one in this story. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery
O'Conner was designed to make the reader think the ending will include the finding of a good
man, when the ending actually includes the exact opposite; not a good man nor a good woman.
Reading the title of the story, the reader can foresee what the story will be about, just that, how
finding a good person is indeed difficult to come upon. Many search the story for a good man, but
what about a good woman? For example, in the beginning of the story, the grandmother was more
concerned about looking like a good Christian than actually being a good Christian. This is shown
by her selfish longing to go to Tennessee instead of Florida and, more importantly, by her attempts to
save her own life, even as her family continued to die around her. In the end, it is proven throughout
the entire short story that not only is a "Good Man Hard to find" but also, a good woman.
In conclusion, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Conner was designed to make the
reader think the ending will include the finding of a good man, when
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A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay examples
Flannery O'Connor's short story collection A Good Man is Hard to Find has many elements of a
southern gothic work. Images of ancient castles with sliding panels create suspicious themes and
settings that lead the readers into the dark and gloomy world of the southern United States. With all
of the violence, horror, and dismal surroundings presented in O'Connor's stories there is too a moral
message given. Later gothic work did not always explain horror like this, holding little moral value
to contrast their grotesque images (notes, November 1). O'Connor's stories do include a strong moral
element, frequently in the form of religious explanations. The characters within A Good Man is
Hard to Find are usually...show more content...
If Sammy is not a good man is he evil? Could he represent Satan, Red Sammy is a fitting parallel
name. Sammy then states that "a good man is hard to find." Could this be forewarning
to the grandmother's confused values of what is right or wrong (good or bad)?
Soon the family is on their way again but the grandmother forces her way by using the children.
Getting the kids exited enough to annoy their father so much that he breaks down and changes the
route and seeks out the old gothic house. We soon learn that the grandmother has made a
geographical mistake thinking Georgia for Tennessee. Her ignorance starts a chain of events which
will result in all their deaths: Brining the cat along even though she knew it wold not be allowed,
forcing her will even when unsure if it was right (O'Connor, 2, 11). The grandmother's uncertainty of
geography could be read as mirroring her spiritual uncertainty.
After the car crashes we see that the grandmother is self–serving. She uses gender roles ("you
wouldn't shoot a woman") and religious images to try and save herself and to make the Misfit
to look well upon her (O'Connor, 14–19). This plea seems very self–serving. Why not ask–
"you wouldn't shoot a family, would you?" The argument of religion as a reason to be
good is rejected by the Misfit (O'Connor, 21). By dismissing Christ's history the Misfit also rejects
the grandmother's self–serving values.
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A Good Man Is Hard To Find
I find myself missing the major hints or clues in a book, even if they are right in front of me.
Usually, I have to read a book twice to finally understand why the story ended that way. This is the
same way with "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor's. The story is about a family
who wants to have a vacation in Florida. The grandmother, who is the focus of the story, wants to
go to Tennessee instead. She tries to convince everyone that there is a killer running loose down in
Florida; the Misfit. They all ignore her and drive to Florida anyway. Without telling her family
union, the grandmother brings her cat along for the ride. They drive for several hours until they
stop at a restaurant called Red Sammy's. She talks to the owner of the restaurant about how people
are not nice anymore and "good men are hard to find." They leave the restaurant and head back on
the road, but the...show more content...
She convinces them to drive onto an abandon dirt road, but suddenly remembers that the
plantation is in Tennessee instead of George. Her sudden reaction causes her cat, who is under
the seat, to jump out and bounce on the driver. The driver loses control and the car smacks right
into a ditch. Everyone is okay until a truck pulls up and three guys jump out. The grandmother
recognizes one of them as the Misfit. He tells his two men to take the family into the woods, and
one at a time shoots and kills them. Meanwhile the grandmother tries to kiss up to the Misfit to
save her life, but nothing she says works. With being the only one not killed yet, she tries to talk to
the Misfit about religion and Jesus. The Misfit opens up to her about his past and how he has done
some thinking about Jesus. At that moment, she has some clarity and reaches out to touch him. He
ends up shooting her three times in the chest. When the other two men return from the woods, he
tells them "She would've been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every
minute of
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A Good Man Is Hard To Find
While reading "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," it becomes clear that the grandmother possesses a false
interpretation of "a good man". This action is especially evident when she gives Red Sam and the
Misfit the title when encountering them. Although the actions these two men portray throughout the
short story doesn't match up to the entitlement of "a good man", the grandmother has faith that they
are in fact truly good deep inside. The view the grandmother has of Red Sammy and the Misfit,
despite their actions, shows her blindness toward present day society. At the beginning of the story,
the reader encounters the grandmother's flawed view of "a good man" during her conversation with
Red Sammy. The conversation displays her misinterpretation
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'A Good Man Is Hard To Find'
The first sentence in the story reveals to us that the grandmother is the main character in the story,
and that she doesn't want to go to Florida, which suggests something bad is going to happen if she
does go to Florida. The author's intent in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is to show, as the title
suggests, that a good man is hard to find.
The context in which the word man is used is to describe all humans, not men specifically. The
author uses Red Sammy, the Misfit, and the grandmother as examples of "good" people. Of course
none of these characters are good people. The grandmother thinks of herself as morally superior to
everyone else, and therefore she is always telling others what she thinks is right and what should be
done. She claims
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A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay
In the story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, the grandmother is the main protagonist in the story. She
claims to be a "good lady" who supposedly has the impression she can judge other's moral codes.
She manipulates the people she supposedly loves and because of this, she is instrumental in their
demise. The grandmother's name is never mention, and I believe the author did this purposely to
show that the character was erratic and perplexing. This story is not light heartened by and means.
The story ends tragically and my opinion has a quite morbid outcome. I was shocked by the
ending, I felt the deaths of the parents and children to be heartbreaking. The grandmother's
assumption that she can save her own life by implying that the Misfit character was a good man is
outrageous. Her only sense of morals she has are the ones that aligned with the rules she has made
up in her own mind. The theme of this story is...show more content...
In the "Girl" the mother obviously cares deeply for her daughter and that is why she believes she
can save her daughter from a disastrous life. On the other hand, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and
"Cathedral", the motives of the characters making the judgements don't seem to stem from any
concern or care for the other person. They seem genuinely unemotional when it comes to the other's
characters in the story. In Cathedral the narrator seems emotional blind, but Robert who is actually
is blind seems more emotional self–aware of the world around him. When the narrator tries to
explain to Robert what a cathedral looks like, he is unable to do this very simple task. The narrator
seems to have disconnected from the things around him, and because of this is unable to appreciate
them. Robert is a compassionate man who listens to others and truly cares for his fellow man. The
narrator seems cold and distant from everyone in his life and it shows with his mannerisms and
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A good man is hard to find
The Use of Religion in Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find"
Flannery O 'Connor is a Christian writer, and her work shows Christian themes of good and evil,
grace, and salvation. O'Connor has challenged the theme of religion into all of her works largely
because of her Roman Catholic upbringing. O'Connor wrote in such a way that the characters and
settings of her stories are unforgettable, revealing deep insights into the human existence. In
O'Connor's Introduction to a "Memoir of Mary Ann," she claims that Christians live to prepare for
their death. This statement is reflected in her other works, including her short story "A Good Man is
Hard To Find." After reading "A Good Man is Hard to Find," many questions remain unanswered
...show more content...
The irony in the story is shown when the grandmother, who thinks she is a good Christian, in reality
is just as evil as the Misfit.
When the grandmother and the Misfit are alone the grandmother's selfishness becomes apparent
to readers. Even though her family had just been murdered, largely because of the consequences
of her selfish acts, she is focused on saving her own life. Furthermore, she tries to convince the
Misfit that he is a good man. "I just know you 're a good man." (O'Connor "A Good Man Is Hard
to Find" 148) The Misfit replies with, "Nome, I ain 't a good man...but I ain 't the worst in the
world neither." (O'Connor "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" 148) He accepts the fact that he has
done wrong but knows there are others who are worst. The grandmother speaks of prayer to the
Misfit but is unable to recite one single prayer. She just repeatedly uses Jesus name, almost as if she
is cursing. This symbolizes her weak understanding of being a Christian.
The Misfit is struggling with his faith in God. While he believes in the existence of a God, he
does not believe in an active God. His faith struggles are likely because of the injustice he has
experienced as a result of his wrongful conviction of murdering his father. He explains his doubts
about Jesus' resurrection from the dead with the grandmother: "'I wasn 't there so I can 't say
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A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Local color by definition is "the customs, manner of speech, dress, or other typical features of a
place or period that contribute to its particular character." Any given location has its own local
color, but that of the southern region of the United States is especially prominent. The local color
of this region is demonstrated in the short stories "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner and "A
Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor. Although different aspects of localcolor are
expressed, both authors capture the local color of the south in their short stories. The south is most
well–known for drawling accents, pre (and post) civil war racism and large states with even larger
plantations and farms. These are only generalizations however,...show more content...
"Miss Emily" refused to pay her taxes because she believed she was pardoned from them due to
the fact that Colonel Sartoris had once loaned money to their hometown. Nobody in her town
challenged her on this, or the matter that she still had a negro servant that attended to her in her
old fashioned home that she refused to update. The local color of the era Miss Emily wished to
live in is particularly apparent. Her home is even described as once being part of the best
neighborhood in town, another reason Miss Emily was stuck in the past. Another example of local
color in "A Rose for Emily" is the oddity that even though Miss Emily is an outsider in town,
nobody bothers to challenge her because she has an "Old South" social standing. This means that in
previous times social standings in the south were taken more seriously than the present time of the
story, even though Miss Emily still regards herself with the same old standard. Nobody in the town
wanted to go against her and challenge a "lady" to the point where they unknowingly allowed her to
poison her Yankee husband–to–be. This is ironic because nobody in the town believed they would
have been married anyways due to the fact that he was from the north and she was from the south,
which is yet another example of local
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A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Annotated Bibliography
Working Thesis: In "A Good Man is Hard to Find", O'Connor uses the corrupt, manipulative
character of the grandmother, as well as the story's plot and theme in order to emphasize the flaws of
the church and the need for grace.
Fitzgerald, Sally. "On Faith." Letters of Flannery O' Connor, The Habit of Being, edited by Sally
Fitzgerald, Macmillan, 1988, page 90.
In this print source, O'Connor explains how her Catholic faith influences her writing in a positive
manner. She also explains her views on the importance of the church, as well as its positive and
negative actions and consequences. She claims that one must cherish the world while they struggle
to endure it. Sally Fitzgerald studied briefly at Stevens...show more content...
"A Good Man is Hard to Find." Short Stories for Students, vol. 2, Gale, 1997, pp. 97–114.
This article from the SCC database explains that O'Connor sought to present a message of God's
grace and presence in everyday life. It then provides a basic summary of "A Good Man is Hard to
Find". The article continues, going into an in–depth characterization of the grandmother and how she
ultimately dies having transcended into grace. The article's author and editor, Kathleen Wilson,
is a professor of history and cultural studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
She was educated at Yale University and has been awarded fellowships from a number of
foundations. Even though the article was published in 1997, it still holds up, as it is analyzing a
story that has already been written and will not change. There is no evidence of bias, as it is a
simple analysis and summary. This source came from Short Stories for Students, which was
published by Gale Publishing. Gale Publishing is reliable and unbiased, as they are an
educational publishing company that has been publishing works since 1954. There are a few
cited sources for this secondary source, one of which is biased. The biased source is a New York
Times Book Review, which is biased in favor of the story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find". This
source will be useful in describing the grandmother's character and analyzing her connection to
spirituality in the first body paragraph. It also helps to connect
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A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essays

  • 1. A Good Man Is Hard To Find When spending time with dear friends and family, so often do we take time to reminisce about how good things used to be. So often do we look so far back that we disregard what is currently happening around us as we think of a time where gas used to be a dollar and fifty seven cents. A Good Man is Hard to Find is a short story written by Flannery O'Connor. It is the story of a family living in Georgia which intends on going to Florida for vacation. This road trip sadly takes a turn for the worst when the family ends up in a tragic automobile accident and lands at the mercy of the Misfit. There is a general theme in this story of how living in the past can lead to not being prepared for the future, and it is visited numerous times throughout...show more content... The Continued Persistance of Nostalgia This persistence of living in the past is quite visible to the reader as we progress through the story. After the family had embarked on their vacation road trip it was not long until the Grandmother had begun to speak about landmarks they were passing as well as scenes that she would like to paint. While the children were rather unamused by their grandmothers recanting of the past, the Grandmother was living in only her memory this is further reflected with how excited the Grandmother seems when passing an old family graveyard. "They passed a large cotton field with five or fix graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island. "Look at the graveyard!" the grandmother said, pointing it out. "That was the old family burying ground. That belonged to the plantation." "Where's the plantation?" John Wesley asked. "Gone With the Wind" said the grandmother. "Ha. Ha.""( 354/355) Shortly afterward, the Grandmother decides to tell the children a story about her life when she was younger. This story is about how a many with the initials E.A.T would bring her watermelon every Saturday afternoon. One afternoon she had not been home and the gentleman had left the watermelon Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 2. Thesis Statement For A Good Man Is Hard To Find Shayla S. Corbin Ms. Pearce English 1302 Sunday, November 12, 2017 "A Good Man is Hard to find" I.Introduction A.Written by Flannery O'Connor B.Christian Theme (Bandy 107) C.Named after a Popular song (Desmond 129) D.The fiction imagination (Evans 181) E.Thesis Statement: In Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find", the grandmother's journey from being controlling and selfish to graceful symbolizes a Christian's journey toward salvation. F.Context of spiritual realities G.Faith messages embodied in the characters II.The Grandmother A.She is Nameless (Evans 184) B.She is one of the three main characters (Evans 184) C.She didn't want to go to Florida (Bandy 113) III.Grandmother's personality A.She is Self–Centered (Bandy 109) B.She wants to go to Tennessee (bandy 109) C.She manipulates her Family (Link 127) D.She tries to change Baileys mind about the trip (Bandy 113) IV.Grandmothers' external appearance A.She dresses in Sundays best (Link 126) B.Her Family wears casual attire (Link 126) C.She dressed to be killed (Bandy 114) D.Proper ladylike appearance (Bandy 114) V.Grandmother's internal flaws A.She Displays unchristian morals (Link 127) B.Speaks racist words (bandy 108) C.Grandmother's Dishonesty Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 3. A good man is hard to find Critical Essay #1 A Closer Look Into "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" By James ENC–1102 The short story I chose for my critical essay is a story that caught my attention with a gentle and inspiring title and as I began to turn pages it suddenly evolved into a theme that caught me off guard and I quickly became intrigued by elusive style of writing the author used to express this story in a unique form of literature. After reading Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find", I will discuss the vivid historical and cultural context the author revealed to the story's setting in relation to its style and how the main character is exposed to different parallels of what she considers to be a good man in time that is dealing with...show more content... The relation between the definition of Southern Gothic Literature and the historical context and plot which the story contains is almost identical in characteristics and perfect placement by the author to give the story a sense of significance where it is relevant in all elements. While researching this short story you complete a close reading you come to recognize the close details that come to expose a theme that is elusive and shows different parallels of what Grandma considers being a good man within different parts of the story. In order to bring further understanding I am going to give you a brief summary on the short story. The story begins in Georgia in the 1940's–1950's with the Grandma as the main character who is trying to manipulate her son named Bailey and his wife from traveling to Florida because of the danger of a man called The Misfit who has escaped from prison and instead tries to persuade them to travel to Tennessee. Eventually, the Grandmother doesn't succeed at convincing him to travel to Tennessee so both of them head off toward Florida along with Bailey's wife, their young daughter June, their eight year old son John Wesley, the young baby, and Gandmas cat. They drive for a while and Grandma talks to her granddaughter of her early days when she was a maiden Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 4. A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' by Flannery O'Connor In this short story by Flannery O'Connor, there are many characters that each bring a certain tone and mood to the story. The grandmother brings a slightly softer tone, the kids bring a playful, sassy tone, and the Misfit and his gang bring a really dark tone. Each character comes together to bring the story to the great, exciting story that it is. The grandmother starts off the story with a warning to her son, saying that she wouldn't dare take the children to Florida with a guy like The Misfit on the loose. According to the new paper that she'd read, The Misfit was headed to Florida as well. She said that she'd feel terrible about it if she were the parents. Bailey, her son, ignores her, and decides that they are going to Florida anyway. The grandmother means well, but her son only sees her suggestion as being annoying and not necessary. Throughout the trip to Florida, the two kids, June Star and John Wesley played games and made shapes out of the clouds and listened to their grandmother's stories, reminding the readers of their childhood road trips. They bring a playful, more vibrant light to the story, and are refreshing to read about. The group later...show more content... She tells the children stories of the house and how it has a secret panel in the wall of the house. The kids go crazy wanting to go back and find the secret panel, and start screaming and yelling and kicking, begging their father to turn the car back around. Finally, Bailey caves in after some words were said. They journey down the long dirt road, driving through twists and turns, when the grandmother comes to the sudden realization that the house wasn't in Florida, it was in Tennessee, where she'd originally wanted to go. She makes a sudden movement, and the cat she'd snuck in the car jumps out and scratches Bailey, causing them to go off road and flip the Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 5. A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor One of the most memorable lines from "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" comes from the Misfit when he says, "She would have been a good woman if it had been someone there to shoot her for every minute of her life (O'Connor 309)." Flannery O'Connor's depiction of Christian faith can be seen in almost all of her works. Inevitably, the plots in all of O'Connor's stories end with a shocking conclusion, and this leaves the reader with freedom to interpret the central idea. From the endless list of themes that O'Connor embeds into her stories, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" is largely influenced by divine grace, hypocrisy, bitter reality, and white supremacy. The feeling of white supremacy can be repeatedly seen in O'Connor's writing, including "A...show more content... No, it's just a way for her to prove how whites had more power than blacks back in the twentieth century. When she is exposed to nostalgic elements of her genteel past such as an abandoned plantation that "had six white columns across the front" and was once owned by whites, it is clearly visible how difficult it is for the Grandmother to cope with the world she now lives in (O'Connor 303). Her longing to desperately revive the past is so strong that "...the more she talked about it, the more she wanted to see it once again" (Enjolras 37). Symbols like the plantation are reminders to her of the South that she used to enjoy as a child "...when whites were the masters and the blacks their slaves by right" (Enjolras 37). She is now part of a racially infused South, where the oppressed African–Americans are improving their lifestyle and living amongst whites. This is not the only instance when the racial roles play a significant part in her life. When she sees the little black child in the countryside during the road trip and boldly refers to her as a 'pickaninny," it seems as if she considers the child a type of animal because she is so unlike her, revealing that she has never experienced poverty and misfortune as African–Americans did Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 6. A Good Man is Hard to Find Essay A Good Man is Hard to Find I firmly believe that people reap what they sew. In the story, " A Good Man Is Hard to Find," the grand mother is a prime example of this scenario. Her pathetic ploys and acts of deviance cause harm to the family throughout the story and it ends up coming back to her in the end. You can tell that harms is inevitable for the family by some of the clues that are found in the grandmother's behavior. For example, in the opening paragraph of the story, she is complaining perversely for the family to go on vacation in East Tennessee instead of Florida. The rest of the family wants to go to Florida but yet she is determined for them to do as she says. I believe that this is an early indication as to...show more content... She should have been grateful instead of hateful because the family didn't have to drag her along if they didn't want to. I know that Bailey is her some, but why does she constantly aggravate him? My mother picks on me occasionally but never to the extent of the grandmother. The grandmother was a very dishonest person. She began telling little John Wesley ( her grandson), about a plantation she used to visit. She pointed to an old grave yard visible to the road. The more she thought about it the more she wanted to go back and see it. She knew that the family would not be up for seeing an old run down hat. What does she do? She begins to lie profusely, telling John Wesley about a secret trap door that has never been found to this day. This, in turn, cause the children to want to go visit the house and after constant ridicule the father turns the car around. They begin to go down a narrow dirt road. The cat jumps out of the bag and in turn causes the car to wreck. When they get out of the car she decided not to tell them that the plantation she was thinking about was in Tennessee, not Georgia. By her bringing the cat along and insisting that they go see the house, causes them to wreck. Her childish behavior was the cause of all of this. When they have an encounter with the misfit, she constantly pleads for him not to harm her or her family. She tells him to believe in Jesus. Fearing for her life she Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 7. A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay A Good Man Is Hard to Find Introduction English literature is composed of various different stories and they add to millions. Various writers have different styles of plotting their story and presenting their characters, they have used various styles and various literature elements to try and develop their characters to convey the information they want to send to the readers. Of the entire literature book I have read, I came across a story book in which the writer has tried to utilize the use of almost all the writing styles and literature element to write "A Good Man is Hard to Find", this the best book for literature students. The author of the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" has used various literature styles to try and provide...show more content... The main characters of this story are the grandmother, Misfit and Bailey family. The author uses the grand mother to plan for all the factors that will contribute to the death of the whole family. This is by bringing in of the cat into the car without the families knowledge, the luring of the children for the change of direction to a plantation and finally the identification of Misfit. These are the main factors that led to the death of the family. For the author to defend the topic of the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find", he brings into picture Misfit and the prisoners. Here the author presents them with the most evil act of having no mercy and killing of the children to justify the heading of the story. Through these evil acts the author convinces the readers that indeed a good man is hard to find in the world we are living today. He further supports this when Misfit said, "I found out the crime don't matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you're going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it." This words he use before taking the mother, the child and the grand mother to the forest to be killed. The author uses Bailey family to present a very happy family that will experience the end of their happiness on the hands of the evil people. Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 8. 'A Good Man Is Hard To Find' The story I will work on is "A Good Man is Hard to Find", I choose this story because of the tragedy moments, and a family vacation that turns upside down. To begin my essay, I want to start a body paragraph with four components: the main idea, evidence, analysis, and a link to the thesis. To start off, I want to introduce the family, the misfits, and a proper thesis statement. Then transition to my first body paragraph with a main idea that relates to my thesis. Next, I will include quotes from the text as a primary source, and quotes from the secondary source by using the library database as evidence from the text. Third, the paragraph will be analyzed, and the main idea explained. As for the final component, I will make the last sentence Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 9. Literary Analysis Of A Good Man Is Hard To Find Johnathan Ramirez Dr. Klein English 1302 15 October 2017 Literary Analysis Essay "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. Manipulation is a major theme in the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find". In the story, the grandmother...show more content... The second theme exhibited by the grandmother is her class and racial prejudice, as most characters in southern gothic stories do. The grandmother exudes a sense of self–righteousness that she explains is imbedded in her because she came from a good family. Throughout "A Good Man is Hard to Find" descriptions of the south come up often. Most of the images are portrayed when the grandmother is reminiscing about "In my time" and on the "plantation" (114). Her insistent attitude and obsession about visiting the plantation shows the grandmother truly enjoyed that time period and implies she had no problem with the racial segregation in that era. She remembers back to when she was a young girl and Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden would bring her watermelon. "but she never got the watermelon", " because a nigger boy ate it when he saw the initials E.A.T.!" (115). It is clear the grandmother feels it is appropriate to use the N word when referring to African Americans, even years after slavery era. As the grandmother glamorizes Negroes and life on the plantation, it is clear she admired the ways of the Old South, a true characteristics of Southern Gothic writing. Her stereotypical character projects a prejudice that leaves the audience uncomfortable throughout the story. Flannery O' Connor's skillfully webs subtle ironic instances throughout the story that, later, helps readers see the bigger picture. After much debate about not traveling to Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 10. Research Paper: a Good Man Is Hard to Find Research Paper: A Good Man is Hard to Find 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. The setting of the story is never really clear to the reader. The author never really comes out and says where and when the story takes place, but with a few clues an idea is given on a pretty clear setting of "A Good Man is...show more content... This could have been the case between he misfit and the grandmother both. But it's never really clearly said. The misfit could have been known as the evil villain of the story. The grandmother was slowly beginning to turn into one but never made it all the way. "So take a chance, and take a look at Flannery O'Connor. Prepare to laugh, to be shocked, and to think. But most of all, be prepared to see." –Welborn. There are many symbols in A Good Man is Hard to Find. "A Symbol is something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible." –Symbol. The first most obvious symbol is the Grandmother's hat. She wears the hat for one sole purpose; if she were to die she would want the ones who found her body to be able to identify her as a lady. When she prepares for the car trip, she prepares for any accident that may occur. For the grandmother the only thing that seems to matter to her is that she is recognized as a lady, this reveals her selfishness and flimsy moral convention. When the grandmother first gets ready for the trip, the hat is in perfect condition. No tears, no nothing. When the grandmother gets involved in the car accident, just like her moral convictions, her hat begins to fall apart. The rim of the hat begins to tear as she faces the misfit and is thrown from the car. When the Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 11. A Good Man Is Hard To Find Analysis In the Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" we find out that the title indicates of what the story is about. The title actually came from the lyrics of a song written by Eddie Green in 1918. The title of "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Conner is quite ironic really. The reader expects to eventually find a good man in the story, but is quite surprised at the ending of the story. The title "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is expressed clearly in this story by introducing a variety of male personalities that all have one thing in common; they are not truly good men. For example, Bailey, the father of the family, shows that he does not care too much about anything and he treats his mother with much disrespect,...show more content... The title leads you to believe the story will go in another direction, which makes the ending a surprise. The title is ironic because it has the reader thinking that the story will include an ending of finding a good man, rather than finding one of the worst. The reader is searching the story for a good man, when there in fact is not one in this story. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Conner was designed to make the reader think the ending will include the finding of a good man, when the ending actually includes the exact opposite; not a good man nor a good woman. Reading the title of the story, the reader can foresee what the story will be about, just that, how finding a good person is indeed difficult to come upon. Many search the story for a good man, but what about a good woman? For example, in the beginning of the story, the grandmother was more concerned about looking like a good Christian than actually being a good Christian. This is shown by her selfish longing to go to Tennessee instead of Florida and, more importantly, by her attempts to save her own life, even as her family continued to die around her. In the end, it is proven throughout the entire short story that not only is a "Good Man Hard to find" but also, a good woman. In conclusion, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Conner was designed to make the reader think the ending will include the finding of a good man, when Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 12. A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay examples Flannery O'Connor's short story collection A Good Man is Hard to Find has many elements of a southern gothic work. Images of ancient castles with sliding panels create suspicious themes and settings that lead the readers into the dark and gloomy world of the southern United States. With all of the violence, horror, and dismal surroundings presented in O'Connor's stories there is too a moral message given. Later gothic work did not always explain horror like this, holding little moral value to contrast their grotesque images (notes, November 1). O'Connor's stories do include a strong moral element, frequently in the form of religious explanations. The characters within A Good Man is Hard to Find are usually...show more content... If Sammy is not a good man is he evil? Could he represent Satan, Red Sammy is a fitting parallel name. Sammy then states that "a good man is hard to find." Could this be forewarning to the grandmother's confused values of what is right or wrong (good or bad)? Soon the family is on their way again but the grandmother forces her way by using the children. Getting the kids exited enough to annoy their father so much that he breaks down and changes the route and seeks out the old gothic house. We soon learn that the grandmother has made a geographical mistake thinking Georgia for Tennessee. Her ignorance starts a chain of events which will result in all their deaths: Brining the cat along even though she knew it wold not be allowed, forcing her will even when unsure if it was right (O'Connor, 2, 11). The grandmother's uncertainty of geography could be read as mirroring her spiritual uncertainty. After the car crashes we see that the grandmother is self–serving. She uses gender roles ("you wouldn't shoot a woman") and religious images to try and save herself and to make the Misfit to look well upon her (O'Connor, 14–19). This plea seems very self–serving. Why not ask– "you wouldn't shoot a family, would you?" The argument of religion as a reason to be good is rejected by the Misfit (O'Connor, 21). By dismissing Christ's history the Misfit also rejects the grandmother's self–serving values. Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 13. A Good Man Is Hard To Find I find myself missing the major hints or clues in a book, even if they are right in front of me. Usually, I have to read a book twice to finally understand why the story ended that way. This is the same way with "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor's. The story is about a family who wants to have a vacation in Florida. The grandmother, who is the focus of the story, wants to go to Tennessee instead. She tries to convince everyone that there is a killer running loose down in Florida; the Misfit. They all ignore her and drive to Florida anyway. Without telling her family union, the grandmother brings her cat along for the ride. They drive for several hours until they stop at a restaurant called Red Sammy's. She talks to the owner of the restaurant about how people are not nice anymore and "good men are hard to find." They leave the restaurant and head back on the road, but the...show more content... She convinces them to drive onto an abandon dirt road, but suddenly remembers that the plantation is in Tennessee instead of George. Her sudden reaction causes her cat, who is under the seat, to jump out and bounce on the driver. The driver loses control and the car smacks right into a ditch. Everyone is okay until a truck pulls up and three guys jump out. The grandmother recognizes one of them as the Misfit. He tells his two men to take the family into the woods, and one at a time shoots and kills them. Meanwhile the grandmother tries to kiss up to the Misfit to save her life, but nothing she says works. With being the only one not killed yet, she tries to talk to the Misfit about religion and Jesus. The Misfit opens up to her about his past and how he has done some thinking about Jesus. At that moment, she has some clarity and reaches out to touch him. He ends up shooting her three times in the chest. When the other two men return from the woods, he tells them "She would've been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 14. A Good Man Is Hard To Find While reading "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," it becomes clear that the grandmother possesses a false interpretation of "a good man". This action is especially evident when she gives Red Sam and the Misfit the title when encountering them. Although the actions these two men portray throughout the short story doesn't match up to the entitlement of "a good man", the grandmother has faith that they are in fact truly good deep inside. The view the grandmother has of Red Sammy and the Misfit, despite their actions, shows her blindness toward present day society. At the beginning of the story, the reader encounters the grandmother's flawed view of "a good man" during her conversation with Red Sammy. The conversation displays her misinterpretation Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 15. 'A Good Man Is Hard To Find' The first sentence in the story reveals to us that the grandmother is the main character in the story, and that she doesn't want to go to Florida, which suggests something bad is going to happen if she does go to Florida. The author's intent in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is to show, as the title suggests, that a good man is hard to find. The context in which the word man is used is to describe all humans, not men specifically. The author uses Red Sammy, the Misfit, and the grandmother as examples of "good" people. Of course none of these characters are good people. The grandmother thinks of herself as morally superior to everyone else, and therefore she is always telling others what she thinks is right and what should be done. She claims Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 16. A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay In the story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, the grandmother is the main protagonist in the story. She claims to be a "good lady" who supposedly has the impression she can judge other's moral codes. She manipulates the people she supposedly loves and because of this, she is instrumental in their demise. The grandmother's name is never mention, and I believe the author did this purposely to show that the character was erratic and perplexing. This story is not light heartened by and means. The story ends tragically and my opinion has a quite morbid outcome. I was shocked by the ending, I felt the deaths of the parents and children to be heartbreaking. The grandmother's assumption that she can save her own life by implying that the Misfit character was a good man is outrageous. Her only sense of morals she has are the ones that aligned with the rules she has made up in her own mind. The theme of this story is...show more content... In the "Girl" the mother obviously cares deeply for her daughter and that is why she believes she can save her daughter from a disastrous life. On the other hand, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "Cathedral", the motives of the characters making the judgements don't seem to stem from any concern or care for the other person. They seem genuinely unemotional when it comes to the other's characters in the story. In Cathedral the narrator seems emotional blind, but Robert who is actually is blind seems more emotional self–aware of the world around him. When the narrator tries to explain to Robert what a cathedral looks like, he is unable to do this very simple task. The narrator seems to have disconnected from the things around him, and because of this is unable to appreciate them. Robert is a compassionate man who listens to others and truly cares for his fellow man. The narrator seems cold and distant from everyone in his life and it shows with his mannerisms and Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 17. A good man is hard to find The Use of Religion in Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" Flannery O 'Connor is a Christian writer, and her work shows Christian themes of good and evil, grace, and salvation. O'Connor has challenged the theme of religion into all of her works largely because of her Roman Catholic upbringing. O'Connor wrote in such a way that the characters and settings of her stories are unforgettable, revealing deep insights into the human existence. In O'Connor's Introduction to a "Memoir of Mary Ann," she claims that Christians live to prepare for their death. This statement is reflected in her other works, including her short story "A Good Man is Hard To Find." After reading "A Good Man is Hard to Find," many questions remain unanswered ...show more content... The irony in the story is shown when the grandmother, who thinks she is a good Christian, in reality is just as evil as the Misfit. When the grandmother and the Misfit are alone the grandmother's selfishness becomes apparent to readers. Even though her family had just been murdered, largely because of the consequences of her selfish acts, she is focused on saving her own life. Furthermore, she tries to convince the Misfit that he is a good man. "I just know you 're a good man." (O'Connor "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" 148) The Misfit replies with, "Nome, I ain 't a good man...but I ain 't the worst in the world neither." (O'Connor "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" 148) He accepts the fact that he has done wrong but knows there are others who are worst. The grandmother speaks of prayer to the Misfit but is unable to recite one single prayer. She just repeatedly uses Jesus name, almost as if she is cursing. This symbolizes her weak understanding of being a Christian. The Misfit is struggling with his faith in God. While he believes in the existence of a God, he does not believe in an active God. His faith struggles are likely because of the injustice he has experienced as a result of his wrongful conviction of murdering his father. He explains his doubts about Jesus' resurrection from the dead with the grandmother: "'I wasn 't there so I can 't say Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 18. A Good Man Is Hard To Find Local color by definition is "the customs, manner of speech, dress, or other typical features of a place or period that contribute to its particular character." Any given location has its own local color, but that of the southern region of the United States is especially prominent. The local color of this region is demonstrated in the short stories "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor. Although different aspects of localcolor are expressed, both authors capture the local color of the south in their short stories. The south is most well–known for drawling accents, pre (and post) civil war racism and large states with even larger plantations and farms. These are only generalizations however,...show more content... "Miss Emily" refused to pay her taxes because she believed she was pardoned from them due to the fact that Colonel Sartoris had once loaned money to their hometown. Nobody in her town challenged her on this, or the matter that she still had a negro servant that attended to her in her old fashioned home that she refused to update. The local color of the era Miss Emily wished to live in is particularly apparent. Her home is even described as once being part of the best neighborhood in town, another reason Miss Emily was stuck in the past. Another example of local color in "A Rose for Emily" is the oddity that even though Miss Emily is an outsider in town, nobody bothers to challenge her because she has an "Old South" social standing. This means that in previous times social standings in the south were taken more seriously than the present time of the story, even though Miss Emily still regards herself with the same old standard. Nobody in the town wanted to go against her and challenge a "lady" to the point where they unknowingly allowed her to poison her Yankee husband–to–be. This is ironic because nobody in the town believed they would have been married anyways due to the fact that he was from the north and she was from the south, which is yet another example of local Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 19. A Good Man Is Hard To Find Annotated Bibliography Working Thesis: In "A Good Man is Hard to Find", O'Connor uses the corrupt, manipulative character of the grandmother, as well as the story's plot and theme in order to emphasize the flaws of the church and the need for grace. Fitzgerald, Sally. "On Faith." Letters of Flannery O' Connor, The Habit of Being, edited by Sally Fitzgerald, Macmillan, 1988, page 90. In this print source, O'Connor explains how her Catholic faith influences her writing in a positive manner. She also explains her views on the importance of the church, as well as its positive and negative actions and consequences. She claims that one must cherish the world while they struggle to endure it. Sally Fitzgerald studied briefly at Stevens...show more content... "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Short Stories for Students, vol. 2, Gale, 1997, pp. 97–114. This article from the SCC database explains that O'Connor sought to present a message of God's grace and presence in everyday life. It then provides a basic summary of "A Good Man is Hard to Find". The article continues, going into an in–depth characterization of the grandmother and how she ultimately dies having transcended into grace. The article's author and editor, Kathleen Wilson, is a professor of history and cultural studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She was educated at Yale University and has been awarded fellowships from a number of foundations. Even though the article was published in 1997, it still holds up, as it is analyzing a story that has already been written and will not change. There is no evidence of bias, as it is a simple analysis and summary. This source came from Short Stories for Students, which was published by Gale Publishing. Gale Publishing is reliable and unbiased, as they are an educational publishing company that has been publishing works since 1954. There are a few cited sources for this secondary source, one of which is biased. The biased source is a New York Times Book Review, which is biased in favor of the story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find". This source will be useful in describing the grandmother's character and analyzing her connection to spirituality in the first body paragraph. It also helps to connect Get more content on HelpWriting.net