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The Man Who Knew Belle Star Character Analysis

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When short stories are written they can be realistic, nonrealistic, scary, fantasy, etc. Some of the more realistic stories have the plot grow from the characters, meaning that the story unfolds and makes sense because of a character's personality. However there are stories that are set in a realistic time or place, but the story itself is less likely to happen in real life based on the behavior and personality of the characters, and appears to happen only by chance or coincidence. The short stories, "The Man Who Knew Belle Starr", by Richard Bausch and "A Good Man is Hard to Find", by Flannery O'Connor, follow fatal moments in their character's lives. The way the story and the characters develop in O'Connor's story is based on coincidence, …show more content…

That's exactly the case in "The Man Who Knew Belle Star", the villain of course being Belle. As the story progresses we discover that Belle is a dangerous teenage anarchist who has nothing to lose. She also kills men who make dirty remarks or actions towards her because of what happened to her when she was growing up (Bausch 174). From this background that the author gives the reader, one can begin to foreshadow what may happen towards the end of the story. When a reader is able to foreshadow an ending or big event in the story, it means the story is something that makes sense to them, something that relates to history or other events that they have seen or heard of before. Now take Belle Starr and compare her to The Misfit, a man who is mentioned once at the beginning of the story and another in the middle and finally encountered by the family at the end. As a reader all we know is that he did something bad to a family and is heading towards Florida (O'Connor 117). When the family encounters him it is easy to predict what will happen to them because it's something that has happened in real life to many people. What doesn't make sense is how the Misfit found the family in the first place. We are told in the beginning that the Misfit was heading towards Florida, which is the whole reason why the old lad wanted to go to Tennessee in order to avoid him. We are given no background or other reason why the misfit would be in Tennessee, so one can only assume it was coincidence. With the characters, villains and story given with these two short stories, one starts to ask whether its possible for any of these to

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The foreshadowing that happens throughout the story points to the interconnectedness of all actions. The example of the hand and the time machine, as well as others, plant the idea of interconnectedness before the reader even knows the outcome of the story. This is effective in predisposing the reader to the theme. The preview of the theme through foreshadowing makes the reader interpret the plot more clearly as the story concludes. Ultimately, this leads the reader to a realization that all actions, no matter how big or small, shape the

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Midterm Exam A Good Man is Hard to Find #2: What is the role of chance or fate in the story? •In Flannery O ' Conner 's “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the roles of chance and fate help to drive the plot to its high point. Chance is present when the grandmother, at the preamble of the story, refuses to be persuaded to travel to Florida in fear of a loose criminal nicknamed The Misfit. Instead, she decides on a whim to visit a friend in Tennessee.

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This similarity can be seen in both novels as an indicator of the loneliness both characters’

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and they are all planning a trip to Florida. Although it has been decided that they are going to Florida, the grandmother is frustrated and tries to convince her son and his family that they should go to Tennessee instead since more family lives there and there are sights to see there. She also argues that going to Florida would only put the family in danger as there was a serial killer on the loose who goes by the name of “Misfit”. This, in itself, already raises a red flag for readers since they just so happen to be travelling to a place where a serial killer is running loose. Despite the grandmother’s protests against their trip to Florida, they all get in the car and begin their journey.

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Predictions can be inferred by analyzing the foreshadowing within the text. Foreshadowing creates the suspense and wonders of what is going to happen next. This creates the reader to do active reading by making predictions and keeping their attention. Mary Shelley does this in her novel, ‘Frankenstein’. The author writes so many suspenseful and thrilling parts, it makes you ponder, “ What will happen?”.

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The Purpose of Psychopaths in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” In the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” a family of six meets their demise on the side of the road in Georgia after a gang of convicts lead by The Misfit brutally murders each member of the family. The story starts off in an upbeat tone and sets up a seemingly happy plot about a family going on vacation to Florida. However, the grandmother does not listen to her son about taking her cat on the trip and her disobedience ultimately leads to all of their deaths. The author changes the tone of the story at the end when the family gets into a wreck and faces a gruesome death by a crazed armed killer on the loose (O’Connor#).

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Today, we are going try to talk about the short story of “Miss Brill”, written by Katherine Mansfield, about an older lady named Miss Brill who loves to go to the park and wear a fancy fur coat. The next story were going to talk about is “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” ,written by Flannery O’Connor, this story about a Grandmother going on a trip to Florida with her son and his family but she has a bad feeling about going… Miss Brill was a lovely and sweet older lady who just enjoyed going to the park on Sundays. She never missed a Sunday going to the park. It was a routine for Miss Brill to go and enjoy her day at the park.

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Freeman Bailey Freeman Hensley English 11/ Fourth Period 05 March 2018 Part 14: Rough Draft #2 In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” she writes, “If you would pray,’ the old lady said, ‘Jesus would help you.’

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The short story “A Good Man Is Hard To find” by Flannery O’Conner, was published in 1955. It was written in third person limited point of view. The story takes place in the 1940s after world two, family takes a road trip traveling to Florida, but their journey takes an unsuspecting turn. O’Conner uses foreshadowing, verbal and situational irony and symbolism that illustrates the theme of the effect of the selfishness of the grandmother upon the family. The first character introduced in the story is the protagonist, the unnamed grandmother.

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One of O’Conner acclaimed work is “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” A family plans a vacation to Florida, but the Grandmother suggests to go to Tennessee, the place she grew up, instead because a serial killer, The Misfit, is in the loose headed to Florida. The family dismisses the Grandmother attempt and embark on a trip to Florida. The Grandmother, using her cunning ability, convinces the family to take a detour to visit an old house "with treasure". The family listens and heads toward the old house.

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The story opens with a man named Bailey who is going on a trip with his family to Florida. However, his mother had other plans and becomes the "manipulative grandmother lecturing her apathetic son" (Sparrow). At first she tries to convince her son to change the trip destination saying ""(O 'Connor). It might be inferred that she meant well by warning Bailey about the prison escapee traveling in the same direction. Unfortunately, later in the story the reader finds out that .

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Foreseeing the Future Foreshadowing was used by Mary Shelley in Frankenstein to achieve her goal of making the reader predict what will happen. The first form of foreshadowing the reader notices is when Walton says to Victor, “One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge” (11). This foreshadows the disasters that will face Victor as he experiments and tries to find the unknown. Then, Victor says, “Let me reveal my tale, and you will dash the cup from your lips?” (12).

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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.

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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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No one would have thought that the idyllic Southern life style could be turned into a Southern nightmare. In O 'Connors "A Good Man is Hard to Find" that is precisely what happens. " A Good Man is Hard to Find" is set in Southern America. This story has many tenets comparable to that of Southern Gothic fiction. Southern Gothic writing emphasizes on abnormal character and unusual events to create an unsettling portray of life in Southern America.

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