a good man is hard to find literary analysis thesis

A Summary and Analysis of Flannery O’Connor’s ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ is one of the best-known short stories by Flannery O’Connor (1925-64), who produced a string of powerful stories during her short life. First published in the collection A Good Man Is Hard to Find in 1955, the story is about an American family who run into an escaped murderer at a plantation.

Before we offer an analysis of some of the key details of the story, here’s a brief summary of its plot.

Plot summary

The story is about a grandmother, her son named Bailey, Bailey’s wife, and the couple’s three children, named June Star, John Wesley, and simply ‘the baby’. The family are going on holiday to Florida. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother points out to her son that a notorious criminal, known as the Misfit, is on the loose and she doesn’t think they should be going on vacation to Florida when the Misfit is rumoured to be heading there.

On their way to their destination, the grandmother tells the children a story of how she was courted by a wealthy man who used to leave her a watermelon every day with his initials, E. A. T., inscribed in it. However, one day a black boy saw the word ‘EAT’ on the watermelon and ate it. This story amuses the children.

The family then stop off for lunch a barbecue diner, The Tower, run by a man named Red Sammy, who talks to the grandmother about the Misfit. It is Red Sammy who remarks, ‘A good man is hard to find’, in reference to the dangerous convict on the loose.

When the family get back on the road, the grandmother persuades her son to take a detour to a plantation she remembers from her youth. She embellishes the story by inventing details, such as the idea that a secret panel concealed the family silver in the house.

However, she has misremembered where the plantation is: Tennessee, rather than Georgia (where the family are). When the grandmother’s cat escapes from his basket and frightens Bailey, he crashes the car into a ditch.

Another car approaches them. It contains three men, one of whom the grandmother recognises as the notorious Misfit. He seems familiar to her, as though she has known him for years.

When she blurts out that she recognises him, the Misfit tells them that it would have been better if she hadn’t recognised him. He talks to the grandmother while his two accomplices lead Bailey into the woods and shoot him. They then do the same with Bailey’s wife and the children. The grandmother tries to flatter the Misfit into sparing her life, telling him that she knows he’s a good man, but to no avail.

The story ends with the grandmother addressing the Misfit as one of her own ‘babies’ or ‘children’; the Misfit shoots her dead. The Misfit has the final word, observing that the grandmother would have been a good woman if she had had someone there ‘to shoot her every minute of her life.’

The character of the grandmother is central to the dramatic power of ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’. The first two words of the story are ‘The grandmother’; the story begins with her warning her son about the escaped Misfit and ends with her being shot dead by the Misfit; the story opens with the third-person narrator’s reference to Bailey as the grandmother’s ‘only boy’ but ends with her addressing the Misfit as one of her ‘own children’.

And although ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ is narrated by an impersonal third-person narrator, in terms of the story’s focalisation we remain close to the grandmother’s perspective on events, seeing things through her eyes and gaining access to her thoughts and feelings as the story approaches its shocking and dramatic climax.

The skill of O’Connor’s writing lies in her ability to shuttle rapidly between comedic moments poking gentle fun at the grandmother and darker plot developments. The point is not that the shift between these two very different modes seems awkward or out of place, but that O’Connor lends the already shocking moments at the end of the story an even more alarming element, through juxtaposing them with lighter comic interludes.

A central theme of O’Connor’s story is, as the title makes clear, goodness: note how the grandmother and Red Sammy’s repeated references to a ‘good man’ meet their match in the Misfit’s statement at the end of the story that the grandmother would have been a ‘good woman’ if someone had been there to (threaten to) shoot her at all times.

This statement of the Misfit’s also highlights another theme O’Connor is exploring: that of crime and punishment. The Misfit tells the grandmother that the punishments he has undergone don’t match with the crimes he has committed. But the story contains a religious angle, too, as exemplified by the grandmother’s epiphany at the end of the story, in which – when confronted with her own imminent death – she reaches out and acknowledges her killer as one of her ‘children’.

This blessing is in stark contrast to the Misfit, who – in almost Dostoevskian fashion – characterises Christianity as a case of either giving up anything and following Christ or rejecting him and doing as one pleases. Anything – murder, burning down someone’s house – is permissible and constitutes the only true pleasure one can get from life.

The grandmother’s final act of blessing (forgiveness, or a last desperate attempt to save her own life?) raises this petty, racially prejudiced, and comical old woman far above the level of the nihilistic Misfit and all he represents.

Of course, it may also be significant that the Misfit – who was accused by one of the prison psychiatrists of killing his own father – personally kills the grandmother, who represents an old and outmoded America. Flannery O’Connor’s story is about a changing America, and the text is marked by the Grandmother’s continual reminiscences about a better, simpler life when she was younger.

The story’s title, taken from Red Sammy’s conversation with the Grandmother in which they lament that the world has become debased and degraded during their lifetimes, places this mood and tone at the centre of the story.

In this connection, the grandmother’s attitude towards African-Americans is already outdated, even in 1955 when the story first appeared.

Her racial stereotypes , such as associating African-Americans with watermelons, the offensive words she uses to describe the black boy they pass in the car, and her casual presumptions about the lives of black people all mark her out as a representative of an older American outlook which is about to be entirely laid to rest with the onset of the US Civil Rights movement. (The Montgomery Bus Boycott , for example, occurred at the end of 1955, the year the story appeared.)

Final thoughts

Viewed this way, ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ might be productively analysed alongside a another key American text from the 1950s: Tennessee Williams’ play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof , also from 1955, similarly deals with the generational gap between an older America and the younger Americans who represent a new attitude, especially regarding race.

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A Good Man Is Hard To Find – Analysis

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is one of the most widely discussed of all Flannery O’Connor’s stories. It also provides an excellent introduction to her work because it contains all the major ingredients characteristic of the remarkable literary legacy left by a woman who only lived to be thirty-nine years old and who was too ill to write in her last years. Readers who encounter O’Connor for the first time should be aware that she always identified herself as a Southern writer and as a Catholic writer and that her stories are always informed by these identities and beliefs. 

As a Southerner, O’Connor draws on a rich tradition of humor and regional specific detail in her fiction. Beyond the comedic characters and precise rendering of their dialects, however, O’Connor’s South is a place rich with myth and history. In two influential essays, “The Fiction Writer and His Country,” and “The Regional Writer,” now collected in Mystery and Manners, O’Connor argued that the best literature is always regional literature because good writing is always rooted in a sense of place, in “a shared past, a sense of alikeness, and the possibility of reading a small history in a universal light.” She further claimed that among the regions in the United States, the South has produced the best writing because it has already “had its fall.” Southern writers possess special insight, she said, because “we have gone into the modern world with an inburnt knowledge of human limitations and with a sense of mystery which could not have developed in our first state of innocence—as it has not sufficiently developed in the rest of our country.” 

By the references to the fall and loss of innocence in Mystery and Manners, O’Connor meant the Civil War and the crisis of identity, guilt, and shame that accompanied it. Such an experience gave Southerners a richer, more complex sense of who they were and how they were connected to the land than their Northern counterparts had. O’Connor’s characters tend to express some degree of confusion and ambivalence toward the South. The Grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a good example. As James Grimshaw points out, she is a southern stereotype in that she is cautious, devious, indirect, and afraid of the unfamiliar. She is also vain and obsessed with the trappings of class. In O’Connor’s own words in a letter to writer John Hawkes, the Grandmother and other “old ladies exactly reflect the banalities of the society and the effect is comical rather than seriously evil.” 

As an unapologetically religious writer, O’Connor wrote stories informed by the particulars of her Catholic faith. Readers need not share her faith in order to appreciate her fiction, but it helps to be aware of the basic tenets of Catholicism that appear in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and her other stories. O’Connor’s religious vision was sacramental; that is, she believed that Christ provides outward signs that confer grace on members of the church. In this view, an individual may not earn opportunities for grace by good works, but he or she may turn away, like the Misfit does, from grace when it is offered. In O’Connor’s fiction the outward sign of grace often appears as an act of violence. In a letter about”A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” O’Connor explained that her use of grace “can be violent or would have to compete with the kind of evil I can make concrete.” O’Connor’s fiction was always shaped by her beliefs in mystery, grace, redemption, and the devil. In an essay titled “Catholic Novelists,” O’Connor explained that the Catholic writer’s beliefs make him or her entirely free to observe and that”open and free observation is founded on our ultimate faith that the universe is meaningful, as the Church teaches.” 

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” pits the banal and superficial Grandmother against the malevolent Misfit. Although the story starts off as a satire of a typical family vacation, it becomes a tale of coldblooded murder as the focus narrows to the Misfit and the Grandmother. The story becomes, in O’Connor’s words, “a duel of sorts between the Grandmother and her superficial beliefs and the Misfit’s more profoundly felt involvement with Christ’s action which set the world off balance for him.” She also cautions readers that they “should be on the lookout for such things as the action of grace in the Grandmother’s soul, and not for the dead bodies.” The struggle between the Misfit and the Grandmother is not confined to her efforts to save her own life but also takes the form of an argument about faith and belief. The Grandmother, who has chattered nonstop since the family left home, is gradually rendered mute in the face of the Misfit’s assertions about Christ, and when she makes her only sincere gesture of the story, reaching out to touch him, the Misfit is threatened and horrified and shoots her three times through the chest. Before he shoots her, however, the Misfit offers a lengthy explanation for how he ended up where he is and why he believes what he does. 

O’Connor uses the Misfit’s deeply held and passionate convictions as a foil, or contrast, to the Grandmother’s easy platitudes and cliches. The author is critical of the woman’s empty reassurances that he is “a good man at heart” and if he would pray “Jesus would help” him. The Misfit, by contrast, devises his own challenging and rational way of looking at the world based on his belief that “Jesus thown everything off balance.” The source of his stubborn non-belief is his insistence that everything be explained rationally. Because the Misfit did not see Christ performing any miracles, he cannot believe they ever happened. “The presence of a divine force operating outside the bounds of reason,” in the words of Robert Brinkmeyer in an essay published in The Art and Vision ofFlannery O ‘Connor, is what upset the balance of the universe. In other words, the Misfit cannot place his faith in something he cannot be rationally certain of, while the Grandmother continues to cling to a faith without an intellectual foundation or certainty of belief. The Misfit is incapable of wrapping himself around the paradox as O’Connor phrased it,”that you must believe in order to understand, not understand in order to believe.” 

As the paths of these two characters converge in the final moment of the story, they are both given opportunities for grace. When the Grandmother finally runs out of words and is left to mutter “Jesus” over and over, O’Connor is suggesting that she is moving toward a deeper awareness of her faith. Similarly, when the Misfit angrily pounds his fist into the ground and complains,”I wisht I had of been there. It ain’t right I wasn’t there because if I had been there I would of known,” we recognize his frustrated longing for faith. When he confesses,”If I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn’t be like I am now,” the Grandmother has a moment of clarity and recognizes his twisted humanity as part of her own by calling him one of her children. In O’Connor’s words,’ “The Misfit is touched by the Grace that comes through the old lady when she recognizes him as her child, as she has been touched by the Grace that comes through him in his particular suffering.” The Grandmother realizes, O’Connor explained in a later essay, “that she is responsible for the man before her and joined to him by ties of kinship which have their roots deep in the mystery she has been merely prattling about so far.” 

The Misfit has an opportunity to accept grace but recoils in horror at the Grandmother’s gesture. In his parting words, however, he acknowledges how grace had worked through him to strengthen the woman’s faith: “She would of been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” Brinkmeyer points out that “the Misfit’s ‘preaching’ to the Grandmother ‘converts’ her to Christ.” The Misfit himself seems lost, as his dismissive words to Bobby Lee, “It’s no real pleasure in life,” indicate. O’Connor, however, had the last word on the Misfit and his future: “I don’t want to equate the Misfit with the devil. I prefer to think, however unlikely this may seem, the old lady’s gesture, like the mustard-seed, will grow to be a great crow-filled tree in the Misfit’s heart, and will be enough of a pain to him there to turn him into the prophet he was meant to become. But that’s another story.” 

Source Credits:

Short Stories for Students, Volume 2, Flannery O’Connor, Edited by Kathleen Wilson, Published by Gale Research, New York, 1997.

Elisabeth Piedmont-Marlon, for Short Stories for Students, Gale Research, 1997.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Analysis of Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 25, 2021

Frequently anthologized, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” exemplifies Flannery O’Connor’s southern religious grounding. The story depicts the impact of Christ on the lives of two seemingly disparate characters. One is a grandmother joining her son’s family on a trip to Florida. Accompanied by a silent daughter-in-law, a baby, two unpleasant children, and her smuggled cat, she wheedles the son into making a detour to see a plantation that she remembers from an earlier time.

Moments of recognition and connection multiply as the seemingly foreordained meeting of the grandmother and the killer she has read about in the paper takes place. She upsets the basket in which she has hidden her cat; the cat lands on her son’s neck, causing an accident. Soon three men appear on the dirt road, and the grandmother recognizes one of them as the notorious killer the Misfit.

Flannery O’Connor/National Catholic Register

O’Connor weaves the notion of punishment and Christian love into the conversation between the Misfit and the grandmother while the grandmother’s family is being murdered. Referring to the similarity that he shares with Christ, the Misfit declares that “Jesus thrown everything off balance” (27), but he admits that unlike Christ, he must have committed a crime because there were papers to prove it. When the grandmother touches his shoulder because she sees him as one of her own children, she demonstrates a Christian love that causes him to shoot her.

This story typifies O’Connor’s mingling of comedy, goodness, banality, and violence in her vision of a world that, however imperfect, most readers inevitably recognize as part of their own. O’Connor views the world as a place where benevolence and good intentions conflict with perversity and evil, and her protagonists frequently learn too late that their lives can crumble in an instant when confronted by the very real powers of darkness.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Kessler, Edward. Flannery O’Connor and the Language of Apocalypse. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986. Orvell, Miles. Flannery O’Connor: An Introduction. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991

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A Good Man Is Hard to Find Analysis: Essay Example & Summary

Are you about to write  A Good Man Is Hard to Find theme essay? Then, make sure to check this sample out! Here, you’ll find the story’s summary, moral lesson, themes, and other aspects of the analysis. Keep reading to get some inspiration for your A Good Man Is Hard to Find thesis! 

A great writer Flannery O’Connor has always been a central figure in American literature. Just like her colleague Nadine Gordimer, she covered the moral issues in her bizarre stories. Her short story A Good Man is Hard to Find provides a solid ground for literary analysis. Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find analysis will help you better grasp the story.

Introduction

A Good Man is Hard to Find appeared in 1955 and remains a widely-discussed story up till nowadays. Flannery O’Connor combined the most thoughts-provocative issues of that time in a short piece (Kinney 1). Although society has developed since then, people still deal with the problems mentioned by Flannery O’Connor. A Good Man is Hard to Find analysis will discuss two key themes of the story: selfishness and individualism.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Summary

A Good Man is Hard to Find is a tragic short story about a family. A grandmother, father, mother, and three kids are going to visit Florida. At first sight, they seem to be good country people. However, there are many pitfalls. Their older children – John Wesley and June Star – are very boorish and ignorant. The mother devotes herself to her kids, not having enough time to live a fulfilled life. The father seems to be annoyed by his children. Finally, the grandmother thinks only about herself, not paying enough attention to the family.

Despite the rumors about the escaped prisoner, The Misfit, the family goes on a trip. While on the way to Florida, the grandmom suddenly remembers an old plantation. Many years ago, she was astonished by its incredible beauty. So, she convinces Bailey, the father, to go off the road and visit that place. Being unsure if she is pointing in the right direction, the grandmother loses her control. As a result, she does not manage to hold her cat. It jumps on Bailey’s shoulder, causing a car accident.

Fortunately, everybody stayed alive. But then, the real troubles start. Trying to deal with the situation, the family hopes somebody will stop by them and offer help. Suddenly, the car appears on the road. The three men get out of the car, and the grandmom recognizes The Misfit among them. In desperate attempts to save her life, the grandmother tries to convince the criminal that he is a good man. She asks him to pray to become closer to Jesus. However, her effort is useless. Ultimately, The Misfit commands to kill all the family members and kills the grandmom himself. That is how dramatically the story ends. 

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Literary Analysis

Selfishness and individualism are the essential themes covered in the story A Good Man is Hard to Find . In the story, the grandmother prioritized her interests rather than the interest of her family. As a result, the tragic ending occurred to everybody. With the example of the grandmom, the author shows how the desire to achieve personal needs affects society.

Selfishness

The main character of the story – the grandmother – is an entirely selfish woman. Her selfishness reflects in the way she acts, the way she interacts with her family, and even in the way she dresses up.

The grandmother is always concerned about her appearance. She is obsessed with the idea of being a lady. So, she dresses up in elegant dresses and fancy hats. She hopes that “in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (O’Connor 2). Thus, she does not spend time with her grandchildren or help her daughter-in-law with household chores. Instead, the grandmother devotes all her time to herself, choosing appropriate dresses and hats.

Besides being ignorant, the grandmom is also a manipulative woman. She effectively manipulates her family members to suit her interests. For example, she takes her cat on a trip despite Bailey’s prohibition against doing that. She just thinks her cat would miss her if she left it alone at home. As a result, the cat becomes a cause of a terrible car crash.

Moreover, the grandmother manipulates her family to see a plantation she saw many years ago. After taking a nap in the car, she suddenly remembers a beautiful place she visited while young. She wants to recall these memories, so she urges her son to go off the road. The grandmother is sure that Bailey will not be willing to spend much time on an old plantation. Thus, she lies to her grandchildren’s children about a secret panel with plenty of silver in that house. The woman says: “It’s not far from here, I know. It wouldn’t take over twenty minutes” (O’Connor 5). In reality, she does not know for sure how long it would take to reach that place. However, her sense of self-importance makes her lie to her family. She manipulates her son to achieve the desired result.

Grandmom’s selfish purposes create dangerous circumstances for the family. Being under the pressure of his mother, Bailey follows her directions. As a result, they get into a car accident and meet The Misfit. 

Individualism

In addition to selfishness, the grandmother’s character traits also include individualism. In the story, the woman’s individualism is confronted with the individualism of the Misfit. Both characters achieve their own needs through surrounding people. They take whatever they need and move forward, not taking into consideration the needs of others. As a result of this behavior, the world becomes a place where “community holds no value” (Hooten 198).

Both the grandmom and The Misfit are predisposed to be humane. For example, the woman tries to convince the prisoner about the significance of spiritual values. Thus, she has a clear image of what kindness means. Similarly, The Misfit seems to be a well-behaved person from first sight. For instance, he apologizes for being dressed improperly. Nevertheless, in the inner battle of good and evil, evil wins in both characters. 

Therefore, individualism takes the upper hand in the character set of both: the grandmother and the Misfit. While being ignorant of other people, the woman and the criminal destroy society. Their individualistic nature becomes a real threat to the surrounding people. 

The analysis of A Good Man is Hard to Find reveals an intriguing aspect. The grandmother and The Misfit have very similar personalities. They both are ready to lie, manipulate, and murder to fulfill their desires.

A Good Man is Hard to Find essay covers Flannery O’Connor’s concern. The themes of selfishness and individualism worry the author. This issue is critical and should be dealt with immediately. If people keep being selfish individualists, the world will become a group of “self-focused wanderers without a community who use others as means to their own ends” (Hooten 197).

• Gresham, Stephen. Things Darkly Buried: In Praise of A Good Man Is Hard to Find. 2010, Shenandoah , 1-2: 17-18. Web.
• Hooten, Jessica. Individualism in O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find. 2008, The Explicator , 4: 197-198. Web.
• Kinney, Arthur F. A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Overview. 1994, Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press 1-2. Print.
• O’Connor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find. 2 011, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing: Custom Edition . X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 1-12. Print.

How do you start A Good Man Is Hard to Find analysis essay?

The best way to start an essay on A Good Man Is Hard to Find is to state a clear thesis statement. First, decide on the main points you are going to present. Then, develop a strong thesis, including those ideas. Put everything in words and impress your audience from the very beginning of your essay.

What is the main theme of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

A Good Man Is Hard to Find covers a lot of crucial issues. However, the central theme is the destructive nature of selfishness and individualism. Flannery O’Connor points out that these traits lead to the establishment of an immoral society.

How would you describe the grandmother in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

The grandmother is a woman from the Old South. She considers herself an elegant and graceful lady. In fact, she is a selfish, judgmental, and manipulative granny. She gets what she desires by disrespecting the people that surround her.

What is the message in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

Flannery O’Connor’s message is that human compassion and grace may change even the most ignorant person. It is best seen during the final encounter between the grandmother and The Misfit.

Is the Misfit a good man?

It is a controversial question, and the reader needs to decide for himself. On the one hand, The Misfit is a dangerous escaped convict. He does not feel responsible for his actions and does not believe in God. On the other hand, he compares himself to Jesus. The Misfit gets into a deep philosophical conversation with the grandmother.

What literary devices are used in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

A Good Man Is Hard to Find is full of literary devices. The author uses symbolism, irony, foreshadowing, and philosophical thoughts that awaken conversations. These literary devices help the reader understand the story’s moral and experience it better.

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Discovering Good | Analysis of A Good Man is Hard to Find

By David Dingfelder

Flannery O’Connor explores the meaning of the word “good” through her short story A Good Man is Hard to Find . After a series of deceptions and wrongdoings, O’Connor depicts a grandma leading her family to be killed by a runaway outlaw named “The Misfit.” While the family was traveling to Florida for vacation, the true journey follows the grandma as she begins to understand the true meaning of the word “good” – the most general and most frequently used adjective of commendation in the English language (Oxford English Dictionary). To define a word so commonly overused and socially defined, O’Connor builds the concept of her definition of “good” through the grandma’s interactions with the other characters in the story. By virtue of her interactions with her family, Red Sammy, and “The Misfit,” the grandma transitions from complete ignorance, to misunderstanding, and finally to acceptance of what it means to be “good.”

Initially depicting the grandma as a flawed character with an entirely misconstrued understanding of the word enables O’Connor to establish what does not qualify as “good.” In addition to the grandma’s heedless acts of deception, the narrative uses children as a pure and untainted lens of judgment to expose the flaws in the grandma’s character. In response to the Grandma’s opening efforts to switch the vacation destination, the little girl June delivers a deeply profound critique: “[The grandma] Wouldn’t stay home for a million bucks… She has to go everywhere we go” (1). The establishment of Grandma’s flaws continues as O’Connor parallels the grandma’s perception of herself with the games of the children. Prior to departing on the trip, the grandma dresses with trimmed “collars and cuffs” so that “anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (2). This insight into the grandma’s mindset is soon followed by the description of the children identifying clouds in the sky. While seemingly insignificant, the sky serves as an extended metaphor for the grandma’s understanding of goodness across the work. The children identifying clouds signal the grandma’s clouded understanding of what it means to be “good.”  Rather than worrying about the wellbeing of her son or her family in the event of an accident, the grandma is primarily concerned with others perceiving her as a lady. The clouds symbolize the opinions of others that block to the true meaning of goodness, the sun.

The interaction between the grandma and Red Sammy initiates O’Connor’s discovery of the misunderstandings and contradictions involved in the word “good.” Early into the grandma’s discussion with Red Sammy, the definition of the word “good” becomes confounded as the grandma calls Red Sammy “a good man” immediately after Red Sammy defines a car as “good.” Instead of taking this as a compliment, Red Sammy is “struck with this answer” (6). Juxtaposing these uses of the same word exemplifies its overuse and stale meaning – explaining why Red Sammy feels no sense of satisfaction when complimented. O’Connor furthers the problematic use of the word when Red Sammy states, “a good man is hard to find” (6). This statement is riddled with irony as the word “good” is used profusely but a “good man” is uncommon – creating a paradox with which O’Connor argues that a word that represents anything also represents nothing. The conversation with Red Sammy also highlights the inconsistency in Grandma’s definition of “good.” The grandma compliments Red Sammy for being naïve and gullible with his interactions with the two boys stealing gas, yet condemns her granddaughter for her insightful and honest comment earlier. It becomes apparent that the grandma is not only flawed but she is also unsure of how to become good.

Through the grandma’s interaction with “The Misfit,” the story paints the grandma’s reverse bildungsroman moment by depicting a profound environment that accompanies her change in grieving and perceptions surrounding what it means to be good.

A raw and honest atmosphere is developed as O’Connor describes the cloudless sky with nothing around the grandma but the woods (9). Contrary earlier in the work, the clouds that blocked the sky had cleared, symbolizing the clarity in the grandma’s perception of goodness. Further, this moment of reckoning takes place on the side of a dirt road with the woods in the background – a natural and profound environment. The use of imagery hints towards the deeply philosophical understanding of morality and goodness that the grandma gains from this interaction.

The shift in the grandma’s grieving signifies the acknowledgment of what it means to be good. Immediately after the grandma realizes that the man was “The Misfit,” she selfishly questions, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” (11). The use of the word “lady” again demonstrates that the grandma is still solely concerned about the perception of others, in addition to her not caring about her family. However, her grieving changes as she starts wailing “Bailey boy” for her son (12). This appears to be the first time in the work that the grandma is concerned about someone other than herself. This transition expresses O’Connor’s belief that goodness is an internal trait that is portrayed to – rather than perceived by – others. When the grandma stopped worrying about her perception and started worrying about her family is when she became good.

Further, O’Connor argues that goodness transcends superficial actions such as practicing religion. Despite the grandma’s attempts to pray, “she opened and closed her mouth several times before anything came out” (15). Her inability to pray symbolizes that prayer and religion do not equate goodness.  This realization is what causes the grandma to understand that no actions define what it means to be good. Despite their differences, the grandma now understands that little differentiates her and the misfit, stating, “Why you’re [The Misfit] one of my babies. You’re one of my own children” (16). In denial, The Misfit recoils at the accusation that he is good too and shoots the grandma three times. The grandma dies happily with “with her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky,” tying back into the innocence and purity associated with children (16).

O’Connor’s development of a definition for the word “good” ultimately serves as a social critique. Due to the overuse of the word, the definition of “good” has been spread too thin, depriving the word of true meaning. While a grave ending, this short story serves as a reminder of that “goodness” is not obtained through performative demonstrations or self-centered thoughts. O’Connor’s choice to never fully define the word “good” indicates how the definition of “good” continues to elude us. On the path to becoming good, the first step is identifying what does not qualify as good.

Sources Cited

“Definition of Good.” UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries, Oxford English Dictionary,

www-oed-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/Entry/79925?rskey=d7aiwZ&result=1#eid.

O’Connor, Flannery.  “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”  American Studies at the University of

Virginia, 2009, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/goodman.html.   Originally published in

T he Avon Book of Modern Writing .  New York: Avon Publishing, 1953, pp. 27-33.

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A Good Man is Hard to Find

Flannery o’connor.

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Violence and Grace

At the story’s end, the Misfit says of the Grandmother , “She would of been a good woman . . . if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” Flannery O’Connor may not necessarily believe that being exposed to violence makes us better people, but the message is clear: violence changes us.

As Flannery O’Connor said when delivering remarks on the story, “I have found that violence is strangely…

The characters of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” live by a variety of moral codes, and both the story’s title and the Grandmother ’s conversation with Red Sam bring up the idea of goodness, and what makes a “good man.” In the end, as the Grandmother still insists that the Misfit —who has just murdered her entire family—is a “good man,” the question lingers: does being “good” depend on one’s internal character or…

Punishment and Forgiveness

Much of the discussion between the Grandmother and the Misfit concerns ideas of punishment and forgiveness. A vision of the world is presented in the Misfit’s words: “Does it seem right to you, lady, that one is punished a heap and another ain’t punished at all?” A fundamental question in Flannery O’Connor’s Christian worldview is the problem of evil: why do bad things happen to good people, and vice versa?

We are given no tidy…

Familial Conflict and Familial Love

Only at the story’s end do we get the slightest hint of familial love. Not only does the Grandmother shout “Bailey Boy! Bailey Boy!” as the only real affectionate moment inside her family, but she then goes on to refer to the Misfit as her own son. These moments of familial love, arriving only when the Grandmother faces death, appear in stark contrast to the rest of the story, which is filled with family members…

Moral Decay

The story’s title itself refers to the apparent moral decline witnessed by the Grandmother and others. There was a time, the Grandmother believes, when it was not so difficult to find good men, though we might wonder if that was ever actually true. To the Grandmother, though, the story’s action supports this belief. When stranded after a car crash, the family is not tended to by friendly neighbors, but by a killer and his henchmen…

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — A Good Man Is Hard to Find — An Analysis of Flannery O’connor’s Story, a Good Man is Hard to Find

An Analysis of Flannery O'connor’s Story, a Good Man is Hard to Find

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Published: Jan 15, 2019

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Works Cited

• Atwood, M. (2003). Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing. Cambridge University Press.
• Bandy, S. (2002). A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Flannery O'Connor Reconsidered. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 6(2), 132-137.
• Bloom, H. (Ed.). (2008). Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Infobase Publishing.
• Foley, M. (1997). 'Where you come from is gone': Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find' and Symbolism. Studies in Short Fiction, 34(2), 247-256.
• Friedman, M. (2009). "Not a Picture You'd Want to Be in": Teaching Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" in Introductory Literature Classes. College Literature, 36(4), 89-112.
• Gentry, M. L. (1999). Flannery O'Connor's Misfit and the Mystery of Evil. Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature, 52(2), 135-143.
• May, G. (Ed.). (2009). Flannery O'Connor: New Perspectives. University Press of Mississippi.
• O'Connor, F. (1953). A Good Man Is Hard to Find.
• O’Connor, W. V. (1988). The Regional Writer as Prophet: Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'. The Journal of Religion and Literature, 20(3), 33-47.
• Schroeder, J. E. (1992). The Paradox of Human Suffering and Divine Grace in Flannery O'Connor's Fiction. Christianity and Literature, 41(1), 39-56.

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Symbolism & Irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Flannery O’Connor’s short story is stuffed with symbolism, metaphors, and other literary devices hidden from first-time readers. The analysis of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Custom-Writing.org experts aims to shed some light on these details.

First of all, we discuss the symbols and imagery that compose the wholesome picture of the events. How much do you think a little hat can represent? Well, in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, even a car has an underlying meaning. We will also look at irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find, tone, and foreshadowing.

• 🌈 Symbolism & Imagery
• ⚙️ Analysis of Irony
• 👀 Explanation of Foreshadowing
• 🔥 Tone Analysis
• 🔍 Point of View Analysis
• ⚔️ The Main Conflict

🔗 References

🌈 a good man is hard to find symbolism & imagery.

The symbols in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” help convey the main idea of the story . They are sometimes highly ironic, which can’t be hidden from the reader. Moreover, they serve as literary devices such as foreshadowing . For example, the look of the Misfit’s car is a sign that you shouldn’t miss.

Symbolism in A Good Man Is Hard to Find: The Grandmother’s Hat

The Grandmother, the story’s central character , grooms up before the family road trip until she becomes straight up overdressed. She does it because she wants to look “lady-like” in case they get into a car accident. The Grandmother is extremely concerned about what people would think of her.

In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Meanwhile, the elderly lady completely ignores the fact that she and her whole family might as well be dead if it happens.

For the selfish and hypocritical Grandmother, the only thing that matters is her image . She wants everybody to think she is a lady , and it proves her moral decay.

After the dramatic events of the car crash, the Grandmother’s elegant hat is destroyed. We can conclude that the hat symbolizes the moral beliefs of the old lady. The accident becomes the moment when her perfect image has to dissolve. She loses her hat just like she loses her face in front of her death.

Symbols in A Good Man Is Hard to Find: The Misfit’s Car

The Misfit’s car is pictured as a “big black battered hearse-like automobile.” Since hearse is a type of vehicle that transfers coffins, it is evident that the car symbolizes death . Moreover, it appears to be an example of foreshadowing in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.”

The car continued to come on slowly, disappeared around a bend and appeared again, moving even slower, on top of the hill they had gone over. It was a big black battered hearse-like automobile. There were three men in it. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

As the family enthusiastically awaits for the car to stop and give them a hand, they have no idea how tragically it will turn out. Even when they see the car’s shape, they remain clueless and only think about getting some help. Only the reader understands that it is a clear hint about their tragic fate.

Instead of saviors, this “hearse-like automobile” carries three killers that bring death upon every member of the Grandmother’s family. We don’t know if the Misfit chose the car unconsciously, but in any case, its appearance shows that his band carries the baggage of death and violence .

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Symbolism of the Sky

The sky’s description is mentioned a few times, which makes it a prominent element of the imagery of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” There are different ways of understanding how the sky can be cloudless and sunless. This ambiguity may be confusing, but it highlights some important messages.

Ain’t a cloud in the sky… Don’t see no sun but don’t see no cloud neither. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

You might see a sky without clouds or sun at night, but we don’t know for sure if that’s what the narrator means. However, we can suggest that there is a deeper meaning of this imagery.

First of all, the sky with no sun and clouds symbolizes emptiness . It may point out the Misfit’s inner state since he has lost the sense of what’s right and what’s wrong. Moreover, the sky appears to be as empty as the whole situation happening to the family. They are in the middle of nowhere, and there is no one to help them.

Hiram and Bobby Lee returned from the woods and stood over the ditch, looking down at the grandmother who half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

⚙️ Irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Irony is the main literary device used in ”A Good Man Is Hard to Find” that helps to set the story’s tone and mood. This Southern Gothic narration uses several types of irony:

Verbal Irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

The use of verbal irony is closely connected to the story’s themes of hypocrisy and superficiality. In particular, this type of irony is evident in situations where characters are talking to each other. It’s especially characteristic of the Grandmother who often says one thing but implies something else. One prominent example is her insisting on being a “lady” while behaving in very un-ladylike ways.

Situational Irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

As you have already seen, some symbols in the story, such as the hearse-like car, work along with verbal irony. However, a situational irony in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is something else. This device is described as a situation that turns out to be the opposite of the expected , just like the Misfit’s band not being the family’s saviors.

Jesus! You’ve got good blood! I know you wouldn’t shoot a lady! I know you come from nice! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got! A Good Man Is Hard to Find

The ending of the short story is the perfect example of situational irony. The Misfit helps the Grandmother realize that she is not what she always thought of herself. Moreover, she dies with a smile on her face instead of an expression of horror, as she finally becomes a real good Christian.

Dramatic Irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

As for dramatic irony , it’s closely related to the story’s foreshadowing. We as readers know that the Misfit is a violent criminal, while the characters are oblivious to it. This creates the sense of suspense and dread.

Dramatic irony reaches its peak when the Grandmother starts pleading for her life by appealing to the Misfit’s sense of morality. She mistakes him for a good man, while the readers are aware of his true nature.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Irony of Fate

Essentially, the entire story is an example of cosmic irony . Its main plot involves the sudden death of a family at the hands of a violent criminal. No matter what the characters did, the tragic outcome was inevitable. This situation demonstrates the unpredictability of fate.

Irony Quotes in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

When it comes to verbal irony in the story, it can mostly be found in the Grandmother’s quotes where she doesn’t mean what she says. For example:

“People are certainly not nice like they used to be,” said the grandmother. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

“Listen,” the grandmother almost screamed, “I know you’re a good man.” A Good Man Is Hard to Find

The following quotes are examples of situational irony . In both cases, what happened in reality differed significantly from what the characters expected to happen:

In a few minutes they saw a car some distance away on top of a hill, coming slowly as if the occupants were watching them. The grandmother stood up and waved both arms dramatically to attract their attention. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children! A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Regarding dramatic irony , here are the two cases in which the readers realize characters are in a dangerous situation which the characters themselves are oblivious to:

“We’ve had an ACCIDENT!” the children screamed in a frenzy of delight. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

“You could be honest too if you’d only try,” said the grandmother. “Think how wonderful it would be to settle down and live a comfortable life and not have to think about somebody chasing you all the time.” A Good Man Is Hard to Find

The whole story is an example of cosmic irony . The plot kicks off when the Grandmother tries to persuade Bailey not to go to Florida to avoid a dangerous criminal:

Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

But later, her mistake leads the family right into the Misfit’s hands.

👀 A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Foreshadowing

You can write a whole essay on the topic of foreshadowing in this story. Flannery O’Connor extensively uses this device to build up the interest in the readers. It starts at the very beginning when the Grandmother mentions the Misfit.

Of course, the Grandmother says it for a reason, as she and her family eventually meet the convict. Another moment to note is that the Grandmother dresses up in case she dies in a car accident .

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. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

A less obvious bit of foreshadowing is used when the Misfit says that some people run away, and others get punished for no reason. It is a hint that the Grandmother will be killed as well as the rest of her family.

🔥 A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Tone

Overall, the tone in ”A Good Man Is Hard to Find” has several shades: it’s cynical, foreboding, philosophical, and humorous. In particular,  the author satirizes the Grandmother as much as she can, thus providing a social critique of hypocrisy and superficiality.

Lady,.. there never was a body that give the undertaker a tip. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Sometimes the situations are exaggerated, making the characters appear cartoonish . For instance, even in the pretty horrific situation between the kills, O’Connor writes that the old lady “raised her head like a parched old turkey hen crying for water.”

Moreover, some people accuse the story of being overly grotesque with all the repelling and ugly characters. However, despite this style, the reader should understand that real life can be that harsh and sympathize with the Grandmother.

🔍 A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Point of View

Even though the story is told in the third person, the point of view in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” refers to the Grandmother. The reader has a chance to know some of her thoughts and feelings. Even the description of another major character, the Misfit, is given through her perspective.

The grandmother had the peculiar feeling that the bespectacled man was someone she knew. His face was as familiar to her as if she had known him all her life but she could not recall who he was. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

At the same time, the narrator never gives too many details , leaving some room for imagination.

This way, you are given the opportunity to interpret the Grandmother’s intentions as you wish. Even the setting of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” doesn’t affect the perception as much as the point of view.

⚔️ What Is the Main Conflict in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

If you want to gain a deeper understanding of what the main conflict in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is, check out the previous section of our guide dedicated to the story’s themes . One of them is the clash between good and evil, which the Grandmother and the Misfit might also represent. This aspect of the story can be called its main conflict.

We hope that the information above was useful to you. If you’re looking for exciting essay ideas on the story, feel free to read our list of topics .

• Analysis of the novel, ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ – ThoughtCo
• Flannery O’Connor & Strange Morality in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• (PDF) A Good Man Is Hard to Find – Academia.edu
• Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) – Georgetown University
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122 A Good Man Is Hard to Find Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best a good man is hard to find topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 interesting topics to write about a good man is hard to find, ✍️ good research topics about a good man is hard to find, ❓ a good man is hard to find essay questions.

What do you think the phrase “a good man” means? Is there somebody whom you can call “a good man”?

Flannery O’Connor’s short story is a polarizing novel which will make you think about good and evil, relationships with your relatives, etc. We will provide you with some ideas that will help you to cope with the “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” essay.

“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” Character Analysis

There are 12 characters: The Grandmother, the Misfit, Bailey, June Star, John Wesley, the Mother and the Baby, Bobby Lee, Hiram, Red Sammy and his wife, and Pitty Sing.

You can choose any for your character analysis.

If you choose a Granny, you can examine her manipulations to get the desired. For example, you can explore the way she makes her family travel to Tennessee instead of Florida.

She also states that she’s a lady. What does being a lady mean for her? What does “being a lady” mean for you?

Grandmother talks about Jesus, but is she a religious person? State your opinion and provide examples.

Another character to analyze is the Misfit, the misguided escaped prisoner. How do you think, was he “the Wrong Guy”? Why was he sent to the penitentiary? Is he a religious man?

Think about other characters and their roles in the story.

5 “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” Essay Themes

If you’re looking for “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” essay ideas, check our list below:

• Theme of grace. What is the moment of grace? If grandmother did not bring God into the picture, how it would change the plot?
• Theme of good and evil. Whom does the granny calls a “good man” and why? What does a “good man” mean, according to her? Is The Misfit a good or evil man?
• Theme of religion. Was The Misfit a religious person or not? Prove your opinion with the quotes. And what about the grandmother?
• Theme of manipulation. What is manipulations? Is the granny a manipulative person? Provide your opinion and supporting evidence.
• Theme of family. Do you think is the family described in a story realistic? Do they care for each other? Provide your evidence.

When you will be reading the story, ask these “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” essay questions:

What do you think about the story: is it a cynical tale about manipulation and human pettiness and manipulation? Or it’s rather a simple horror story?

What is being “good” means for you? Does it mean being religious or being kind?

Do we really need a religion to be a good person?

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A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay Tips

Before you start writing the paper, check our essay writing tips:

• Write a thesis statement that will reflect the topic of your paper. Include it at the end of your intro. The thesis is aimed to help your readers understand what you are going to discuss.
• Focus on the topic and determine points to support it. Avoid deviations from the essay subject because it would only distract your reader.
• Separate the essay body into structured sections with descriptive titles. This will make the navigation easier.
• Make sure that your “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” essay conclusion restates the thesis and does not provide any new ideas you haven’t covered in the body.

Do not let essay on O’Connor’s short story control your life and take away your sleep. Find free high-quality samples at IvyPanda!

• A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Literary Critical Analysis Essay The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” stands as the American Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor’s most disturbing work of fiction.”A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is the title work of […]
• “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” vs. “Good Country People”: Themes & Characters Analysis Indeed, as the old lady in the story dies, the last ray of hope for the world to stay the way it used to fade away, and the remaining of the past that the family […]
• O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”: Foreshadowing Analysis Later, despite the grandmother’s plea, she is still killed, true to the young girl’s statement; the grandmother follows the rest in death.
• Misfit in F. O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” This seems to be the reaction of a badly abused child, and it may be that he has repeated his crime of shooting her.
• Flannery O’Connor’s Story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Despite the varied opinion about the grandmother, her manipulative behaviour is very clear to the reader throughout the story. The grandmother knows that Bailey would not allow her to visit the old plantation.
• Dialogues in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The dialogue aspect of A Good Man is Hard to Find is the story’s key component for delivering the characters’ thoughts, their personalities, their points of view on the events described in the story, and, […]
• The Message of Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The phrase ‘good man’ and the theme of who a good man is, according to peoples’ judgment in the play, stand abused.
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find Grace In A Good Man is Hard to Find, O’Connor explores the theme of grace through her two characters: Misfit and Grandmother.
• Symbol of Weather in Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find Nevertheless, an in-depth analysis of symbolism shows that the weather is the most dominant symbol in the story, and every scene is described in a given type of weather.
• Psychoanalytical Analysis of a Book “A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Revelation” by Flannery O’Connor The stories under analysis A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Revelation focus on the psychological and moral analysis of the main actors with regard to their perception and attitude to the external social […]
• Knowledge and the Loss of Innocence: “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The reason for that is the gain of knowledge about social reality. Without a doubt, knowledge of this kind leads to the loss of innocence.
• Representation of Family in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” According to Bandy, the selfish nature of the grandmother and her disregard to her family is evidenced when she seems to care the safety of the other family members.
• Qualities in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by O’Connor The confrontation between the Grandmother and Misfit has many direct allusions to Christianity such as that the criminal plays the role of the Devil’s advocate.
• Grandmother Character in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The grandmother asserts that she could paint the picture of the black boy if granted the chance. The grandmother seems to be complaining about the dramatic destruction of the environment since plantations that used to […]
• Biblical Analysis of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Thus, the essay will consider the short story from a Biblical perspective and demonstrate that O’Connor’s short story introduces Biblical allusions to critique people’s attitude to Christianity. Thus, the author tries to demonstrate that religion […]
• Violence in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Violence situation in the story entitled “A good man is hard to find” begins when the family is on a road trip to Florida during the vacation.
• Analysis of (Mary) Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Concurring with the behavior of Misfit and Grandmother, O’Connor gives the elusive description of a good man relating it to gracility as a Christian value.
• Flannery O’Connor’s Message in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” She argues that what individuals truly mean by the phrase “good men” is the opposite of what they actually mean in her powerful masterpiece, A Good Man is Hard to Find.
• Interpreting O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” O’Connor’s use of disruption and distortion to reconfigure ethical-religious forms of being in the world is illuminated by the Levinasian themes of alterity, anarchy, and the absolute.
• Gothic in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by O’Connor The grandmother persuades the family to take a detour to an old farm, but they crash the vehicle on the route and get trapped on a remote road.
• “Barn Burning” by Faulkner and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by O’Connor The main themes are class problems and social issues, and the overall atmosphere is pervasive and terrifying to the reader. The woman is a burden to be borne because of the deep-seated belief in the […]
• Grandmother From O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Essay Not a single person from her family took her seriously, so the grandmother grabbed the opportunity to be noticed. The decision to speak out becomes the doom of the grandmother and her entire family.
• The Short Story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor Perhaps it was this passage that served the emergence of various interpretations of the conclusion and perpetuated the story in the category of American classics. The quintessence of this hope is expressed in the exclamation, […]
• Grandmother in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Despite her image of a genteel, conscientious lady, the grandmother is a selfish hypocrite whose irresponsibility directly leads to the death of her family. However, in her final moments, she is able to recognize the […]
• “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor Later, the entire family’s death was caused because of the cat’s sing following the car accident, which derived into the encounter of the Misfit.
• Gothic Aspects of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” This paper aims to identify and discuss O’Connor’s understanding of the good and the evil in the religious context, based on the A Good Man Is Hard to Find plot and characters.
• Symbolism in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The current essay discusses the implementation of symbolism in A Good Man is Hard to Find and its effects on the narrative.
• O’Connor’ System of Characters in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Below, the possible ideas of O’Connor within A Good Man are Hard to Find will be analyzed in various contexts through the prism of the system of characters in the story. The main and most […]
• “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Comparison Farquhar is symbolic of the slave confederate states that sought to secede from the United States, whereas, the soldiers represent the might of the union.
• Subtle Religious Overtones Portrayed in O’Conner’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Based on the actions of the grandmother it can be said that the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” contains subtle religious overtones portraying how aesthetics and what it means to truly […]
• Religion-Based Morality in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor After all, as the author shows in this particular story, it is named on the account of self-righteous/pious but perceptually arrogant individuals that the saying “road to hell is made out of good intentions” continues […]
• A Rose for Emily and A Good Man Is Hard to Find In order to highlight this idea, the writers focus on the values and worldviews of the characters who prefer to live in the imaginary world of their past.
• ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ by Flannery O’Connor’s When the grandmother holds the baby, there is an apparent difference between the two, the wrinkled face of the grandmother and the smooth face of the baby.
• The Old Age Concept in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Furthermore, the face of the woman is compared to that of the baby she is curdling. This shows the changes that old age has brought to the grandmother.
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories She had a plan that was contrary to what the rest of the family had. She easily accepted to travel with the family to the destination she was against initially.
• Literature: A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor All these aspects observe the truth in the writer’s perceptions through the words of the grandmother that “a good man is hard to find”.
• Flannery O’Connor: Grandmother’s Act in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The most dominant opinion though is that the grandmother’s final deed was graceful, thereby implying that “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” was penned by the author to depict a gradual change in the […]
• The Poor Treatment and Relationship With the Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Character Analysis of the Grandmother and the Misfits in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• An Analysis of a Family’s Fatal Confrontation With the Misfit in the Novel “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• Compare and Contrast the Use of Irony in a Good Man Is Hard to Find and the Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
• The Mutifaceted Personality of the Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• An Analysis of Incidents and Characters in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Religion in A Good Man Is Hard to Find
• The Use of Grotesque Character in “Good Country People” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• An Analysis of the Analogy Between Apostle Paul and Misfit From “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Effective Use of Tone in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• The Theme of Conformation to Moral Standards and Thinking Before Acting in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• An Analysis of Parent-Child Relationship in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Mocking of the Mankind’s Moral Code in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• An Analysis of Gullibility and Hypocrisy in the Life in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• A Literary Analysis of the Protagonist in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner
• Man vs. Man Conflict in A Good Man Is Hard to Find
• An Analysis of Southern Gothic Elements in Flannery O’Connor’s Short Story Collection “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• The Mistakes of Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Tragic Heroes and Narcissists in the Short Story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Special Part of Every Characters in the Short Story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connora
• The Misconception of the Idea of Goodness in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Confrontations With a Killer in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Analyze the Irony of the Grandmother’s Actions That Cost the Lives of the Entire Family
• The Grandmother’s Journey and the Virtues and Qualities of a Person in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Dark Writing Style of Flannery O’Connor in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• Analysis of Spiritual Themes in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Analysis of the Agent of Grace Archetype in the Character of the Misfit in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• Critics Described Wise Blood by O’Connor as “Low Comedy and High Seriousness.” Why Can We Say the Same About a Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Compare the Depiction of Sin and Hatred in the Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Poe and a Good Man Is Hard to Find by O’Connor
• An Examination of the Crucial Character of the Grandma in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Egotistical Nightmare in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• The Religious and Ironic Interpretation of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Compare the Goodness of the Characters in Good Country People and a Good Man Is Hard to Find
• The Symbolic and Narrative Use of the Unlikely Character of the Misfit to Portray Christ in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• Analysis of the Foreshadowing in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O Connor
• The Real Courage Comparison Between the Central Characters in Roger Malvin’s Burial and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• Priorities and Values in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Fate of the Grandmother in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• The Enjoyable and Likeable Character of the Misfit in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Analysis of the Concept of Christianity in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Representation of Modern Culture in Each of the Character in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Lack of Genuine Spirituality in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Enumerate the Situations When the Grandmother Acts as a Bad Person. Are They Evenly Distributed Throughout the Text?
• Analysis of Real Grandmother’s Role in the Family in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Real Thoughts and Motives of the Misfit and Grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• What role does racism play in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What causes the accident in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Why is the aspect of religion so important in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What are the main characters in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What does the wood where the family gets killed symbolize?
• What is the short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find about?
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find – what is the title’s meaning?
• How does the setting affect the plot and character development in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the main theme of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What was the role of society in the formation of the Misfit’s character?
• When was A Good Man Is Hard to Find written?
• What is the problem in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the meaning of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Which values did the grandmother uphold as a woman from the south?
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find: What does the ending mean?
• What role does the setting play in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• How is the theme of the family represented in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the moral of the story A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What does the violence in A Good Man Is Hard to Find symbolize?
• What is the Misfit’s name in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Was the grandmother killed in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What does the grandmother realize at the end of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Who is the protagonist in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• How is imagery used in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Why is A Good Man Is Hard to Find considered southern gothic?
• How could Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily inspire O’Connor to write A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the time period of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the main conflict of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• How does the theme of Jesus show up in the characters, and what are the differences?
• How does A Good Man Is Hard to Find depict conflict?
• Why does the grandmother consider Red Sammy butts “a good man”?
• What is the point of view of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• How is dramatic irony used in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Who convinces the father in A Good Man Is Hard to Find to take the road to the plantation?
• What role does foreshadowing play in the cemetery scene of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What are the examples of verbal irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Is the Misfit the grandmother’s son in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What are the literary elements in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the style of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the symbolism of the characters’ names in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
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IvyPanda . "122 A Good Man Is Hard to Find Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." August 22, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find-essay-examples/.