Kara M. Lund English 254-02 TTh 11: 00 7 Sept (fiction) Amazing Grace The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find’ by Flannery O’Connor is about a family that takes a trip to Florida. The grandmother is a bitter woman who does not want to go to Florida, but the family still is going. She is bossy when she tells her son Bailey to read the article about the convict, Misfit, traveling to Florida. The grandmother is selfish and has a lot of pride. She is hypocritical, discriminating, and insulting.
She is set in her own ways and wants life to revolve around her. The grandmother is alone and she wants to be apart of the family. The grandma goes everywhere the family goes including Florida. Although the grandmother does not want to go to Florida, she ironically dresses in her best attire. She is dressed in a navy dress, hat, white gloves, and a sachet. The grandma intentionally dresses for anyone who finds her dead on the road will know she is a lady.
“In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once she was a lady’ (382).
The grandmother selfishly thinks that wearing her best Sunday clothes will prevent any misunderstandings about her status as a lady. This is foreshadowing the grandmother’s death. The grandmother is a strong southern woman. The family wrecks the car on a side road.
A group of men act like they are going to help the family. Grandmother recognizes one of the men as the Misfit. She is a religious woman who believes in God and His son Jesus. She turns to her religion to help her and asks the Misfit if he prays. The Misfit and grandmother have different views on religion.
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 ...
The grandmother recognizes the shirt the Misfit is wearing as her son’s shirt. After seeing this new image, she realizes that in order to be true Christ like, she is going to have to forgive the Misfit and accept him as a child of God. The Misfit looks as though he is about to cry and she reaches out to him and said, “Why you ” re one of my babies. You are one of my children’ (391)! The Misfit reacts by this final effort of mercy by shooting her three times in the chest. This gesture will be in the Misfit’s heart, and will cause him pain knowing what he has done to a good woman. This conversation is important because the grandmother can accept the action of grace in her life.
When the Misfit kills her, he has taken her to the place where she can not only be a lady but a good woman. The grandmother falls dead, her face “smiling up at the cloudless sky’ (391).
When she died she was instantly happy and smiling because she knew she died a good woman. She is happy in Heaven and that she has become the good woman she always thought she was. The sky is clear blue, not a cloud in sight, and peaceful.
This symbolizes that grandmother is clearly at peace with her death. The grandmother is seen as Christ-like. When she is shot her legs cross under. This symbolizes the cross that Jesus died for his people. When the grandmother reaches and touches the Misfit and calls him one of her own she is forgiving him and what he is about to do because he does not know. The Misfit has helped her find God.
She has shown a great triumph of mercy and grace in salvation. The grandmother attempted to appeal to the Misfit, because of her strong faith. For the grandmother soul is at pace, ‘ Twas grace that taught her heart to fear, And grace her fears relieved.
