ipl-logo

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Symbolism Essay

542 Words3 Pages

The Story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flanders O’Connor is full of symbolism if you are willing to dig deep enough. The story is about a family heading to Florida, but their grandma is wary of the trip and would rather go to Tennessee to avoid a potential bandit on the loose. The family decides to ignore their grandmas warning and continues their trip to Florida, which in the end becomes a fatal mistake. On the surface it is just an entertaining story, but symbolism adds more depth to the story. The first big symbol of the story is the grandmother confrontation with the bandit. This symbolizes the never ending battle of good vs evil. The grandmother represents the good in life and she tries to find good in the bandit by saying that “I know you're a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell”(190). The bandit represents the evil in this situation by showing no remorse towards others and does not hesitate to pull the trigger and “shoot the grandmother not one but three times. She was shot in the chest, which houses the heart”(193). This again proves that the bandit is evil because he shoots the heart, that symbolizes love and kindness. Another symbol shown through the grandmother is when she was shot she was laying back …show more content…

The character was in prison before this story had begun, and did not understand why. It seemed as if he did not fit in at the prison, and even when he broke out of the prison he still didn't fit in with society. Since there were people always after him. Another symbol from the misfit is his “big black battered hearse-like automobile”(189). The color black itself symbols death, along with the description of hearse-like it becomes an obvious symbol of death which is made even more apparent later in the story. The hearse although was the second symbol of death revealed in the story as they had earlier passed a graveyard that the grandmother had gotten ecstatic

Show More
Related
104 Words | 1 Pages

Out if the Dust by Karen Hesse is about a small town girl named Billie Joe, evolving throughout many hardship that take place in this book. This debate is whether or not Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse should or should not remain in the eighth grade curriculum. Out of the Dust should be part of our eighth grade curriculum because it introduces to students a more advance and emotional form of poetry. One reason for it should stay is the use of free verse poems gives the reader more detail than an rhyming poem or even a basic novel would give

Read More
427 Words | 2 Pages

Symbolism uses symbols to represent ideas or qualities, such as loss, grief, or pain. This idea is of utmost importance because, in the novel Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, two symbols show the suffering of Billie Jo and Daddy. Hence, the author uses symbolism to explain the loss in Billie Jo’s and Daddy’s lives, using the gaping hole that daddy digs and the missing cranberry sauce. Primarily, Billie Jo’s symbol for suffering loss was the cranberry sauce, as it represents her loss of her mother.

Read More
503 Words | 3 Pages

This quote gets us to know how equality is in the book. From this quote we can get that white people have an advantage, and black people have to be patient enough to see how they are being treated by having to wait for the white people to pass when they are the ones who got to the bridge first. The cars show/represent how they fit in the line of respect. It is known in the book for the characters, that if you are black you are likely to not own a car, but maybe a wagon; if not, then you go around on your

Read More
1904 Words | 8 Pages

Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” was published in 1955. O’Connor was also known for her novel The Violent Bear it Away (published in 1960) and her collection of short stories Everything That Rises Must Converge (published in 1964). The author often used violence and greed to show how she saw humanity that was without God. She liked to write about pettiness and vanity in the rural south, both of which play large parts in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” This particular piece of work is about a family who goes on a road trip that takes an unexpected turn when they cross paths with a murderer and his henchmen.

Read More
779 Words | 4 Pages

Another example of symbolism comes from Mr. Shiftlet. Towards the end of the story, Mr. Shiftlet picked up a “hitchhiker” (O'Connor 866). Feeling depressed for abandoning Lucynell, Mr. Shiftlet picks up a “hitchhiker” from the side of the road. Shiftlet's reasoning in doing such was to grasp redemption. After being yelled at by the young boy Shiftlet “is bluntly reminded of the lack of a religious presence in his rootless existence” (Encylcopedia.com).

Read More
116 Words | 1 Pages

For instance, car they drive to the lake, an old station wagon, it was not the car of a tough guy. The biker on the lake shows us that he is dangerous by stereotype alone. The vehicles are characteristic of the persons who drove them. Another symbol of the danger and death it is the Greasy Lake.

Read More
843 Words | 4 Pages

Another example of usage of symbolism in this book would be Alcohol. Alcohol is used as a symbol to convey a deeper meaning. Alcohol in this novel symbolizes that many of the characters face problems and obstacles that are very difficult, but they don’t really face them head-on. They try to escape from their problems in many ways, and the main one is alcohol. The characters are having tough times in their lives, where they really don’t know what to do and how to handle their obstacles or setbacks to be happy.

Read More
126 Words | 1 Pages

Sing Down the Moon is about a fourteen year old Navaho Indian girl named Bright Morning, which lives with her mother, father, and sister in a village in the Canyon de Chelly. One day Bright Morning and her friend named Running Bird are herding sheep when they are kidnap by two men who are Slavers. The two girls then meet a girl named Nehana who helps them escape the town. On their way home, they run into two men named Tall Boy and Mando, which is a part of the Navaho tribe. Soon after they arrive home, the tribe’s enemy

Read More
430 Words | 2 Pages

The setting in the story takes place near Owl Creek. The story has a lot of symbols. The symbols in a story may be important or not important. In this story all the symbols are important. Symbols mean something in this story.

Read More
1880 Words | 8 Pages

This is ironic, since a huge topic in this short story is about the devil, and death. “They went up through the maze of parked and cruising cars to the bright lit, fly-infested restaurant, their faces pleased and expectant as if they were entering a sacred building that loomed up out of the night to give them what haven and blessing they yearned for. They listened to the music that made everything so good. The music was always in the background, like music at a church service” (Oates). These symbols contain several ideas.

Read More
723 Words | 3 Pages

As the family ride down on an old dirt road, that Grandma leads them to, the family passes a field with about five or six graves; this represents the 6 passengers that are in the car (Baumgaertner). This example is very subtle, but also very significant because it includes the whole family for the first time. Throughout the story, O’Conner uses different death symbols, and this adds to the imagery. It also helps the reader put all the pieces together before the end of the story comes. Once the family crashes there is an immediate sense of danger in the story, especially when the “hearse-like” vehicle is mentioned.

Read More
985 Words | 4 Pages

The Story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'Connor uses symbols to depict one main idea. Flannery O'Connor uses the same theme in almost all of his stories which is grace and redemption. Grace and redemption is something the grandmother is working towards throughout the entire story. In the beginning, she's very shallow and only cares about how others see her. However as the story continues and different actions take place, her overall beliefs begin to change as she receives grace and redemption.

Read More
868 Words | 4 Pages

Symbolism is when the author uses objects to add deeper meaning to the story without mentioning it in the story. In Flannery O’Connor’s story, “Good Country People”, she uses symbolism to illustrate the antagonist and protagonist with more insight; for example, Manley’s hollow Bible signify how he really does not believe in Christianity, Hulga’s wooden leg portrayed her personality, and her name change represents how she is not the same girl she once was. First of all, the author introduces Manley Pointer as a young man that goes around homes selling Bibles, but little did she know that was not the case. When Manley Pointer goes on a date with Hulga the truth is revealed. Hulga has the impression that Manley is a young nice man that sells Bibles

Read More
1561 Words | 7 Pages

The author used symbolism throughout the whole story to show the difference between these characters. The symbolism is there to give us a further explanation on the family and also to tell us how much heritage is important to some, but not others. The first symbol

Read More
1254 Words | 6 Pages

The grandmother grew in that moment of death more than she ever did in the little parts that we read about her life, and she dies in peace. Her actions may have even changed the Misfit too. At the end, he says “she would have been a good woman if he 'd been there all her life to shoot her.” (366). This line confused me the first time reading it, but the second time around it made more sense.

Read More

More about A Good Man Is Hard To Find Symbolism Essay

Related Topics

Open Document