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A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor

1051 Words5 Pages

In Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" contains situational irony. This story, as in most of O'Connor's stories, the irony being a tool that is used throughout all her writings to illustrate the central conflict. Thus O'Connor's tool had not been in the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" she uses the irony to paint the picture of the transitioning interaction between the main characters, The Misfit and the grandmother. It is my contention that in the story " A Good Man Is Hard to Find," took the role of highlighting how the fear of death seems to change a person's character for the better. The irony functions as a conduit for the reader to reflect on their personal character by relating to the changes in the grandmother …show more content…

When it comes to having faith in God most only call upon him in the time of need or when it benefits them. Just because a person attends church on Sundays (God's day) one assumes that their life and "dues" or "debts" to God have been repaid for their sins that week. For one who believes knows that, that just is not the case and that he should be their number one priority in life and the rest follows and finally putting their selfishness at the end, thus the He before me. Not saying that any one person is perfect and never sins or puts themselves before God but, saying that often it is the case of seeing one only calls upon God in their own time of need or when it is convenient for them. Such the grandmother was calling upon her faith in God when she sees that her life is coming to an end, just to ask him to save her and forgive The Misfit for his sins. For example, "Finally she found herself saying, "Jesus, Jesus," meaning, Jesus will help you." (O'Connor, 131) As for her cries for the Lords help, it seems it came too late as for it is when most try to call upon the Lord for guidance and help because they are already in a predicament and chances are there is no way out. For example when the grandmother says, "Why you are one of my babies. You're one of my own children!" She reached out and touched him on the …show more content…

Just you read it. I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal aloose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did." (117) The grandmother's attitude and tone could not have illustrated in a more judgmental way the reader could grasp what kind of characteristics that she possesses very quickly. She was an old lady who always had to have it her way or she was not happy, and everyone knew it, quick to judge, and was not the most forgiving person on Earth. Her character's outlook changed when she knew her death was imminent while talking to The Misfit. In return, The Misfit at the end says "She would have been a good woman," "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." (O'Connor, 133) Which gives the reader more to think on as they go about life maybe they are one who judges way too quickly before getting to know

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Flannery O’Connor was a diligent Catholic author and a Georgia resident. She wrote Southern Gothic Literature, which is written works of literature in the South part of America during the mid-20th century. This type of literature consisted of morbid, disturbing or fantastic characters and circumstances in the stories. O’Connor relied on her religious beliefs and regional experiences as a source of inspiration for all her stories. In the story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, a family is taking a vacation to Florida, but the real journey takes place inside the family 's lives.

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In the story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor, there is no doubt the reader should consider the grandmother a villain. Throughout the story, it is easy to assume the grandmother would eventually lead the family to some sort of downfall. The grandmother has many traits that make her a villain, and through her judgemental nature, selfish acts, and inability to stop talking, she leads her family and herself to their death. Throughout the story it is obvious that the grandmother is very judgemental of people and seems to consider herself as better than everyone.

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In the 1953 short story titled “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, readers are given a glimpse of what the end of the story may look like through use of foreshadowing, symbolism, and other literary techniques. Although the story looks to be an innocent story of a family who travels to Florida for vacation at the start of it, readers soon find out that the story has a darker twist to it. This family trip turns violent and this gruesome ending can easily represent the violence taking place in America during the time this story was written by O’Connor and even today. The short story starts off with a family of six- parents, a grandmother, and three children-

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Irony in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is evident everywhere. Throughout this short story the grandmother is involved in a lot of the irony. In the beginning the grandmother was trying to convince her son and his family to go to east Tennessee instead of Florida, and yet the next morning she was the first person to be in the car and ready to go. For the road trip, the grandmother dressed very nice. She wore her navy blue dress with collars the shade of white organdy, and her collars and cuffs were trimmed with lace.

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‘I don’t want no hep,’ he said ‘I’m doing all right by myself’”(O’Connor 150). This quote is a perfect example of how The Grandmother believed in her God to save her from her situation. O’Connor’s catholic faith shows in quotes like the previous one. O’Connor puts her faith in words and writes stories about it.

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At one point when exhausted, hungry and worried for her children she says “I cannot express the affliction that lay upon my spirit, but the Lord helped me at the time to express it to Himself. I opened up my Bible to read, and the Lord brought that precious Scripture to me” (Rowlandson

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This diminishes her religious faith because she feels like God never answers her prayers which makes her turn to men. She doesn’t believe that God is real because of the issues she’s faced in her life. And if he was real, she wouldn’t be in the state that she’s in. “You know it makes one feel rather good deciding not to be a bitch. It’s sort of what we have instead God.

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Now, I am not saying God is a dog but our relationship with God is always a working progress just like my relationship with my dog if I had one but the best part is that our relationship with God is so much more and this woman knew that. Her last hope and desperation was to go to Jesus and seek His help. We go further in our passage and we see that this woman touches Jesus. Touches JESUS!!! A poor women who to everyone else means nothing to, she wasn’t important.

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The balance of what is good and what is bad is a rather controversial topic in the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find". Most notably, the characteristics of both the Grandmother and the Misfit. The Misfit portrays an immoral personality and seems to be the evil in the story while the grandmother is the innocent lady seeking to be the good in this story. However, the religious virtues effect both personas and in itself draws the line around them mutually as sinners. Both characters have a particular relationship with Jesus, a physical crisis crossed with a spiritual crisis and different conceptions of reality; thus, revealing how the portrayal of these characters are not what may seem.

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In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” she uses writing skills such as symbolism and imagery to get across her different themes to the reader’s with plenty of room for self-interpretation. Though O’Connor’s work could be defined as cynical, she does an excellent job of writing in the third person with her uncomplicated structure of sentences leaving plenty of room for her character 's thoughts, feelings, and actions to get across the realism of our world. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a battle between a grandmother with a rather artificial sense of goodness, and a criminal who symbolizes evil. The grandmother treats goodness as having good manners, and coming from a family of higher class, but at the end of the story comes to

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