Personal Identity in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor

The unnamed grandmother in the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner, considers herself to be a lady because of her heritage in the Old South, and believes that she is superior to those around her. In this work, the grandmother puts her family into dangerous situations because of her personal identity, eventually leading them to their death. As the story progresses, she leads her family down a dirt road, off of their intended route. She startles her cat as they continue down the dirt road, which jumps up and frightens her son, Bailey, causing them to go off the road. This series of events leads to their conflict with the Misfit, and eventually their murder. She maintains her personal identity throughout the story regardless of the consequences of these actions. Even at the brink of death, she continues to uphold her belief that she is superior, going as far as to call herself a lady when the Misfit is going to kill her.

The grandmother considers herself superior to Bailey and his family because she deems herself to be a lady. She does not want to go to Florida and attempts to convince her son to go east Tennessee instead, by showing him a news article about the Misfit. She says that she would much rather bring her grandchildren to the Old South where “they would see different parts of the world and be broad” (372). She uses the children to convince her son and shows false affection towards the children so that they will help her change Bailey’s mind about the location of their trip. She only wants to go to the Old South for herself, and not for the children. As well, she shows a deep disrespect for her son’s wife, describing her face as “broad and innocent as a cabbage” (373). The wife is depicted as wearing slacks instead of a skirt, and because of this the grandmother does not view her as a lady, placing her below the grandmother in society. When they drive to Florida, Bailey’s wife “still had on slacks and still had her head tied up in a green kerchief” (374) whereas the grandmother is dressed in a navy dress, cotton gloves and a straw sailor hat, so that “in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (374). Her identity as a lady is important to her even after death, which becomes evident later in the story when the family is in a car crash, and subsequently approached by the Misfit. When the Misfit and two others approach them, they begin to talk and she reaches up to fix the brim of her hat to improve her appearance, only it snaps off in her hand (383). Any calmness that she had before meeting the Misfit has been broken, just like the brim of her hat. As well, the hat proves that her vanity is important to her even when faced with an immediate threat.
The consequences that result from the grandmother’s petty and selfish acts range from average to inexcusable as the story progresses. First, she uses the children to her own means as she attempts to change her sons mind about the destination of their trip (372). This act is selfish, but wanes in comparison to the others. After this action, she deceives her son by bringing her cat, Pitty Sing on the trip in secret (375). This seems to be a meaningless act until the cat springs up and startles Bailey later in the story, causing the car to crash. Following the car crash, the Misfit approaches the family. When the family is faced with the outcome of death, she does not worry for her family or beg for their safety, instead she focuses on herself asking them “[y]ou wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” (383). The family is only in this situation because of the grandmother’s deception. The grandmother’s clever tricks and lies lead the family to the hands of the Misfit, and causing them to be killed.

At the end of the story however, the grandmother has a brief change of identity before she is murdered. This change in character indicates a religious aspect to the story. When faced with death, the grandmother asked the Misfit “[d]o you ever pray?” (384) in an attempt to either distract him with the topic of religion. He responds saying that he does not, but he was a gospel singer for a while, until he committed an unknown act and was sent to the penitentiary (385). She begins to mumble “Jesus” over and over and the Misfit shows his doubt in Jesus, as well as his belief that there is no right or wrong in the world (386). He explains that there is essentially no point to life, and tells the grandmother “[i]t’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can” (386). Throughout this exchange between the grandmother and the Misfit, the topic of religion is revisited countless times. The final moment before the grandmother dies her “head cleared for an instance” (388), in a moment of grace and clarity. Following this, she touched the Misfits shoulder and murmured to him “you’re one of my babies…one of my own children” (388). The Misfit sprang back from her touch “as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times in the chest” (388). She called him one of her children, forming a connection between God and all of humankind being his children. As well, the three shots to the grandmother’s chest is a representation of the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This symbolism is associated with the Misfits disbelief and doubt in Jesus, and the grandmother’s moment of grace before her death. After the grandmother is murdered, religion is visited once more in the position she died in, “her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky” (388). Her legs being crossed like a child’s is related to the belief that all of humankind are the children of God, just as she claimed the Misfit was. As well, the grandmother is depicted with her face angled upward toward the sky, facing heaven.

Evidently, the unnamed grandmother’s personal identity in the short story leads to the family’s untimely death. She believes herself to be a lady and superior to Bailey and his family, which causes her to think and act in a different way. These thoughts and actions cause the family to go off the road and consequently killed by the Misfit and two other men. Her personal identity leads to her downfall, and she does not change until it is too late for her to become a better person.

Works Cited

O’Conner, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” The Seagull Reader: Stories (Second Edition). Ed. Joseph Kelly. New York: W.W Norton & Company, 2008. 372-388. Print.