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Literary Elements Of A Good Man Is Hard To Find

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In Flannery O'Conner's “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O'Connor tells the story of a family taking a road trip from Georgia to Florida. The grandma, unhappy with the idea of going to Florida, wishes to go to Tennessee instead. Despite her attempts at convincing the family to go to Tennessee, the family takes a very unfortunate trip to Florida. O’Conner uses many diverse types of literary elements throughout the story to keep the reader on edge. These elements consist of the point of view, character, setting, and plot, all of which do a splendid job of keeping the reader on edge. First off, the point of view is how the author chooses to tell the story. The point of view is “the angle of vision from which a story is told,” which consists of …show more content…

The exposition of the story is the explanation of background information to establish things like the setting, characters, and plot (Johnson 1637). The exposition of this story, like most, is in the beginning where we are introduced to all the characters like the grandmother and The Misfit, as well as the setting of Georgia. The rising action is when the plot is considered developing towards the story's climax (Johnson 1643). The rising action of this story consists of the family’s car accident that leaves them stranded in the woods and the arrival of The Misfit (O’Connor 445). The climax of the story is considered the peak of the plot (Johnson 1635). The peak of this story is the grandmother's death as The Misfit shoots her in the stomach 3 times (O’Connor 450). The falling action is defined as the portion of the plot between the climax and the resolution (Johnson 1638). The falling action within the story is simply The Misfit and his fellow criminals disposing of the bodies of the family (O’Connor 450). The denouement of the story is the conclusion or resolution of the story (Johnson 1636). The denouement of this story is a quote from The Misfit, “It’s no real pleasure in life” (O’Connor 450). The plot of this story did maintain the edge whilst still developing the story piece by piece until it delivered an unexpected

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However, she dies with “her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling” as she has redeemed herself of her selfishness and lack of integrity (O’Connor 430). O’Connor’s use of situational irony in the shocking ending shows the Grandmother’s reclaim of childlike innocence and joy through her fatal brush with

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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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In the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O'Connor's explains in vivid details, a corrupt, unfortunate turn of events resulting in the gruesome death of a young family. This unexpected tragedy astonished readers because the plot was simple yet fascinating. It is easily recognizable hat every word and literary element installed in this story has a purpose behind its placement. O’Connor uses literary elements such as foreshadowing of the family’s fate, dramatic irony, and Biblical allusions to develop a well-planned, beautiful short story.     Considered to be one of the best short story writers, Flannery O’Connor uses her life experiences to seamlessly blend fiction with reality.

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