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The Theme Of A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor

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Flannery O’Connor was an American novelist from Savannah, Georgia, who wrote two novels and thirty short stories. O’Connor wrote the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” which is about a family from Georgia going on a trip to Florida. The Grandmothertries to convince her son to go to Tennessee instead of Florida because of an escaped criminal. On the way to Florida, the family encounters an escaped criminal named “The Misfit” and faces tragedy. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” O’Connor uses the Grandmotherto show how she cares about her gender and wants everyone to know that she is a lady. The Grandmotherdresses nicely in preparation for death. The author states, “The children’s mother still had on slacks and still had her head tied up …show more content…

O’Connor states, “ In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (3). The Grandmotherdresses nicely for the car trip incase of a wreck, everyone that saw her would know that she died a lady. She only cares about herself and not anyone else. She does not even think that if they were in a wreck; her grandchildren, son, and daughter-in-law would probably be killed as well. The author later says, “Bailey removed the cat from his neck with both hands and flung it out the window against the side of a pine tree… We’ve had an ACCIDENT! The children screamed in a frenzy of delight” (O’Connor 7). Bailey did not want his mother to bring the cat on the trip because it could cause danger or harm to the family. Bailey’s mother did not listen to her son and did what she wanted to do instead. Bailey was right; the cat did cause danger to the family. If Bailey’s mother had listened to him, the wreck probably would not have happened, and they would not have encountered the Misfit. When the Grandmotherfaces the Misfit, she loses the feeling of being a lady. The author exclaims, “ The Grandmotherreached up to adjust her hat brim as if she were going to the woods with him but it came off in her hand. She stood staring at it and after a second she let it fall on the ground” (O’Connor 10). When the Grandmother’s hat fell,

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Comparable to www.blogs.setonhill.edu, the quote, “points out one of the grandmothers most crucial flaws: she values money and material comforts over love and relationships” (Unmentioned). The kids and the grandmother, argues several times throughout the trip. The grandmother even went on, saying how children were more respectful back in her days. The mother, as quiet as she is, didn’t speak to or acknowledge the grandmother much. The grandmother, however, cares more about her son, quite more than the rest of her family.

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