A Good Man Is Hard To Find Point Of View
The short story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” is a Southern Gothic style story written by Flannery O’Connor. It is through examination of the setting, point of view, characters, and theme that this reads like a horror story. Through deeper analysis of the characters and theme in this short story, there is a deeply rooted religious message told. The setting and point of view offer a classic horror story experience that can be seen throughout the piece. For instance the setting is in a random town in Georgia, which should come as no surprise since the author herself was born in Savannah, Georgia. This setting sets up a scenic place the family drives through on their way to Florida passing by old plantations and country hillsides. As the story progresses the setting also changes from passing plantations, to Red Sammy’s barbecue restaurant, and eventually to the ditch in the middle of a road surrounded by a forest. Additionally this setting offers a third person limited omniscient point of view seen in horror stories and does not solely focus through the eyes of one person. However in spite of the story being third person limited omniscient the
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narrator focuses more on the character of Grandma and The Misfit more so than any of the other characters. This is well displayed when describing the fine details of the Grandma’s attire when entering the car
Faughn 2 for the trip to Florida. Secondly when the three criminals enter into the story the narrator mentions very little of Hiram or Bobby Lee and focuses mainly on The Misfit and his actions. Additionally the narrator shows the grandma reminiscing about a plantation she visited back when she was younger and how she took cat naps in the car throughout the trip. Equally important is how the point of view and theme tie in very closely in different ways to the characters and what they represent.
The Grandma and The Misfit are by far the most symbolic characters in the story as they are mentioned with high enthusiasm from the author. For instance since the very beginning the Grandma can be seen as a selfish, manipulative woman that tries to always play the pity card to get what she wants. As seen here when she says, ”Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida....I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did.” (p.420) Again this type of behavior can be noticed again when she wants the family to visit the plantation she has fond memories
of. Later on in the story The Misfit commands the same amount of attention from the narrator when he begins his thorough break down of his belief in Jesus and religion. By the end of the story it is clearly seen that The Misfit is a bordering atheist, because he wants to believe there was Jesus, but there is no evidence there was so he in turn relies on logic and reasoning for his actions. He explains this to the Grandma when he says, “Jesus thrown everything off balance. It was the same case with Him as with me except He hadn’t committed any crime and they could prove I had committed one because they had papers on me.” (p.429) Although The Misfit is seen as the antagonist of the story he is by far the deepest character described in the piece through
Faughn 3 description and speech. Similarly The Misfit can also be seen as the divine grace for the Grandma and the family, because up until the very end the Grandma never showed caring for anyone but herself, until she realized her fate, and tried to accept The Misfit as one of her own as a last ditch effort to touch him internally. In the same way the characters were symbolic to religion the theme is just as evident with this trait if not more so. For example while the Grandma views religion as being a decent person with good manners and being born into the right family, which is clearly an old southern mindset, The Misfit bashes it for lack of evidence. This sets up the final scene in which the Grandma realizes the true meaning of having faith and caring for more than herself, and The Misfit willingly admitting to being evil and that there is no point in the life that one lives. Still as with religion as the main theme behind this classic Southern Gothic horror story lies another one, which is the theme of family. In the same way that religion takes over the main theme, family, remains close trailing behind as the secondary factor all the way up until the end. During the The Misfit’s explanation of his beliefs while the family is being executed, truly see the emotion and tie the family has to one another. Specifically this is seen when the Grandma constantly cries out, “Bailey Boy!”(p.427), even though she already knows they are all doomed. In the final examination of this short story religion, and the classic good versus evil with family tied into the mix were the themes that tied the characters, point of view, and setting to a final climax in “Good Man Is Hard To Find.”
narrator focuses more on the character of Grandma and The Misfit more so than any of the other characters. This is well displayed when describing the fine details of the Grandma’s attire when entering the car
Faughn 2 for the trip to Florida. Secondly when the three criminals enter into the story the narrator mentions very little of Hiram or Bobby Lee and focuses mainly on The Misfit and his actions. Additionally the narrator shows the grandma reminiscing about a plantation she visited back when she was younger and how she took cat naps in the car throughout the trip. Equally important is how the point of view and theme tie in very closely in different ways to the characters and what they represent.
The Grandma and The Misfit are by far the most symbolic characters in the story as they are mentioned with high enthusiasm from the author. For instance since the very beginning the Grandma can be seen as a selfish, manipulative woman that tries to always play the pity card to get what she wants. As seen here when she says, ”Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida....I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did.” (p.420) Again this type of behavior can be noticed again when she wants the family to visit the plantation she has fond memories
of. Later on in the story The Misfit commands the same amount of attention from the narrator when he begins his thorough break down of his belief in Jesus and religion. By the end of the story it is clearly seen that The Misfit is a bordering atheist, because he wants to believe there was Jesus, but there is no evidence there was so he in turn relies on logic and reasoning for his actions. He explains this to the Grandma when he says, “Jesus thrown everything off balance. It was the same case with Him as with me except He hadn’t committed any crime and they could prove I had committed one because they had papers on me.” (p.429) Although The Misfit is seen as the antagonist of the story he is by far the deepest character described in the piece through
Faughn 3 description and speech. Similarly The Misfit can also be seen as the divine grace for the Grandma and the family, because up until the very end the Grandma never showed caring for anyone but herself, until she realized her fate, and tried to accept The Misfit as one of her own as a last ditch effort to touch him internally. In the same way the characters were symbolic to religion the theme is just as evident with this trait if not more so. For example while the Grandma views religion as being a decent person with good manners and being born into the right family, which is clearly an old southern mindset, The Misfit bashes it for lack of evidence. This sets up the final scene in which the Grandma realizes the true meaning of having faith and caring for more than herself, and The Misfit willingly admitting to being evil and that there is no point in the life that one lives. Still as with religion as the main theme behind this classic Southern Gothic horror story lies another one, which is the theme of family. In the same way that religion takes over the main theme, family, remains close trailing behind as the secondary factor all the way up until the end. During the The Misfit’s explanation of his beliefs while the family is being executed, truly see the emotion and tie the family has to one another. Specifically this is seen when the Grandma constantly cries out, “Bailey Boy!”(p.427), even though she already knows they are all doomed. In the final examination of this short story religion, and the classic good versus evil with family tied into the mix were the themes that tied the characters, point of view, and setting to a final climax in “Good Man Is Hard To Find.”