FREE ESSAY ON A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND

A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND

A Look at Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find"
By Amy Carr
In the short story A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O'Connor uses many different
tactics to accurately portray the south in the 1950's. O'Connor uses her style, themes,
and point of view to tell a story of a family outing gone wrong. The story involves a
grandmother, her only son and his wife, and their two bratty children, June Star and John
Wesley. On their way to Florida, the grandmother convinces the family to detour to see an
old house, and while heading towards their destination, the car overturns. The
much-feared criminal, The Misfit, an escaped murderer, encounters the family, and offers
to help them. The Grandmother immediately notices the man as The Misfit, and verbally
acknowledges that fact. "'You're The Misfit!' she said. "I recognized you at once!'" (p.
687) The Misfit has the husband and son killed relatively quickly, and even after much
conversation and pleading, he kills the rest of the family.
A Good Man is Hard to Find includes a lot of character development, a unique point of
view, and the use of foreshadowing. O'Connor does this through her characters, setting,
and details in the story. The grandmother is a classic old southern woman, who is
eccentric and who may come off as a racist. However, the woman may not be racist, but
rather just naive and too set in her ways to deal with the changes present at the time.
As the grandmother said, "Oh look at that cute little pickaninny! … Wouldn't that
make a picture now?" (p. 681) When O'Connor was writing she might not have meant to show
that the grandmother was a racist, but rather just that she was out of tune with the rest
of the world. The grandmother was also portrayed as Christian, one who was displeased
with others who did not act in a Christian manner, and with the society as a whole. She
discusses this with Red Sammy, a restaurant owner and war veteran. Red Sammy said
"Everything is getting terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your
screen door unlatched. Not no more." (p.683)
O'Connor often shows through the story the degeneration of the nuclear family. She does
this not only through the incident at Red Sammys, but also through the child characters,
John Wesley and June Star. The father, Bailey, tends to ignore the grandmother, and has
failed to teach his children respect and manners.
"The children began to yell and scream that they wanted to see the house with the secret
panel. Jon Wesley kicked the back of the front seat and June Star hung over her mother's
shoulder and whined desperately into her ear that they never had any fun even on their
vacation, that they could never do what they wanted to do. The baby began to scream and
John Wesley kicked the back of the seat so hard that his father could feel the blows in
his kidney."(p. 684)
The children were so obnoxious and had so little regard for the their elders or
themselves, that even in the event of the accident, the children were only excited, and
rather disappointed with the outcome. "'We've had an accident!' the children screamed in
a frenzy of delight. 'But nobody's killed,' June Star said with disappointment, as the
grandmother limped out of the car." (p. 686)
In addition to the demise of the nuclear family, O'Connor also shows the elimination of
morals, religion, and kindness within people. The grandmother is religious only when she
needs to be and it's convenient. This becomes evident when they encounter The Misfit. The
grandmother uses her religion as a reason to plead for her life with The Misfit, and The
Misfit uses her religion as a reason to kill.
"She [the grandmother] finally found herself saying 'Jesus, Jesus,' meaning, Jesus will
help you, but the way she was saying it, it sounded as if she might be cursing." (p. 690)
This statement struck The Misfit and he took the statement as a reason to join in on a
discussion. "Jesus threw everything off balance. It was the same case with Him as with me
except He hadn't committed any crime and they could prove I had committed one because
they had papers on me." (p. 690) Even through all of the grandmother's efforts, The
Misfit still found no mercy within himself, and shot the entire family.
O'Connor also used the point of view as a tool when writing the story. She often
fluttered between limited omniscience and total omniscience. In the first two lines of
the story O'Connor tells whom the story belongs to. "The grandmother didn't want to go to
Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connection in east Tennessee and she was seizing
every chance to change Bailey's mind." (p. 679) She doesn't limit it only to the
grandmother's point of view either. This allows her to give an overview of the story,
while still knowing somewhat what is going on inside the grandmother's mind. "The
horrible thought she had had before the accident was that the house she had remembered so
vividly, was not in Georgia but in Tennessee." (p. 685)
This kind of insight into the grandmother's thoughts would not be possible with total
omniscience. However, O'Connor often slips into total omniscience at points throughout
the story. "The road was ten feet above and they could see only the tops of the trees on
the other side of it." (p. 868) Also, at the end of the story after the grandmother has
been killed, it is impossible for the grandmother to still be imputing her thoughts and
feelings. As a result, total omniscience is gained and the limited omniscience is lost.
Another significant part of the story is the use of foreshadowing. The Misfit is
specifically mentioned three times, and death is often talked about. After reading about
The Misfit, the grandmother advised Bailey not to take his family to a place with such a
person on the loose, but really she is just using The Misfit as an excuse not to go to
Florida. Again at Red Sammy's Famous Barbecue, the grandmother discusses The Misfit once
again. In the end it is finally the grandmother who brings the family to their ultimate
demise when she recognizes The Misfit as The Misfit. Had she pretended to not recognize
the man, she and her family would have had a better chance of survival.
Other mentions of death throughout the story include when the grandmother made sure to
dress in her best clothing in case "anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at
once that she was a lady." (p. 680) This turns out to be just as the story goes, the
grandmother being the only one who is actually left by the side of the road. An
additional reference is the mention of "five or six graves" (p. 681) at the side of the
road and the town name "Toombsboro" (p. 684) and the "hearse-like" (p. 686) automobile
are use to remind everyone of the ultimate outcome in life.
The gruesome and surprising ending not only shocks readers, but also it may cause them to
think about their life more in-depth. The comment from The Misfit may allow people to
connect themselves, and realize that they may not be as far away from the grandmother as
they may think. "'She would have been a good woman,' The Misfit said, 'if it had been
somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.'" (p. 692) Many people might
reflect on this statement, and realize that they, too, are guilty of being, as so called,
a "good man" or "good woman," only when they are required to do so.