Free Essays on A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Most authors don’t write their stories with predictability for the reader. They want to keep the reader thinking. If the reader notices that each event that occurs is too predictable, then they begin to lose interest and wonder why they are still reading. They already know what’s going to happen. But Flannery O’Connor uses predictability to her advantage. O’Connor made the characters’ actions and personalities in â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† as predictable and typical as possible to convey her message that a good man really is hard to find. The character that stands out the most is the grandmother. Her entire personality and actions fit the description of a typical grandmother. She’s no different than all the other grandmothers in the world. She is somewhat the leader of the family, but still gets shrugged off by the rest of the family as someone that doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Her son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids don’t listen to her or even give her the time of day. A great example of this can be found in the beginning of the story. She tried her hardest to change Baileys mind about going to Florida because she wanted to go to Tennessee. She even brought good justification to her argument by saying that going anywhere near The Misfit was a bad idea. â€Å"I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it (Pg. 308).† Bailey still didn’t budge. It even took a lot of consideration for Bailey to let his mother see the old ho use when they were well into their trip. Even when he succumbed to her begging he did it in a stubborn, disrespectful manner. And even worse, whenever she insisted that she may have an injury after the accident, no one even acknowledged her. She isn’t even given a name in the story, which is a way of showing that she receives no respect or consideration. These days, most people treat the mother as a burden or a heavy ... Free Essays on A Good Man Is Hard To Find Free Essays on A Good Man Is Hard To Find A Florida trip is very nice to consider when traveling. However, Tennessee was on grandmother’s mind the whole time in Flannery O’ Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man is hard to find.† Maybe if everyone had stuck to her plan, the story would not have happened the way that it did. In the beginning, the family planned on having a nice vacation for Florida. Grandmother insisted on going to Tennessee because of rumors of a misfit escaping and fleeing towards Florida. Bailey was set in his ways and nothing was going to stop them from going to Florida. After this decision, grandmother was worried about everything. She even went to the extent of dressing like a woman so if anyone found her body on the side of the road dead, they would know that she was a lady and her identity. Clothing was very symbolic in this story because the author would describe in specific detail about the characters clothes. Also, at the end of the story when the man came back with Bailey’s shirt on gave a little more symbolic touch to the story. When most people hear the phrase, â€Å"A good man is hard to find,† most people agree that it means exactly what it says. I think that most women will agree with me in that sense. However, before I read this story, I thought that it was going to turn out different than expected. Little did I know what the story was really going to be about and what that phrase really meant. On the way, the family stopped at a restaurant to grab a bite to eat. The grandmother and the owner of this restaurant had a conversation about the misfit who had escaped. The man mentioned, â€Å"These days you just don’t know who t o trust† (311). Grandmother mentioned her part on claiming that a good man is definitely hard to find. She had no clue that later on she would know that personally. Another important symbol that I found in this story was the white house and plantation that grandmother had recalled from her past. â€Å"The house had six ... Free Essays on A Good Man Is Hard To Find The foreshadowing effect in â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† To foreshadow is to give a hint or a suggestion of a forthcoming event. Flannery O’Connor uses the foreshadowing effect adequately in â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find.† There were many hints and suggestions that something unpleasant was going to happen in this story. The moment the grandmother first speaks of the misfit, we can assume he will show up later in the story because he is headed in the same direction as the family. Close to the ending, when the gunshots are heard from the woods, we can assume that the situation cannot get much worse. The first hint of trouble comes early in the story before the first paragraph ends. The grandmother tries to show Bailey a newspaper article about The Misfit, who has escaped the penitentiary and is headed toward Florida. The grandmother tries to discourage Bailey from taking the family to Florida again by telling him he ought to take the children somewhere else for a change, but he disregards his mother and they go on the trip anyway. The probability that an escaped convict is headed in the same direction as Bailey and his family suggests havoc is coming their way. O’Connor describes how the grandmother is dressed and says, â€Å"In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady†(221). In my opinion, this phrase suggests that the grandmother could be involved in an accident further into the story. Also, the grandmother cautions Bailey about driving too fast, so this makes me think he is speeding; consequently, this could lead to an accident. The family arrives at Red Sammy’s, so they go inside and are seated at a table. Red Sam comes inside and sighs, â€Å"You can’t win† he said, â€Å"You can’t winâ€Å"(224), and then he goes on to say, â€Å"These days you don’t know who to trust.†(224). The grandmother agrees with Sam and seems to invite a conversation on the topic of trus... Free Essays on A Good Man Is Hard To Find From the very beginning, the grandmother in Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† is foreshadowing, in her words and actions, what will become of the family. Hints of the family’s tragic finale exist throughout the plot until the time of the first murder. In the very beginning before the story begins, O’Connor provides the reader with an epigraph. It quotes, â€Å"The Dragon is by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the farther of souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon.† (St. Cyril of Jerusalem). (117) These very first few sentences provide the reader with an overview of the story’s events. The grandmother goes on to further ruin with this trip with just simple her words. In the beginning of the story, the Grandmother tries to change her son’s mind about going to Florida because she wants to go to Tennessee, and that gives us a sign of how persuasive she can be. â€Å"The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Now look here, Bailey,† she said, â€Å"see here, read this,† †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†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 the people†¦ â€Å"(117) These are a few very good clues on what will happen throughout the story. She compares herself to her daughter-in-law, insinuating that the daughter-in-law is not a lady like her. She judges â€Å"the children’s mother’s† clothes and judges many others who are socially challenged or less fortunate than she is. Note that when she mentions the Misfit criminal who escaped from prison, the â€Å"pickaninny,† and when she mentions the two cents in Red Sammy’s cash register with a tone of irony on her voice. Her attitude changes completely when the family’s car ... Free Essays on A Good Man Is Hard To Find In Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† we get a portrait of a 1950s postwar family who, in the midst of their own naivety, find themselves not only on the road from Atlanta, Georgia to Florida but on the road to the their own demise. The most outstanding character in this story is the grandmother, and since the story is told from the third person omniscient view, it will be easy for us to analyze the grandmother’s character. She connects the other characters together throughout the story with her own selfishness and stupidity, and through a self-realization which becomes the most important moment in the story. As the story opens, the scene is set in the home of a man named Bailey and his family which consists of his mother (the grandmother), his wife and their two children- June Star and John Wesley. Bailey is planning a trip to Florida, but the grandmother would rather go to Tennessee. We see the first sign of the grandmother’s selfishness here when she tries to convince her son, Bailey, to take the family to Tennessee. She does her persuasion through a newspaper article which says that a convict called The Misfit has escaped from the Federal Penitentiary in Florida. She says, â€Å"I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscious if I did.† We will see how this statement becomes the epitome of irony in the next few paragraphs. While the family is on the road to from Atlanta to Florida, the scene changes to a filling station and dance hall called The Tower. While the family is eating Red Sammy’s barbecue sandwiches, the grandmother carries on a very foreshadowing conversation with Red Sam. â€Å"These days you don’t know who to trust,† he said. â€Å"Ain’t that the truth?†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"A good man is hard to find.† If the grandmother knows this and makes these assertions, then why does she so naà ¯ve and quick to trust The Mi... Free Essays on A Good Man Is Hard To Find Most authors don’t write their stories with predictability for the reader. They want to keep the reader thinking. If the reader notices that each event that occurs is too predictable, then they begin to lose interest and wonder why they are still reading. They already know what’s going to happen. But Flannery O’Connor uses predictability to her advantage. O’Connor made the characters’ actions and personalities in â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† as predictable and typical as possible to convey her message that a good man really is hard to find. The character that stands out the most is the grandmother. Her entire personality and actions fit the description of a typical grandmother. She’s no different than all the other grandmothers in the world. She is somewhat the leader of the family, but still gets shrugged off by the rest of the family as someone that doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Her son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids don’t listen to her or even give her the time of day. A great example of this can be found in the beginning of the story. She tried her hardest to change Baileys mind about going to Florida because she wanted to go to Tennessee. She even brought good justification to her argument by saying that going anywhere near The Misfit was a bad idea. â€Å"I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it (Pg. 308).† Bailey still didn’t budge. It even took a lot of consideration for Bailey to let his mother se e the old house when they were well into their trip. Even when he succumbed to her begging he did it in a stubborn, disrespectful manner. And even worse, whenever she insisted that she may have an injury after the accident, no one even acknowledged her. She isn’t even given a name in the story, which is a way of showing that she receives no respect or consideration. These days, most people treat the mother as a burden or a heavy ... Free Essays on A Good Man is Hard to Find â€Å"A good Man is Hard to Find†, by Flannery O’ Conner was a suspenseful and kept me wanting to read to find out what happens in the end. It had good foreshadowing techniques and O’Connor did a good job of writing the story. She portrayed the beginning as being just a normal road trip and family would take. By reading the whole story, I found out that it backfired on them and it was not a normal road trip anymore. Theme and plot were distinctly viewed and the description of the places and the people put a vivid picture in my head. The setting often changed while traveling from state to state, so there was always changing scenery. While O’ Conner described the grandmother to the readers, I pictured an old women who looked like my grandmother as well. There were many characters that took place in the story to make it more interesting and a better story line. I liked the story the best out of all three because it was well written and kept ]me in total suspense throughout the whole story. The title gave me curiosity and I wanted to find out what the true meaning of the title meant. When she first mentioned The Misfit at the beginning of the story, I knew that in the end he would somehow be apart of their road trip. This story was very well written and I liked it he best.... Free Essays on A Good Man Is Hard To Find In the short story, â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† the author, Flannery O’Connor, uses excessive amounts of foreshadowing to clue in the reader of what is to come. Some of the foreshadowing she uses helps predict the family is going to run into the Misfit and also that death is clearly evident. Throughout the story the O’ Connor uses strong amount of foreshadowing to clue the reader that they are going to meet up with the Misfit. One example is when the Grandmother reads in the paper that the Misfit has escaped and he is on his way down to Florida. The author wouldn’t have to mention this part if it didn’t have some significance to the story. Another example is the fact that the father is very nervous about the trip and has a bad feeling about the whole thing. What also make this a major clue is the fact that this is stated after the Grandmother mentions the Misfit and his escape. Later on in the story the family makes a pit stop at Red Sammy’s diner. While at the diner Red Sammy talks about how a good man is hard to find. He then brings up the fact that a man in a run down van with two other people in it stopped for gas and he didn’t think that he could trust them. Then Grandmother then once again mentions the Misfit to Red Sammy and Red Sammy says that he wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he did rob the diner. Also in the story, O’Connor uses foreshadowing to help the reader sense that death is clearly evident. The first clue is the fact that the author mentions that the grandmother dressed to nicely, that in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady. Another example is when they are driving along the road they pass the family’s old burial ground from the plantation. As they pass it they see six tombstones. This hints the reader that the family may die because there are six tombstones and there are six members of the family in the car. Another exampl... Free Essays on A Good Man Is Hard To Find The title of my short story was â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† by Flannery O’Connor. O’ Connor was born on March 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia. She moved with family to Milledgeville, Georgia in 1938 where she attended a public school called Peabody High School. O’Connor graduated from Peabody High School in 1942, where she enters Georgia State College for Women. In 1943-1945 O’Connor writes stories and poems for college literary magazine and graduated from Georgia State with an undergraduate degree in English. In 1945 –1947 she entered a writing program at the University of Iowa and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing. In 1948-1949 O’Connor lived in New York and Connecticut. She attended Yaddo Artists’ colony near Saratoga Springs, New York, for several months. After an illness in 1950, O’Connor returned to Milledgeville and was diagnosed with lupus, an incurable disease. She lived on her familyâ⠂¬â„¢s dairy farm for the rest of her life. In 1955 â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† and Other Stories received critical praise. In 1962-1963 O’Connor received an honorary doctorate from Saint Mary’s women’s college of the University of Notre Dame and spoke at a number of colleges in the South about her writing. Flannery O’Connor died on August 3, 1964. â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† was a wonderful short story. This story is told in a third person point of view. The grandmother is telling the story. She uses she and he in the story often. The setting of the story seems to be in the summer during vacation time. The story took place in a car while going a vacation to Florida. The characters in this story are considered dynamic, flat, and round. The dynamic characters are the grandma, John Wesley, The Misfit, June Star, and Bobby Lee. I chose them as dynamic characters because they tend to change because of the plot of the story. The grandma is considered a dynamic character because she tried her best... Free Essays on A Good Man is Hard to Find My Analysis of Grandma In the story, â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†, the grandmother, also know as the old lady, has the type of personality I would not like my grandmother to have. The grandmother, who is not named in the story, is very annoying and likes to talk a lot. In the very beginning of the story there is evidence that the grandmother is not very favored by her own son, Bailey. She tries to convince her son that they shouldn’t take the trip to Florida because of murderer who has escaped from prison and because of the children have been there and need to see other places in the world. In addition she just doesn’t want to go to Florida. She would rather go to Tennessee for personal reasons but she doesn’t tell her son that. All the while, she is ignored by him. For the entire time that the grandmother is talking to him, Bailey continues to read his sports paper as if she is not even in the room. Bailey doesn’t respond to her. The only one who acknowledges that she is speaking is Bailey’s son, John Wesley. John Wesley makes a suggestion; â€Å"If you don’t want to go to Florida, why dontcha stay home?† (285) June Star, John Wesley’s’ sister also adds her comments and makes a point that her grandmother would not stay home for fear that she would be missing anything that happens on their trip. This little fact also says that the grandmother has a tendency to be nosy and would always like to be involved in some way. Throughout the whole trip, it seems as thought the grandmother talks the most. She is like a child who has to point out everything that she sees along the way. During the ride she also tells stories that only she I really interested in hearing although John Wesley did happen to find one her stories very funny. In addition to being annoying and talking a lot, the grandmother reminds me of the grandmother in a sitcom on television called â€Å"Everybody Loves Raymond†. The two ar... Free Essays on A Good Man Is Hard To Find A Good Man Is Hard To Find A Good Man is Hard to Find Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find is filled with foreshadowing which the first time reader will not grasp, but leaps out of the pages for repeated readers. When first read, A Good Man is Hard to Find, the reader does not value the importance of the grandmother charter and her warning. She is thought to just be a rambling, nagging old lady. Even the grandmother does not realize the importance of what she is saying. The grandmother warns of the misfit in the first paragraph of the novel, â€Å"’Here this fellow calls himself the Misfit is loose from the federal pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people.†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ The first time reader simply sees this warning as the grandmother trying to persuade her son to change the vacation plans to better suit the grandmother’s wants. Continuing thru the story the first time reader sees the grandmother as a not very smart woman, and s he really is not very smart. She proves this by leading her family on a wild goose chase, looking for a house that is in a completely different state. Later on in the novel while the family is having lunch at a dinner the grandmother returns to the idea of the Misfit. â€Å"’Did you read about the criminal, The Misfit, that’s escaped?’ asked the grandmother.† To the first time reader this seems unusual to return to the thought of The Misfit, he was simply a thought at the beginning, so long ago that the reader had all but forgotten him. O’Connor continues on with the story though, convincing he reader that we probably won’t ever hear the name, Misfit, again. To the first time reader the ending of the novel comes at a complete surprise. Who would have thought that this sweat family could ever die such awful deaths. Who would have thought that the grandmother would’ve been right, and that the family actually would have a run in with The Misfit. When th... Free Essays on A Good Man Is Hard To Find â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† In Flannery O’Connor’s story â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find†, we follow â€Å"a family of six which, on its way driving to Florida, gets wiped out by an escaped convict who calls himself the Misfit† (O’Connor, Reasonable 325). The incidents and characters throughout the story are aspects of a plot intending to symbolize the spiritual grace passed from one human to another, without regard for kindness or evil. The grandmother is the most prominent and developed character in the story and contains several traits that are typically related to the elder southern woman. Within her family unit she goes mostly unnoticed, â€Å"the parents pay little attention†¦and when they do, they are often quite rude† (Brown). She has many points of view but it seems as though the children are the only ones that respond to her but that doesn’t mean that they respect her. June Star says of her going on the trip â€Å"She has to go everywhere we goà ¢â‚¬  (O’Connor, Good 298). John Wesley says to her â€Å"If you don’t want to go to Florida, why dontcha stay at home?† (298). So what makes her final gesture so important in the story towards The Misfit that makes the reader shed a tear or two for her? In the beginning of the story the grandmother is trying to persuade the family to go on a trip to Tennessee instead of Florida. She is reading an article in the paper about an escaped convict named â€Å"The Misfit†. Without much of an audience to hear her she uses her power of suggestion that â€Å"The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida† (297) to scare the family into agreeing with her about heading to Tennessee. We find out it does not work but are introduced to the workings of the grandmother in her efforts to be the center of the attention at all times. The character traits of the grandmother are in no way ideal but her ability to try and manipulate every situation does seem to ultimately seal... Free Essays on A Good Man is Hard to Find Last Rites â€Å"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.† - Jimi Hendrix. The late rock n roll artist summed up one of the most challenging fears to overcome for all humans, preparation for death. Flannery O’Connor uses this concept to show how it can affect people’s behaviors and attitudes. The story begins with the typical family being challenged by the grandmother who doesn't want to take the vacation to Florida. She has read about a crazed killer by the name of the Misfit who is on the run heading for Florida. Unfortunately, she is ignored by every member of the family except for the little girl, June Star, who can read the grandmother like an open book. The fact that she admonishes Bailey, her son, of this Misfit and "what it says he did to those people†(1277) foreshadows what will happen to them. As readers, we know that O’Connor will not mention such an interesting fact without having it affect the characters later on in the story. In Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man is Hard To Find,† one is struck by the unexpected violence at the end of the story. However, if you re-read the story a second time, you will see various allusions, imagery and language that foreshadow the grotesque ending. Furthermore the author touches upon her belief that most humans are not prepared to die, and reflects that through the character of the grandmother. Kordosky 2 The morning of the trip the grandmother is the first one in the car ready to travel as June Star predicted she would be, "She wouldn’t stay at home for a million bucks. She has to go everywhere we go"(1278). This can be read as a direct foreshadowing of the grandmother’s death. As one reads the story, one wonders why every time Bobby Lee and Hiram take someone into the forest, they never come back. Eventually, the whole family is taken to die. June Star’s comment that the grandmother goes everywhere the family goes can be read...