Character Analysis: A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Doris Daniels
Professor Magnani
ENC 1102.1713
4 February 2015
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” In the fictional story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the author Flannery O’Connor uses good, evil, guilty and innocent characters to deliver her countless messages. The story takes place in Georgia in 1953 when the Grandmother and her family decides to take a road trip to Florida. However, before they get to their destination, the Grandmother gets her son Bailey to take a side dirt road to look at an old house with a secret panel. After they turn onto the dirt road, their car ends up rolling into a ditch. The family has an accident, and the Grandmother climbs out of the car and states that she has been injured. Then she makes her way to the side of
the road, and unknowingly flags down three men who have just escaped from federal prison. One of the prisoners is called the Misfit, and the Grandmother thinks she knows him. Also, the Grandmother is one of the main characters in the story and wants everyone to believe that she is a Christian. However, the Grandmother uses poor judgment and deceit that cause her son and his family to lose their lives at the hand of the Misfit and his two partners in crime. Although the Misfit shoots the Grandmother last, he gets her to reform and teaches her to have compassion for others. For this reason, O’Connor uses gloomy humor, outrageous characters, and religious beliefs to lead the readers to a revelation about the characters faith in God. O’Connor knows the best way to reach her reader is to let the gloomy humor flow from her characters and let them deliver the message in the story. It all begins with the Grandmother not wanting to take a trip to Florida, but instead wanting to visit friends in Tennessee. The Grandmother surprisingly dresses in her Sunday best. She is wearing a navy blue dress with a little white dot in the fabric and a navy blue hat with white violets on the brim. Her collar and cuff laced, and her neckline has a violet sachet. The Grandmother’s detailed dress symbolizes her funeral. When someone dies, he or she usually dresses in his or her most appropriate attire, just like the Grandmother wearing her Sunday best. In addition, the image of the family’s death is the Christian graveyard they pass by with five or six graves in the middle of the cotton field. It is not unintentional that five or six graves equal the number of family members in the car. Although there are five people and the baby, it is obvious that the baby is not a full adult.
Throughout the story, O’Connor’s outrageous characters relate to spiritual revelation that alters their outlook on life.
The Grandmother goes through a spiritual transformation while on a trip to Florida with her family when she meets the Misfit. The Misfit makes her realize that she is no better than anybody else, but he does it in a ruthless way. The Misfit shows the grandmother that she is imperfect spiritually and that she has been a hypocrite, and he will forever change her life. Ironically the Misfit is the reason the Grandmother did not want to go to Florida to begin with because she is afraid that they would end up his victims. Two of the men take the family out to the woods to kill them while the Misfit stays with the Grandmother. The grandmother tries to reason with him and talk him out of killing her, but it does not work. She tells him how he is a good man, and he is one of her babies. However, when she touches him, he jumps back and shoots her three times in her chest. The Grandmother has a moment of clarity before her death and realizes that she is no better than anyone else, and she is imperfect like everybody in the world. Therefore, the Grandmother revelation shows we are all God’s children in her moment of
grace.
In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” some of O’Connor’s characters are struggling with their faith.
During the beginning of the story, the Grandmother main focus was on herself in relation to how others thought of her as Christian. Ever since she met the Misfit, the Grandmother realizes that he represents an image of who she is. The Grandmother tries to convince the Misfit that he is a good man, and he comes from nice people. Also she pleads with him to pray to Jesus, but it seems more like a superstitious piety than a prayer. The Misfit refuses to make the leap of faith in Christ’s divinity and has consigned himself to no pleasure but meanness. After the Grandmother has been shot, she dies with a smile on her face staring at the heavens. At the cost of her life, her soul has been redeemed, and the Misfit has witnessed her Grace, firsthand. The Misfit recognizes that had she challenge the cost of her soul before her final encounter; she would have been a good
woman. In closing, some of the characters in O’Connor’s story were either graceful, sinful, blameless/or deceitful bringing meaningful messages to the readers. The Grandmother wanted everyone to believe that she was a child of God, but most of the time being deceitful to her son Bailey and his family. Because of the Grandmother selfish, demanding and controlling ways, she is responsible for the Misfit and his partner killing the entire family. Nevertheless, before the Misfit killed the Grandmother, she tried to persuade him that he was a Christian and to welcome Jesus into his life. However, the Misfit ends up shoot her for talking too much. Because the Misfit had battled with his faith in God, and evil thing that occurred, he seem to have an apprehension of pleasure that may leave a little room for hope after killing the Grandmother. Therefore, O’Connor has utilized dark humor, shocking personalities, and spiritual trust to guide the readers to an epiphany about the characters belief in a supernatural being.

Work Cited
O’Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Pages 1284-1286, 1289-1290, 1295-1296