ipl-logo

A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor

1515 Words7 Pages

Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” not only offers a compelling and fascinating story but also illustrates the frightening behaviors of the human psyche. The author portrays the encounter of a seemingly innocent family with a dangerous escaped convict, The Misfit. On the surface, the story appears to be a simple tale of a family road trip gone awry, but it quickly becomes clear that there are deeper psychological themes at play. The application of psychoanalytic principles allows the readers to explore the character’s motivations, desires, and unconscious conflicts in greater depth. O’Connor’s characters are vivid and realistic, allowing readers to gain a greater understanding of the psychological dynamics at play. …show more content…

To cope with these anxieties, the Ego utilizes various defense mechanisms to mitigate the tension caused by threatening impulses (Siegfried). Sigmund Freud suggested that ego defense mechanisms operate on an unconscious level to shield us from feelings of anxiety or guilt that arise when we feel threatened, which serves to protect people from negative emotions or to enhance their positive Pho 2 experiences (Mcleod). The first sign of the defense mechanism The Misfit uses is denial, which is the refusal of reality due to emotional distress. The actions of The Misfit suggest that he had a difficult childhood and that his parents were not the "finest people in the world." Stockholm syndrome is often associated with child abuse, in which individuals will develop positive emotions toward their abuser over time in a state of denial. Through a process of cognitive persuasion, The Misfit has managed to convince himself that his parents are inherently good people, thereby deliberately negating the reality that he was treated poorly during his childhood. After speaking of his parents, he flashed a smile of “strong white teeth.” Persistent …show more content…

Through the analysis of these aspects and their functions, we can comprehend the reason behind human behaviors, be it on an individual or cultural level (Siegfried). On the other hand, The Misfit’s character exhibits symptoms of anxiety, represented through the effects of an unresolved Oedipus complex and the ego defense mechanism. The lack of socialization, combined with unhealthy coping mechanisms, has resulted in his deviant behavior and inclination for violence. Through the story’s interactions and conflicts, there is a portrayal of the complexities of human nature and the consequences of unchecked desires, motivations, and unconscious conflicts. The grandmother and The Misfit serve as prime examples of the effects of psychological elements on a person’s behavior. O’Connor intricately placed subtle details in her characters throughout the story, such could be interpreted as Freudian slips of the unconscious mind. Throughout her literary work, O’Connor offers an in-depth analysis of human psychology by utilizing her characters as a means of delving into various Freudian concepts, exploring Freud's ego defense mechanism, the Oedipus complex, and the psychoanalytic theory of personality

Show More
Related
688 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1150 Words | 5 Pages

Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist and short story writer. A woman once said of O’Connor after a reading of one of her stories, “It's a shame that someone with so much talent would look upon life as a horror show.” While this quote may hold some truth, Flannery O'Connor skillfully establishes complex characters of realism to illustrate the theme of negative yet natural humans naturally displayed throughout life. O'Connor crafts writing using calculated foreshadowing and symbolism to guild the reader to the theme. In the story A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O'Connor uses a graveyard to foreshadow the end of the story.

Read More
748 Words | 3 Pages

Grace and Martyrdom Flannery O’Connor, the author “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” presents a dark humorous short story that illustrates the struggles with living true to one person's morals. The Misfit and the grandmother, O’Connors main characters, experiences the struggles of differing personalities. Superficially the grandmother considers her moral superiority to others and The Misfit experiences the desolation of nonrelgion; nevertheless, staying pure to his values. The role of foreshadowing, irony and character development in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” as a form of gothic literature set the tone for the suspense in this short story.

Read More
1371 Words | 6 Pages

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-

Read More
605 Words | 3 Pages

This conversation in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” between The Misfit, an infamous criminal in Georgia, and his accomplice Bobby Lee reveals the senseless views of not only The Misfit, but also the grandmother he just murdered. Both characters appear to be different, yet they feel authorized at some point in the story to assert their irrational judgments. Towards the end of her life the grandmother finally shows empathy depicting her as the lesser of two evils. While The Misfit acknowledges the grandmother’s moment of goodness, his cynical thinking ultimately leads him to seemingly rationalize his murders when he implies that his barbaric actions are meaningless.

Read More
1147 Words | 5 Pages

For a person to act this way, they must have been through something traumatic. Part of The Misfit’s reason for this behavior is that he believed he was a victim and that none of his actions were his fault. He felt that the way he acted and his actions resulted from his past and not his bad choices. The Misfit’s problem was his self, not his past, and not what he had experienced. If he had made better choices or chosen to change his ways and not play the victim of his actions, he could have been an upstanding individual.

Read More
1097 Words | 5 Pages

The grotesque psychopathic nature of the characters in Flannery O’Connor’s, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” ironically shows how a good man does not truly exist through the revelation and proclamation of what characteristics a good man possess. In the story The Misfit shows characteristics of a psychopath by escaping prison and killing an innocent family. However, The Misfit isn’t the only character in the short story to show psychopathic tendencies. The grandma also shows some characteristics of a psychopath because she does not care or show remorse for her family who was brutally murdered

Read More
1466 Words | 6 Pages

The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is revolved around many distortions that the author O’Connor creates to build meaning within the story. The novel presents characters that are characterized through many different symbols that result in an uncanny feeling for the reader. O’Connor’s “place” is the distortion in the story that causes conflict, creating the uncanny feeling in the story. O’Connor’s “place” also represents a different variety of symbols, creating the necessary meaning of the psychological realism. O’Connor utilizes distortion to create meaning in the story within her characters who represent the conflicts within the Catholic Church and dramatizes it with a complicated sense of humor.

Read More
1152 Words | 5 Pages

The novel demonstrates how trauma, parental figures, and an unstable environment are the fundamental causes of psychopathy. No matter who you are, traumatic events change your way of thinking. In the novel, Oryx is a visually attractive woman; she has the ability to easily persuade men through her charismatic and sexual nature. She never loved any of the men she’s been with, but tells them she does. These actions display key characteristics of manipulation and control that psychopaths have.

Read More
946 Words | 4 Pages

Redemption is the act of being saved from acts of evil and sin. The debate of whether human nature is redeemable or not has been one to plaque religious scholars. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, this question continues in the interactions between the characters; the most notable being the Grandmother of a rather horrible family and the Misfit, a murderer. While on a road trip, these two characters’ paths collide and lead to a rather unfortunate end where the Grandmother and her family are killed. While many readers believe the ending creates and overall negative tone of the story, some believe that there is a hope for redemption; the story’s author O’Connor who is a devoted Catholic included.

Read More
949 Words | 4 Pages

“The only person with whom you have to compare yourself is you in the past.” Sigmund Freud is considered one of the most influential psychologists in history, and many of his ideas and theories are continually changing how people and society view and perceive the world. One of his better-known ideas is that of the id, ego, and superego. These ideas can be applied to the characters in A Separate Peace, specifically Gene and Phineas. In addition, Gene utilizes many defense mechanisms, such as displacement and rationalization.

Read More
1016 Words | 5 Pages

In her short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor introduces the reader to a world of family issues, danger, and murder. The story was written in 1955 during a period of social and racial unrest in the southern United States. Mostly, the story follows O 'Connor 's basic Southern Gothic writing style. A work that is "cold and dispassionate, as well as almost absurdly stark and violent" (Galloway). While the quote gives major insight into the theme of the story, it does not offer a glimpse into O 'Connor 's real message of the story.

Read More
1393 Words | 6 Pages

In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor creates a story where the roles of good and evil blend together. In the short story, a family in the rural South gets caught up with a criminal named the Misfit after their wreck and they end up getting murdered. The clash between the grandmother and the Misfit highlights the religious aspects of the story and also O’Connor’s beliefs. Her stylistic traits of violence, distortion, and religion are used to convey a corrupt world that needs salvation. O’Connor’s trait of violence is used throughout to reveal the corrupt and criminal world that emanates the need for salvation.

Read More
1291 Words | 6 Pages

However, it could also be analyzed from a psychoanalytic perspective. The unnamed narrator has many mental problems. First of all, according to Freud, the unconscious affects the conscious in the form of guilt. The narrator always has an overwhelming sense of guilt. For example, the narrator says "he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more."

Read More
1601 Words | 7 Pages

The reality between the Misfit and the Grandmother are very different and from this viewpoint it seems as if the Grandmother is a more dishonest and unfaithful person when it comes to selfishness. The Misfit does not express selfishness, rather he equally treats himself as he would with the people that he murdered. With two distinct differences in reality, both show similar signs of

Read More

More about A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor

Related Topics

Open Document