A good man is Hard to Find Study Guide
Significance of Title
“A Good Man is Hard to Find,” is an appropriate title. The title is an illusion to a 1920s blues song by the same name, written by Eddie Green and sung by Bessie. The song comments on the rarity of faithful, committed men and the abundance of men who are impatient and disrespectful. Not only does the story discuss goodness but it also touches base on the lack of goodness, especially in society. All the characters in the story are noticeably flawed with the exception of the baby. The grandmother is selfish and stubbornly rooted in old ways, Bailey and the children are ignorant of tradition, and The Misfit and his cohorts are law-breakers. Throughout the story, the grandmother complains that there is a lack of decency in the world, but in doing so, fails to see her own flaws. The story does not focus on the goodness of people so much as the lack of such a quality. While none of the characters is essentially evil, most are imperfect. This notion goes for all men and women. The age-old maxim applies, “No one is perfect.”
Summary
The grandmother does not want to go to Florida on a family trip; instead she wants to visit east Tennessee. She tries very hard to convince her son, Bailey, and his wife to change their minds. She tells Bailey that a murderer is on the loose and that they should not head to Florida because the murderer, “The Misfit,” could kill them. After having no luck in changing Bailey’s mind she tries to convince her daughter-in-law. The mother ignores the grandmother causing her to go after the children, June Star and John Wesley, to try to change their minds. The children who want to go to Florida criticize the grandmother for her opinion and tell her to just stay home.
The Essay on Good Man Is Hard Story Grandmother Foreshadowing
"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 the story is read a second time, reader can see definite signs of foreshadowing that hints to the ending of the story. Through O'Connor's technique of strong imagery to foreshadow the people and the events in the story is ...
On the day of the trip the grandmother is the first one in the car and packed her cat, Pitty Sing so it would not accidently asphyxiate itself. The cat is stored in a basket at the grandmother’s feet. The grandmother dresses herself properly in case there is a car accident and she dies, everyone will know she is a lady. John Wesley says he does not like Georgia and they should pass through it fast. The grandmother criticizes John for not respecting his home state and explains that in her time she would never do such a thing. Just afterwards, she points out a little Negro boy at a shack, and explains how nice of a picture the image would be if she knew how to paint.
After they pass a plantation with graves in the middle the children play a game which ends up in a slapping fight. The grandmother tells the kids she will tell them a story if they calm down. She tells them of when she was a maiden lady and was courted by a Mr. Edgar Teagarden. He would give her a watermelon with his initial’s (E.A.T) carved in them every Saturday afternoon. One Saturday she was not home so the watermelon was left on the porch and a boy saw the watermelon and ate it since it said eat. The family ends up stopping at The Tower to have a bit to eat. Red Sammy Butts, the owner, talks to the grandmother after the family ordered about how people are untrustworthy. He explains how he foolishly let two men charge the gas they bought from him but it appears he never got paid.
The grandmother agrees with Teagarden and explains how they used to be able to leave doors unlatched but now they cannot. They then start talking about the “The Misfit” and that they would not be surprised if he attacked their restaurant. The family leaves the restaurant and the grandmother begins to remember an old plantation that she had once visited in her neighborhood. She believes that neighborhood is the one they are driving through now. She goes on about the plantation and explains to the children how there is a secret panel with silver in it inside the house. The grandmother purposefully says this so she can convince the children to make their parents stop at the plantation. The children end up causing a ruckus and convincing their father to turn around and go to the plantation. As the family starts going down the road the grandmother suddenly realizes she made a mistake and that the plantation is in Tennessee not in Georgia. Nervous, she accidentally juts her feet, sending the cat sprawling out of the basket and onto Bailey causing him to crash.
The Essay on Explain how children and young people’s development is influenced by a range of personal factors
2.1. Explain how children and young people’s development is influenced by a range of personal factors 2.2. Explain how children and young people’s development is influenced by a range of external factors 3.2. Explain the reasons why children’s development might not follow the expected pattern Factors that influence development. Core 3.1 2.1 Children’s development is influenced by a variety of ...
Minus a few cuts and bruises, the family is all right. The children start screaming about the accident while the rest of the family was still in shock. The grandmother decides not to mention the fact she remembered the wrong location of the plantation. A car slowly approaches, and the family is hopeful they are coming to help. Once the car approaches three men get out of the car with guns. The man without the shirt approaches them in the ditch and begins to talk to them. The grandmother suddenly realizes that he is the “The Misfit.” The grandmother starts to praise the Misfit and tells him that he is a good person with good parents. Hiram and Bobby Lee, the Misfit’s partners, grab both Bailey and John and bring them towards the woods. The Misfit apologizes for not having a shirt and explains that they had to bury their clothes after they escaped and that they borrowed some from some others they met before. Two gunshots are heard in the forest just as the grandmother is asking him if he prays. He replies no and begins to explain he used to be a gospel singer.
The grandmother tells him he is a good man and asks him what he did to go to jail. He claims he does not remember and that people said he killed his father. The grandmother tells him to pray again because Jesus will help him. He says he does not need help. Bobby Lee and Hiram come back with Bailey’s shirt. Hiram and Bobby Lee then grab the mother, the baby, and June Star. June Star says she does not want to go with him since he looks like a pig. The grandmother talks to the Misfit and asks him not to shoot a lady and as she is three more gunshots are heard. The Misfit questions Jesus’ rising and what the true meaning of his rising was for. The grandmother says to the Misfit he is one of my own children and touches him on the back. The Misfit jumps back and shoots her in the chest three times. Booby Lee and Hiram return and say the grandmother talked a lot. The Misfit responds that she would have been a “good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” Then the Misfit exclaims that there is “no real pleasure in life.”
The Essay on June Star Grandmother Children Family
In Flannel O? Conner? s, ? A Good Man is Hard to Find? a great deal of irony is used to express her views on how society and culture in the present day and how it has changed from the past. O? Connor used the family? s grandmother as a key component in the story because of her personality and also because of her old age. She was able to show her feeling about the deterioration of respect for ...
Characters
Grandmother – She is the main character in this story. Grandmother lives with her only son, Bailey and his family. Grandmother does not want to go on vacation in Florida because she saw an article about a mass murderer on the run in Florida. She would rather go to East Tennessee because this was the place she was born. However, she does not get her wish and the family goes to Florida by car. Unfortunately, the grandmother meets the Misfit at the end of the story and is the last family member to be killed by the Misfit and his gang.
Bailey – Bailey is the only son of the grandmother and he lives with his mother and family in Atlanta. Bailey does not listen to the advice of his mother when she warns him that a man is on the run in Florida. However, Bailey makes a mistake by listening to his mother and going to visit an old plantation on a dirt road. On this path, Bailey’s car turned over. Unfortunately, at this point the family meets the Misfit and Bailey and his son are the first ones to get shot by Hiram and Bobby Lee.
The Misfit – The Misfit is the villain in this story. He is a mass murderer who escaped prison in Florida and is now on the loose. The Misfit was an older man who wore silver-rimmed glasses. Every time the grandmother said that the Misfit was a good person, he would deny it. His father told the Misfit at an early age that he was a different person from the rest of his brothers and sisters. Also, the Misfit did not have a shirt on because the last shirt he had on had blood on it so he had to discard it. The Misfit was sick of hearing the grandmother say to him that he was a good man. As a result, the Misfit shot and killed her at the end.
The Essay on Grandmother Misfit Lady Family
ENG 102 Ms. Campbell A Lady in Disguise In Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," the character of the Grandmother is a woman who believes she is a lady of high values and morals. O'Connor depicts the grandmother as a selfish and deceptive hypocrite, who stops at nothing to get her way. The Grandmother demonstrates numerous acts of deception, which shows she has no ...
John Wesley – John Wesley is the eight-year-old son of Bailey. He is a chubby child and wears glasses. John is a wise guy with his grandmother. For example, he told her to stay home if she did not want to go to Florida. John and his sister seem happy that they got into an accident. Unfortunately, John gets shot and killed with his dad in the woods by Hiram and Bobby Lee.
June Star – June is the daughter of Bailey. She is also very critical of her grandmother. She says that her grandmother goes everyone she goes. June Star, like her brother, has an attitude and she gets shot and killed by Hiram and Bobby Lee with her mother in the woods.
The mother – Bailey’s wife does not speak in the story. She holds an infant in her arms when the family travels to Florida. She received a cut on her face and a broken shoulder from the accident. She gets shot by Hiram and Bobby Lee with June and her infant at the end.
Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden – He was from Jasper, Georgia and the grandmother knew him. He was a handsome man and he would give the grandmother watermelon every Saturday afternoon with the initials E.A.T. on it. The grandmother said she would have loved to marry him because he was a gentleman and a very wealthy man.
Red Sammy Butts – He owned a restaurant called The Tower that was located outside of Timothy. The Tower was famous for barbecued meals. Red Sam warned Bailey and his family that the Misfit was on the run and he wouldn’t be surprised if the Misfit came into his restaurant.
Bobby Lee/ Hiram – Bobby Lee and Hiram help the Misfit in his crimes. For example, they kill all of the family members except for the grandmother in the woods.
Pitty Sing – Pitty Sing is grandmother’s cat and she brings it on their trip to Florida.
Places
Florida – Florida is the location where Bailey and his family want to go for vacation. However, the grandmother does not want to go there because the Misfit escaped a jail in Florida. Also, the family has already been to Florida and grandmother wants them to see a different place. Unfortunately, the family never reaches Florida because the Misfit and his gang kill them.
The Essay on Times The Grandmother Family Misfit Story
Eating breakfast and reading the paper, a southern family is preparing to depart for their vacation to Florida. Set in northern Georgia in the mid 1950 s, on a summer day (the children are at home, so it is a good possibility they are out of school for their summer break) when conflict begins to set in over the planned final destination of a vacation. The setting eventually progresses to a dirt ...
East Tennessee – The grandmother wants the family to visit East Tennessee because that was where she grew up. She thought she saw a plantation she visited once on their way to Florida. However, the family was still in Georgia and what she saw was not the plantation.
Atlanta – Atlanta is the location where Bailey and his family live. The family is leaving Atlanta because they are going on a vacation in Florida. Unfortunately, the Misfit and his gang kill the family in their home state of Georgia.
The Tower – The Tower is the name of the restaurant of Red Sam. The Tower is located outside of Timothy.
Things
The Grandmother’s Hat – The hat represents the grandmother’s moral code. She wears it so she can look proper and is she was ever in a car accident people would know she was a lady. This shows she cares more about how she looks now and after and has no concern in that situation if the rest of her family had died. When they do in an actual car accident and faces the misfit, her hat begins to break and fall apart. As she takes off her hat and drops it, her image of a lady disappears.
The watermelon – Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden gives a watermelon to the grandmother when she was once a maiden lady. This shows how focused the grandmother was on how she appeared than anything else.
Bailey’s shirt – It is a yellow shirt with blue parrots. This shirt was given to misfit once Bailey was killed and represents how the trip to Florida was completely ruined and how Bailey’s life was taken.
The Basket – The basket held the grandmother’s cat and because of her stubbornness she got the family killed. The grandmother ends up hitting the basket and causes the cat to jump out and attack Bailey causing an accident and results in the family’s death.
Themes
Passiveness vs. Evilness – The main characters are all corrupt in some way. However, there is a distinct line of transition between the family and the Misfit. Although the grandmother is stubborn and the children are rude, these misdeeds do not compare with those of the serial killer. The serial killer, although he claims to be a practical person, has a hand in murder. Sins of omission, in this case, are far different than sins of commission.
The Essay on The Misfit Story Grandmother Family
I feel that the Grandmother in the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" suffer from psychological conditions. She does not care at all about anyone but herself. I feel that she may even be narcissistic. It is ironic because she would be expected to look out for her family. The Cambridge Dictionary defines narcissism as "too much interest in and admiration for your own physical appearance and / or ...
Change – The grandmother consistently comments throughout the story that the world operated on a different axis than the one in present day. When John Wesley makes a negative comment on the states of Tennessee and Georgia, he offends the grandmother. When a song she knows is played in The Tower, June Star requests another. On the reverse, the grandmother makes a sweeping generalization of African-Americans after seeing a young black boy standing by a shack. She also uses the fact that she is a woman to attract sympathy from both her family and the Misfit. To her dismay and demise, this tactic is no longer very plausible. Because the views of the children and the grandmother are so conflicting, one can concluded that change is a significant theme of this particular work. (The author wrote this story in 1953, not long before the Civil Rights movement. O’Connor, a Catholic, often discussed racism and racial integration in her work.)
Religious fanaticism vs. Atheism – Firstly, John Wesley, the son of Bailey, is an allusion to the founder of Methodism, which was known for pious religious practices such as fasting and exempting oneself from entertainment. By contrast, the John Wesley in this story possesses zero temperance and discipline, but is also very apathetic about things which do not immediate interest. Also, the grandmother attempts to use Christianity to persuade the Misfit to change his ways. Although amiable, this is a futile gesture, as the concept of religion does not appeal to every single individual. Also, the grandmother prides herself on appearing as a Christian than practicing as one.
Grace – The idea of grace, or god-given favor, also makes an appearance. In Christianity, the concept of grace is said to be administered by Jesus Christ, who is mentioned in the grandmother’s conversation with the Misfit. However, grace is not earned. Therefore, the grandmother’s assertion that being a Christian makes for a better person is asinine and immature.
Symbolism
The baby – The baby is only member of the family who is not guilty of having poor values. The baby represents innocence and hopelessness. The baby can do neither right nor wrong, as these two concepts are too complex and alien to mean anything to a child at this age. He is not like John Wesley or June Star, as they have already formed poor personality traits, such as a lack of respect for their heritage. However, even though the baby is exempt from the concept of good and bad, the baby also cannot do anything on his own and relies on those around him for sustenance and care. Concordantly, he is at the mercy of those who are subject to good and bad.
The forest – The forest by the side of the road represents uncertain fate. It is described as “tall, dark and deep.” A forest, or wooded area, is common associated with the unknown, such as in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream.” This is where several members of the family are brought to be executed by Bobby Lee and Hiram. The forest is a place where things can often be hidden, in this case, corpses. The forest represents the looming sentiment of death.
The black automobile – The Misfit’s car. The car is described as “black and hearse-like.” A hearse is an automobile used to transport a corpse from a funeral to the cemetery. Thus, a hearse is often thought to be a symbol of death. Although the family is not aware of it yet, those driving the car will be their undertakers.
The Tennessee Waltz – This song is played on the Juke Box (mentioned as the nickelodeon).
It represents a bygone era and nostalgia. The grandmother comments that this song represents the music of her day. However, the song is quickly replaced at the request of June Star. This action represents that the values of one generation do not necessarily apply to those of the another.
The sky – The sky in this story is noted to be “sunless and cloudless.” Oddly, the narrator does not explicitly mention the time of day. If there are no clouds, one would expect it to be sunny. If there was no sun, one would be agreeable in assuming the weather would probably be overcast. This oxymoron is used to represent isolation. The site of the murder is far from any point of attention, which makes the chances the bodies will be found slim. It also represents the nature of the characters. None of the characters are messianic, generous people. On the other hand, they are not evil or entirely morally deficient.