The story of Flannery O’Connor entitled “A good man is Hard to Find” is about a journey of vacation and death. Bailey’s family and her mother who was thought to be the main character of the story – the grandmother, had their vacation. They went to a vacation to Florida but before their dream vacation, something terrible happened to their family. During their journey, the family saw different kinds of nature wonders and amazing people. They saw a Negro in one of the places they passed through.
When they had their barbecued sandwich, they met Red Sam and his wife, the owner of the restaurant they stayed to eat. However, after they had these experiences, good experiences that helped them to create different imaginations and scenarios about the past, the present, and the future. When they passed through a plantation, grandmother recalled her life during her younger days. It was a great experience as she remembered her life and the appearance of the plantation. When she shared her family about the secret panel into the plantation house, all her grandchildren wanted to find and see the secret panel.
Despite of Bailey’s refusal, he obeyed her children because they are screaming and kicking the front seat of the car. They passed through the plantation house but rough road made their car flipped into the side. None of them was hurt that much but Bailey, her wife, and her mother were slightly injured. They want to call for help but they cannot because they were in the middle of unending road. When they find a car coming right through them, they asked for help. They did not know it was the Misfit. He is known for he killed many people for survival.
The Essay on Child Care Centers V. Family Care
To send your child to day-care or not to send your child to daycare: that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to enjoy the comforts of family, or to leave your child with daycare professionals. Leaving a child with a family member or in a day care is a tough decision and has many differences that impact your child. There are many factors to consider before choosing between family care ...
Along with him are his men who are the one who killed Bailey and his family while Misfit killed grandmother. While the Misfit’s people are killing Bailey and his family, grandmother wanted Misfit to go back to its religion and learn how to pray again. However, nothing happened because Misfit refused to be manipulated by grandmother so when grandmother touches him, he felt that he was bitten by a snake that made him kill grandmother. This story contained different aspects of societal issues – politics, economy, religion, and discrimination.
It also has different elements and images that are relevant to the issues and problems of the society like the environment. The family’s journey is a way of telling its audience the value of living and acceptance. Red Sammy’s wife stated that whenever the Misfit went to their store, she would not be surprise with it. It only means that acceptance is an emerging power to avoid the concept of fear and anxiety. It also recognized the fact of opposing individuality – Red Sammy and the Misfit. Grandmother keep on telling Red Sammy that he is a good man but Red Sammy remained quiet about this complement.
On the other hand, when grandmother said that the Misfit is a good man for he belongs to a good family, he accepts what grandmother said and prides himself towards the complement. It only means that people who do not do anything beyond the limit of the law do not have to give their selves a thrown and crown just to prove that they are a good man, while people who committed different forms of unlawful acts pride themselves because these were their only possession aside from their own selves. The characters in this represent different illusions and ideologies about living, survival, and religion.
One of them most significant part of the story is the interaction between the Misfit and grandmother. Despite of the circumstances that grandmother may have, she still face the struggle and fear of death because of her faith. She wants the Misfit to get back to its past life as it become the servant of God but she could not do it, she does not have the power to teach the Misfit the right path. Her age was not an exemption to the Misfit’s intention. Even if grandmother asked him to let her live, he did not answer its favor because he do not trust anybody aside from his own self.
The Essay on Southern Christian Misfit Grandmother People
Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah Georgia, on March 25, 1925. In her works she portrays the southern character and atmosphere. Her obsession with the grotesque is revealed in the dark and morbid plots of her stories. In the short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," she uses Christianity as a fundamental thesis. The search for the meaning of the Christian faith in the story is based on her ...
“I wasn’t there so I can’t say He didn’t,” The Misfit said. “I wisht I had of been there,” he said, hitting the ground with his fist. “It ain’t right I wasn’t there because if I had of been there I would of known. Listen lady,” he said in a high voice, “if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn’t be like I am now. ” His voice seemed about to crack and the grandmother’s head cleared for an instant. She saw the man’s face twisted close to her own as if he were going to cry and she murmured, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children ! ” She reached out and touched him on the shoulder.
The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest. Then he put his gun down on the ground and took off his glasses and began to clean them. (O’Connor, 1977) This part of the story where grandmother speaks clearly to the Misfit despite of its pain and fear implies that her intention to manipulate the Misfit in a religious manner do not make him realized his situation. The mere fact that he hesitated to let grandmother live is a representation of refusal to retrieve his religious belief. It shows that religious issues are common to these kinds of people.
Because they knew that they do not have anyone to lean and count on, they would just rely on their selves and do not want to go back to their past. It is a matter of choice for people who are like these for they cannot think of probable solutions to their problem. In this case, it would be better for them to recognize their own selves as their god so that no one should be blamed when they have done anything unlawful. Political and economic issues also emerged in this scenario as the Misfit uncovers his experiences in the past that made him realized that people are unfair to do things to him without probable justifications.
The Essay on Is Man Inherently Good Bad Both
By: Alan Eugene Sims, Jr. Is Man Inherently Good, Bad, Both Psychologists often struggle with the question does man have inherently good characteristics, or do they lead to the negative. Families struggle with this question because their son has turned into a murderer, and I am also struggling with this question right now. What makes a man act the way he does Is it nature, hormone imbalances, or ...
It also encompasses discrimination for he has no power towards people who throw him to prison, he cannot escape from the situation and yet, he needs accept the consequences. The grandmother character is parallel to the author. Grandmother’s strange past also uncovers the past of O’Connor. Despite of her system beliefs, she was neglected by the status symbol of the society that women should not be reluctant in its traditional responsibility.
Flannery O’Connor’s life was like the time of grandmother, as she revealed her precedent through her story. Throughout her life, this woman has been struggling with the shift from the ante-bellum values of lineage and gentility to those of a cash-oriented culture, and with the implications this shift has for the assumptions that underwrite her vanishing system of beliefs. While she does not accept or even fully comprehend these implications, in her behavior she acknowledges them and attempts some adjustment.
The grandmother’s handling of signatures, while clearly demonstrating the tension involved in this ongoing negotiation of adaptation and denial, also indicates that her difficulties arc related to her failure to recognize fully the arbitrariness of the sign. (Owens, 1996) Criticism and analysis from different critics made a distinctive point of view regarding the characters of the story. Some writers quoted some parts of O’Connor’s titles to imply the establishment of characterization of the characters like Tate’s “A Good Source is Not So Hard to Find” to reveal the character and intention of grandmother in the narrative.
Another example is Schenck’s “A Good Man” relies on the character of the Misfit as it encounters the beliefs and attack of grandmother’s ideologies. Fresher perspectives multiplied during the 1980s. J. O. Tate’s “A Good Source Is Not So Hard to Find” uncovered newspaper sources for the character of The Misfit, and other studies of O’Connor’s geography and local realism added healthy correctives to the religious bent of so many of the critical approaches to the story. Most interesting, perhaps, of recent perspectives is Mary Jane Schenck’s study of deconstructed meaning in “A Good Man.
The Essay on Character In A Good Man Is Har
Views and Characters Flannery O'Connor wrote the short story, 'A Good Man is Hard to Find'; in the hopes of portraying to the reader the racist views of the time: many of the ideals possess 'a kind of holy madness or beauty.' ; (Kirszner 238). These are the words mentioned in Literature, and express the emotions that O'Connor made the grandmother experience in the story. The story takes on a sort ...
” Drawing upon the notions of Paul de Man, this article examines, as earlier studies had also, a confrontation not only between the grandmother and The Misfit, but also between a self based on self-knowledge and a self constructed from language in each of the characters. (Grund, 1999) As a whole, the author’s point of attack can be seen in the latter part of the story. It can be said that she needs to establish the characters of Bailey’s family but they were just instruments of grandmother’s journey.
It is sad to know that Bailey and his family was killed immediately without anything with their characters. The question will be, why did the author used these chaarcters if in the end, they were just nothing? There is a conflicting ending between these characters but with grandmother and the Misfit, it take into account that men are still the highest symbolic status in the society.
Works Cited Fike, Matthew. “Timothy Allusion in “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, The”. Renascence. 2000. Retrieved on October 20, 2007 from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_qa3777/is_200007/ai_n8895583
Grund, Gary. “A Good Man is Hard to Find: Flannery O’Connor. – book reviews. ” Studies of Short Fiction. 1995. Retrieved on October 20, 2007 from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m2455/is_n1_v32/ai_17156439 Mitchell, Owen. “The function of signature in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find. ” – short story by Flannery O’Connor”. Studies in Short Fiction. 1996. Retrieved on October 20, 2007 from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m2455/is_n1_v33/ai_19638482 O’Connor, Flannely. A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories. Harvest Books; 1st Harvest/HBJ Ed edition. 1977
