Preview

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
975 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Good Man Is Hard To Find Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Within “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the audience is given several different variations of tone throughout the story. In several occasions the tone can be considered humorous whereas further on in the story the tone darkens and reveals the irony of the situation. This is primarily due to the level of diction represented by each character, which is shown in short intervals. The voice of the narrator is very descriptive, this is perhaps a way to unveil the situation bit by bit as the story comes to it’s tragic end but at the same time allow the audience to interpret the current situation. The primary significance of the contrasting narrator's and character’s tone is put into place so the audience can assess what the ongoing conflict of the story and how the characters are going to deal with it.
There are several figures of speech represented throughout O’Conner’s short story. Most of which all detail grotesque and unflattering visuals of character's descriptions. For instance, John Wesley's description of how “Tennessee is just a hillbilly dumping ground” provides the audience not only Wesley’s prior opinion of Tennessee, where the grandmother would rather go, it also foreshadows the disturbing events to come. In addition to this, Misfit’s
…show more content…
In addition it demonstrates the lack of compassion and fatherly representation he was given as a younger child. For most of his life he had been struggling with adapting to the values of the everyday society, and inevitably ends up killing more people as a way to survive the torment of “punishment”. His previous life, in the penitentiary, didn’t serve as a force of justice, but rather it provided a way for Misfit to undergo a disturbing transformation into a spiteful murder. In addition, Misfit’s dialect demonstrates how the hateful and misjudgment of our society can negatively affect the way a person carries on with their

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nancy Nester’s “O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find” construes that it is “Bailey whose “goodness” accrues throughout the story, that it may be Bailey, in fact, whose goodness the grandmother affirms at its climax.” She believes that Bailey is a “good but overlooked man” in the story. She denotes the numerous instances, which were often ignored by other critics, Bailey symbolizes or acts as the one piece of good represented throughout the story.…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “A good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'Conner depicts a southern family, who is at odds about where they should go for a family vacation. They will eventually agree to head for Florida, once in the car the family will go through a series of events that will shapen each indivudal character. One of the main characters in the story, “The Grandmother”, who is known for her critical , savvy ways gives the audience her definition of what exactly it means to be a lady. The Grandmother and her family will be put to death by an escaped criminal by the name of the Misfit, who the grandmother warns the family of before there voyage to Florida. In the story one will see that although the Grandmother had not been a known convicted felon, like the Misfit, her way for thinking and immoral behavior was no different than that of the Misfit and that they were alike in many different ways. Although the Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to find”, tries to portray herself has a good role model and a Christian lady one will later see as story evolve that she was a woman contrary of her word and was indeed the ultimate “misfit”.…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Throughout the story, the grandmother’s selfish attitude is apparent. She believes from the beginning that she is the voice of reason and everything she says is right. In response to taking the children to Florida instead of Tennessee, she insists “You all ought to take them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be broad. They never have been to east Tennessee” (59). However, in saying this she has no intentions on helping the children be broad, she says this so the children’s parents will take them to Tennessee, away from The Misfit. Eventually, it is this self-centered attitude that leads to the family’s demise, as she suggests that they take a detour to visit an old plantation in her neighborhood from when she was a young lady. It is in this segment of the story that O’Connor’s religious overtones come into effect. Once The Misfit and his crew of fellow prison escapees shoot the rest of the family, he and the grandmother are alone and she begins to attempt to bring him to Jesus. However, the irony at this point is that The Misfit may be more in touch with Jesus than she is. He says, “Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead,” The Misfit continued, “and he shouldn’t have done it. He thrown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    2. The author changes the point of view to P.S's father on page 119. "Why isn't he crying, he wondered, and then he told himself that he wouldn't have cried either; that the boy had had plenty of time to cry; that he would never cry in front of his father again." This sentence is when the author changes the point of view from P.S to Stewart Wilkinson (aka. P.S's dad or sir).…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    On the one hand, O'Conner wants us and the grandmother to "see" The Misfit for who he really is; a sad, weak person who is in pain, so she says of him at the end of the story, "Without his glasses, The Misfit's eyes were red rimmed and pale and defenseless-looking; on the other hand, O'Connor also wants us and The Misfits to "see" the grandmother for who she really is; she has become the child she once was because she has connected with her real self and feelings; she knows at last the truth she has been avoiding her whole life and dies a happy woman; because, she says of the grandmother at the end of the story "… the grandmother…half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child's and her face smiling up at the cloudless…

    • 3146 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    One of the utmost unforgettable lines from “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” originates from the Misfit when he says, “She would have been a good woman if it had been someone there to shoot her for every minute of her life (O'Connor).” Flannery O’Connor’s illustration of Christianity can be seen in within this text. Certainly, the plot ends with an appalling conclusion, and this leaves the reader with liberty to understand the central idea of this story. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is largely influenced by divine authority and other elements within the story.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Grace, an important theme to O'Connor, is given to both The Grandmother and The Misfit, neither of whom is particularly deserving. As she realizes what is happening, The Grandmother begins to beg The Misfit to pray so that Jesus will help him. Right before The Misfit kills her, The Grandmother calls him one of her own children, recognizing him as a fellow human capable of being saved by God's Grace. Even though he murders her, the Misfit is implied to have achieved some level of Grace as well when he ends the story by saying, "It's no real pleasure in life." Earlier in the story, he claimed the only pleasure in life was meanness. The glorification of the past is prevalent in this story through the character of The Grandmother, who expresses nostalgia for the way things used to be in the South. Her mistake about the "old plantation that she had visited in this…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the gruesome ending comes as quite a shock. But, upon a second read, signs of an ominous end permeate the work. Hints of the family's tragic finale exist throughout the plot until the time of the first murder. The story contains pervasive images of death and to foreshadow the ultimate demise of the nameless family at the hands of the malicious Misfit and his henchmen.…

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    For instance during this conversation she exclaims, "Jesus!" the old lady cried. "You've got good blood! I know you wouldn't shoot a lady! I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady. I'll give you all the money I've got!" (O’Connor 715). The reader begins to feel as though this is just simply a poor old woman on the verge of a breakdown. Finally the use of actions to determine the Misfit’s characterization is very different from the rest of the characters. Stephen Bandy in his article "`One of My Babies': The Misfit and the Grandmother" states that “Although the Misfit is not physically present until the final pages, his influence hangs over the story almost from the beginning” (Bandy 107). The reader knows the misfit is not a “good man” by what the grandmother reads from the newspaper in the beginning of the story and also what is discussed throughout. This is also supported by the action of the Misfit having the whole family killed after the accident happened. However, at the end of the story we get a glimpse the opposite through the misfit’s actions. Margaret Earley Whitt, in her book Understanding Flannery O’Connor describes the Misfit’s…

    • 1982 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” you meet a family, but the member of the family that sticks out is the grandmother. She says many things that makes one wonder what is going on in her head. For example, when she says “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (O'Connor). This is a one of the first sentences from the reading “A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor. When reading this sentence, it makes one wonder; why does the grandmother care so much about being know as a lady? The story about a family of five going on vacation and they bring their “well” mannered grandmother, who just seems very stuck in her ways. When it comes to her ways she thinks they are the “good” ways, but are they really? Even though, the grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his unpublished paper Jack and the Monster Factory, Simon Roltson, compares Misfit with the serial killer Carl Panzram, because both claims that their acts of violence were performance of revenge on a society whose rules and courts had brutalized them. Which rendered them violently antisocial. Panzram also claims that the penitentiary has a similar antisocial effect on all the other prisoners (Roltson 2). The Misfit also seems to argue that Jesus should be cursed, because Jesus put the humanity in dilemma by raising the dead. His act of raising the dead “thrown everything off balance.” He compares himself to Jesus because they both were punished. At least Jesus knew what he was being punished for, but Misfit had no idea. So, he thinks he was not treated right. But he finds the rational solution to this that is why he always sign for everything he does and get a copy of it. So, he says “you’ll know what you done and hold up the crime to punishment and see do they match and in the end, you’ll have something to prove you ain’t been treated right” (O’Conner 10). This is his way of “doing right by himself.” Misfit wants to transfer his own felt degradation to grandmother as a means of freedom, that is why he said “no pleasure but meanness.” He also wants to decrease his pain by killing or by mean to others but all this increases it as he mentioned “it’s no real pleasure in life.” So, his act of reducing or get rid of his pain by…

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do you find yourself shocked or frustrated right at the end of a good book? Do you end up scratching your head and wonder what just happened? That’s because good writers know how to persuade readers to think a certain way, like the most logic or obvious choice, and add a twist that will leave you saying, “I didn’t see that coming!” After going back and rereading you see hidden clues that lead up to the final conclusion. This is known as “breadcrumbs.” Great author’s love throwing breadcrumbs into their story to show that things aren’t exactly as they appear. One example of a great plot twist is “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’ Connor. When reading, you think it’s about a family vacation gone wrong. The story has many laugh-out-loud humor that we all can relate when it comes to vacations. Rotten little bother’s and sister’s, granny who gets what she wants, dad who is in charge, and mother who is just along for the ride. Then the ending happens. The story takes a dramatic turn from all the humor to…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Have values really change over the years? In Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” values are really portrayed as being a thing in the past. Values such as family values and people values are really important and O’Connor really tries to get her point across by using the character from the family to show how they have lost respect towards each other and other people as well. The worst thing is that the characters don’t even realize how they act with each is actually wrong and don’t seem to do anything about it because of the lack of discipline.…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    O’Connor uses the gun that The Misfit carries to symbolize fear. Until the climax, the family was enjoying their road trip to Tennessee. When The Misfit, Hiram, and Bobby Lee arrive with their guns, the characters in the family slowly begin to show symptoms of fear. “There was a pistol shot from the woods, followed closely by another”, (O’Connor 63). Even though the characters remaining with The Misfit don’t directly see who Hiram and Bobby shot at that moment, they start to fear. The children’s mother begins to make heaving noises as if she couldn’t breathe. When The Misfit asks if she would like to join her husband and son, she replies “‘Yes, thank you,’ the mother said faintly” (O’Connor 64). At that same situation, the grandmother also begins to fear. “‘Pray, pray,’ the grandmother began, ‘pray, pray…’” (O’Connor 63). The grandmother starts to fear even more when she hears the “pistol report” for the second time after the children’s mother and June Star were taken to the dark forest. “Pray! Jesus, you ought not shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!” (O’Connor 65). She is so consumed by fear that she begins to negotiate for her life. The grandmother is the last member of the family to persist with The Misfit before she is killed. As a result of fear, her attitude has the most dramatic change from how she behaves when the story started. In contrast, Munro uses the gun to symbolize shame. The narrator quotes “I shot two rabid wolves who…

    • 1175 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Misfit

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, A Good Man Is Hard To Find, she narrates a trip taken by a family of six to the sunshine state of Florida. From the beginning we can tell that the grandmother does not want to go because a criminal had escaped prison. Throughout the short story we follow the road trip right up to when the family has a car accident and they find themselves face to face with The Misfit. By the end of the story the family is murdered, however we learn that The Misfit knows who God is, but no longer believes. In this essay I will provide the reader with how we can relate to The Misfit, and the connection O’Connor had to this character.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays