Fiction/Short Story Literary Analysis Essay Southern Gothic stories “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, both obtain dynamic lead female characters with strong characteristics. The two stories, along with their characters, reveal similarities, as well as differences. Through characterization, setting, symbolism, theme etc. it is possible to reveal and analyze these comparisons and contrasts. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O’Connor devises lead female character, Grandmother, to possess many characteristics, along with fascinating morals and principles. Beginning with the first few sentences of the story; this insight is provided on what type of woman O’Connor formulates Grandmother to be. “The Grandmother didn 't want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey 's mind.” (O’ Connor 567) This quote seemingly portrays that the Grandmother bore characteristics of persistence and possible selfishness. Further into the story, O’Connor’s uses setting to portray some of Grandmother’s values and beliefs. “… when she was a maiden lady she had been courted by a Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden from Jasper, Georgia…he brought her a watermelon every Saturday afternoon with his initials cut into it, E. A. T. … he left it on the porch…but she never got the watermelon, she said, because a nigger boy ate it when he saw the initials, E. A. T!”