Hard To Find Theme

Mark Twain once said that, “It’s easier to fool people then to convince them that they have been fooled.” In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor we easily distinguish good from evil along with the skewed view of what it means to be each. This short stories setting and plot take place on a family vacation trip to Florida from their rural southern hometown. Although vacation is supposed to signal relaxation and joy this trip however, signals an occurring moment of tragedy and realization. This tragedy occurs because the distinction between good and evil is blurred from both sides. Nonetheless, the theme of cultural influence is portrayed through the distinctive time period, the characters attitudes, and their elusive impressions of good vs. evil.
The short story focuses on an old southern family in the early-to-mid 1900s during a time known as the Segregation Era. After the Civil War a large number of formerly oppressed African Americans wanted equal rights and opportunities despite their lingering past. Some white Americans were in full support however, others utilized their sense of obliviousness, bigotry, and arrogance to create racial divisions and isolation amongst other white Americans. O’Connor wrote her short story with a “Southern
When reading a written literary text or more specifically a book we are merely relying on limited resources to communicate or understand the text. Therefore, we have to form impressions off of the author’s use of diction, rhythm, tone, sentence-structure, and imagery. The author sets the stage for the reader’s interpretations of the characters. O’Connor gives us insight as to what the characters have to offer based on their actions and reactions throughout the story. Initially it doesn’t seem like anything is out of the ordinary but we instantly discover what type of attitude each of the characters has and how they present