...Change This paper is based on Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, a short story. The theme for this research paper will be an analysis of the key characters in the story that are affected and changed by an encounter with death, with a near-death occurrence. The reason for this theme is to bring some significant insights into the literary work in a profound way. The grandmother and the Misfit are chosen to establish the theme in the paper. In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, death is a catalyst for characters to change; some characters are changed positively by their experience with death, while other characters are changed negatively. The Misfit shows why he became evil because his expectation of goodness in the society was put to death by the reality of injustice. In a polite tone, the Misfit explains to the grandmother, “I found out the crime don’t matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car“ (O’Connor 194). This opinion comes from the Misfit serving his lengthy time in jail where he experienced harsh prejudices. The Misfit continues to explain to the grandmother calmly, then came a “piercing scream” from the wood background where the Misfit ordered the grandmother’s family to be killed. Suddenly, Misfit’s tone turned nasty, “Does it seem right to you, lady, that one is punished a heap and another ain’t punished at all” (O’Connor 195)? This scene depicts the Misfit’s true personality; his lack of remorse for the death...
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...Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to find,” she tells the story of a family going on vacation, making a wrong turn, and consequently being brutally murdered by a Misfit and his crew. But the story also possesses a detailed vision of the grace and ultimate redemption offered to the Misfit. O’Connor shows the Grandmother’s final moment when she extended grace towards the Misfit, however, many people have made arguments to how they think it ends. For example, Stephan C. Bandy responds in “ ‘One Of My Babies’: The Misfit and the Grandmother,” and claims that even if the Misfit had been shown true grace, he would reject it. However, Matthew Fike, in “The Timothy Allusion in ‘A Good Man is Hard To Find’” believes the Misfit was startled because he felt the Holy Spirit, who he had been trying to deny his entire life, and emphasizes the cleaning of his glasses as spiritual...
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...her ideas. In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” O’Connor uses the grandmother and The Misfit to show that good and evil share a common ground: grace. The short story begins in a small town in Georgia. O’Connor introduces readers to her “good” character. Following standard southern suit, "she seems a harmless busybody, utterly self-absorbed but also amusing, in her way" (Bandy). Always sharing her opinion and dressed to kill, the grandmother is a classic example of social privilege. Looking down on others is a norm. She is concerned with how people perceive her because the thought of committing a social faux pas is devastating. After describing her excessive outfit for a car trip, O’Connor writes, “In case of accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (O’Connor 485) Shortly after the car breaks down, the “bad” character makes an entrance. Lacking in...
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...In Flannery O' Connor's short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," a character who calls himself The Misfit murders random, innocent people. When he crosses paths with the protagonist of the story, an overbearing grandmother, he attempts to justify his murders, claiming that there is "no pleasure but meanness" before he murders her as well (O'Connor 1295). At this point, a reader must question why The Misfit finds pleasure in killing and punishing people. The true answer to this question, while contradictory to his previous statements, is that he does not truly find pleasure in killing people; rather, he feels that his murders provide a form of justice and equality in a world that lacks these attributes. The actions of Matt Fowler, the vengeful...
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...I agree that Flannery O'Connor uses both foreshadowing and flashbacks to create suspense and tension in the story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." For example the author uses flashbacks when in the story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is on there way to the Tennessee and the grandmother says "In my time," said the grandmother, folding her thin veined fingers, "children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else. People did right then. Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!" she said and pointed to a Negro child standing in the door of a shack. "Wouldn't that make a picture, now?" she asked and they all turned and looked at the little Negro out of the back window. He waved.She was talking about when about the past because she used the word when “In my time," which means it was in the past....
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...Alvarado Street and that is where the whole story line takes place. The setting of A Good Man Is Hard to Find takes place primarily in Toombsboro, Georgia on the way to Florida, but also takes place on the road, and also at Red Sammy Butts BBQ. The differences between the two stories would be that Love in L.A. take place in one place and A Good Man Is Hard to Find takes place in three different places. The only setting similarity I can find between the two stories is that both story lines take place on the road and near the road throughout the stories. Characters The main character of Love in L.A. is Jake. In this story, it is hard to tell if Jake is a good man or a good con-man. It is stated throughout the story that he has no insurance and illegal license plate, but is definitely charismatic, flirtatious, and not happy with his current lifestyle. In my opinion Jake is both the protagonist and the antagonist, but since I must only choose one he is the considered the protagonist. Mariana seems to be just as flirtatious but in a more mild manner and seems to be intrigued by Jake’s personality. Mariana seems to me to be a shy and genuine person that gives the benefit of a doubt, where Jake is trying to get out of a situation that would harm him and seems amazed by the type of person Mariana is. The characters in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” are very different in my opinion. The grandmother seems to be a woman of pride, concern, and believes in children respecting their...
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...Southern Literature. Desmond suggests the Misfit's actions are fueled by a desire to understand ethics; as well as a desire to cure his spiritual suffering. Desmond provides examples of the Misfit's anguish, such as the symbolism behind his name, his internalized isolation, and his reaction to simple kindness. Desmond also provides insight into the morality of other characters, such as The Grandmother. The Misfit's isolation and resistance to change is also exhibited by Hulga in "Good Country People". With each text comes examples of how morality changes a person and dictates their actions through desire. The Misfit is a self-sufficient, morally isolated character. Throughout "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the Misfit shares with the Grandmother details concerning his name. The Misfit claims...
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...Senior Paper on A Good Man Is Hard to Find Week 29 Day 1 Flannery O’Connor was a Catholic writer who was born in 1925, in Savannah, Georgia, and died in 1964. She was well known for her writings about the darker side of humanity. While O’Connor’s stories were often gritty and disturbing to read, they always embodied aspects of grace. O'Connor often depicted salvation through shocking, and violent experiences of her characters. Flannery O’Connor focuses on man’s fallen nature, but at the same time inspires the reader to consider the moments of grace that are offered to everyone. Some individuals recognize and accept this free gift of grace, while others ignore it. Evidence and analysis of the grace offered to the two main characters will be presented in this study of “A Good Man Is Hard to find”, written in 1953. The story is about an unpleasant family who plans a car trip to Florida from their hometown in Georgia. The reader is introduced to the spiteful and manipulative grandmother, her disconnected son, Bailey, his passive wife and baby, and their two older, hard-to-please children, June Star and John Wesley. The grandmother wants to go to Tennessee instead of Florida, so she tells her family about and escaped convict she read about in the news paper to scare them away from going to Florida. Bailey refuses to switch routes and tells her it is nonsense, and the family settles into the car. While on the trip, the children act up, so the grandmother tells them a story...
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...A Good Man Is Hard To Find - Foreshadowing In "A Good Man is Hard to Find," by Flannery O'Connor, one is struck by the unexpected violence at the end of the story. However, if one re-reads the story as second time, one will see definite signs of foreshadowing of the ending. In the course of this story, O'Connor uses strong imagery to foreshadow the people and the events in this story. There are three significant times she uses this technique. They are the description of the grandmother's dress, the death of the family, and the conversation between the Misfit and the grandmother. The grandmother did not want to go to Florida; she ironically dresses in her Sunday best. She was dressed very nicely with, "A navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet." (11). A strong foreshadowing imagery can be seen in these lines. Knowing the ending of the story, the grandmother's elaborate dress Is this essay helpful? Join OPPapers to read more and access more than 550,000 just like it! ------------------------------------------------- get better grades symbolizes a preparation for her coffin. When a person dies, they are usually dressed in their best outfit, just like the grandmother was dressed in what seemed to be in her Sunday best. A stronger foreshadowing is when O'Connor states the reason for the grandmother's beautiful dress, "In...
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...A Good Man Is Hard To Find Flannery O’Connor “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor tells the gruesome story of a grandmother and her family on their way to Florida for a family vacation, along the way they visit an old plantation from the grandmother’s childhood. O’Connor uses witty characterization and dramatic irony in order to depict the moral of the story: good men, if not impossible, are extremely hard to find. O’Connor expresses her general view towards the male gender and their barbaric nature, while using the image of an innocent, loving family, in opposition to the antagonist in order to provoke sympathy and a deeper understanding of the moral. The use of dramatic irony, strong imagery and unique characterization...
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...Imagine growing up in a negative home situation where the father figure severally mistreats the vulnerable child. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the Misfit’s actions display an unconscious love through sociopathic tendencies. Flannery O’Connor once said “It’s better to be young in your failures than old in your successes.” It is alright to fail when an individual is young. The time of youth is about making mistakes and learning and growing from them in order for a person to become the best version of him or herself. Most people pick up from their error and move on in life. Unfortunately that’s not the case for everyone. The Misfit and his pack are on the run from the police while the Grandmother and her family are on a road trip and they make a stop at Red Sammy’s Diner. While there the monkey is picking at his own fur. He’s “catching fleas on himself and biting each one carefully between his teeth as if it were a delicacy” (O’Connor 9). This is foreshadowing the Misfit’s appearance. It displays...
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...A Good Man is Hard to Find. The grandmother focuses of showing that she cares nothing about the family by concerning herself with her hat. She builds a setting in her head that if she dies she will look like a lady without any concern for her family's well being. This idea that her hat, which makes her look like a lady in her mind, is more important than her family shows selfishness. Her mistaken ethics are aware from the beginning as the hat is the symbol for this negligence to her family. When they did indeed have a car wreck the grandmother was curled up under the dashboard with her hat still attached to her head. The hat represents that goal of still being a lady no matter the cost. While her grand children are in shock and shaking she is complaining that she thinks she has a hurt organ. The symbol of the brim of her hat smashed as she says “But nobody’s killed” in a frustrated tone shows her reluctance to give up that she was wrong. She will not give up this attempt at being a lady no matter what happens to her or grand children. As she confronts the Misfit her self assurance and idea that she is a lady slowly disintegrates away as she becomes more humble that she will most likely die. The symbolism of these disintegration is when her brim actually falls off of her hat and it realization that she is not a lady by any means. The symbolism of the hat to her concept of doing anything by any means necessary to be a considered a lady by everyone including herself is quite...
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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.’ This particular quote shows how Flannery O’Connor combined two themes into one concept, by taking the theme of God and Religion and Good vs. Evil and adding that into one character’s personality. O’Connor also shows, in this quote, the theme Good vs. Evil for how the grandmother attempted to convert the misfit to her religion instead of going through with his evil scheme. O’Connor’s writing style was very unique and one of a kind. She carefully drew out every character and theme to match perfection. Flannery O’Connor adds a major affect to her writing by using Themes, Literary devices, and a specific style in her fiction. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, she perfectly includes her religion into her writing always making it a key point in her stories. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Red Sammy’s wife said “It isn’t a soul in this green world of God’s that you can trust,”(O’Connor 142). In this...
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...In Flannery O’Connor’s story A Good Man is Hard to Find, a family is visited by a character dubbed “The Misfit,” who is an escaped convict and the main antagonist of the story. He explains to the family, and especially the grandmother, that he cannot remember what he did to belong in prison. Meanwhile, the grandmother tells The Misfit that he just needs to pray to Jesus and he will be holy again. However, the grandmother tries to manipulate the Misfit to get him to do what she wants, and her faith in God is fake. In A Good Man is Hard to Find, there are two misfits in the story, which are The Misfit and the grandmother. Not surprisingly, the main character, The Misfit, does not blend in with society. The Misfit portrays himself as someone that has been mistreated by society through his time in prison. He has examined his faith and doubts God. His views that he does not need God or that Jesus should not have raised the dead differs from a largely Christian southern demographic where he lives. He explains to the grandma that he can’t find good in himself, saying “I ain’t a good man,”(O'Connor 148) whereas most people see themselves as good. However, it is likely that he is a psychopath and a compulsive liar, which explains why he believes himself to be a misfit. Ali Venosa, a neuroscience reporter,...
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...A Good Man is Hard to Find is driven by certain events caused by the grandmother which are responsible for her family’s fatal encounter with The Misfit. In the beginning of the story, the grandmother hides her cat in a valise in the car and does not tell anyone, since “her son, Bailey, didn’t like to arrive at a motel with a cat.” (3) This decision leads to much of the family’s problems later in the story. When the family starts on their trip, they still have no idea that the cat is in the car with them. During their drive, the grandmother comes to the realization that they are going to the wrong place, letting Pitty Sing, the cat, out of the basket to jump on Bailey’s shoulders. “The instant the valise moved, the newspaper top she had over...
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