A Good Is Hard To Find Literary Analysis

In this short story, “A Good Is Hard to Find”, written by Flannery O’Connor, an elderly woman makes an exciting trip become corrupt. O’Connor introduces us to a family that is going on a vacation. Bailey, the father, brings his mother, also known as the grandmother, along with his wife and three children. His son, John, and his daughter June are named, but the wife and the newborn are unnamed in this story. The grandmother demands that the household should drive to Tennessee because she wanted to visit some of her connections. She also is a manipulator in a way because she insists her family to change the plan. The grandma references that the Misfit is heading to Florida where the family is traveling. The Misfit is a wanted criminal who has

She says that the house has a secret panel. While the children beg, Bailey finally says yes. The grandmother tells him where to go and then suddenly remembers that the house was in Tennessee, not in Georgia. The cat escapes from the basket and startles Bailey, who wrecks the car. The grandmother decides not to tell Bailey about her mistake. She is selfish, only caring about herself and now her family is in a ditch. An oncoming car passes by, and three men get out, all carrying guns. The grandmother screams because she realizes that one of them is the Misfit. The grandmother asks the Misfit whether he would shoot a lady, and the Misfit says he would not like to. The Misfit tells the two men with him, Hiram and Bobby Lee, to take Bailey and John into the woods. The Misfit says he knows he is not good, but that he is not the worst man either. The grandmother asks the Misfit whether he ever prays. Just as he says no, she hears two gunshots. She plays the “you are a good man”

The Misfit tells the mother of June and the newborn to go with Bobby Lee and Hiram into the woods. Bang! They hear another shot from the woods. The grandmother begs the Misfit not to shoot her. Two more gunshots come from the woods, and the grandma cries out for her son Bailey. Once Bobby Lee and Hiram return, they all look at the remaining individual, the grandma. When the Misfit assassinated the family, the grandmother never once begs him to spare her children or grandchildren. She does, however, plead for her own life because she cannot imagine the Misfit wanting to kill a lady. The Misfit observes that the grandmother could have been a good woman if someone had been around to shoot her every minute of her life.

The grandmother is the central character who grows and changes as the story develops. She regularly passes judgment on others. She assumes that her conscience is a guiding force in her life, such as when she tells Bailey that her conscience would not allow her to take the children in the same direction as the Misfit. She attacks the children’s mother for not traveling to a place that would allow the children to be broad. She also takes any opportunity to judge the lack of goodness in people in the world