Literary Devices In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Individual Author Study – Flannery O’Connor (Chapter 12)
Directions: Review the questions below and then complete the readings and responses as directed. Type your responses in a word document and submit them in the course site.
1. After reading the bibliography and introduction, record five interesting facts from the bibliography and introduction; make sure you fully paraphrase and cite the information. I did not know that she died of lupus and that she didn’t live very long (350). I found it interesting, yet understandable, that her life was pretty uneventful, but she wrote about exciting and dramatic things happening to her characters (351). She raised peacocks at home, not something everyone does (350). She met with the pope in Rome
Analyze the stories for literary devices, and record one example of the following devices from any of her stories that are exceptionally well-done. Quote each example (include story title and page number for citation). Then, explain the rationale for your selection.
Literary Device - Foreshadowing: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” She uses foreshadowing very well in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. She uses phrases like, ‘Toomsboro’ (359) and ‘the big black battered hearse-like automobile’ (361) to foreshadow that the family died at the end. As you are reading you can tell something bad is going to happen, but it also takes you by surprise and shock.
Literary Device – Irony: “Good Country People” She uses irony in “Good Country People” that people are not always what they seem to be and that people are not inherently good. Mrs. Hopewell, whose name shows that she is too trusting, says, “Why, good country people are the salt of the earth!” (372). However, we learn that Manley Pointer, which is not is real name, is not a good country person at all. We learn that he is very manipulative and an uncontrollable liar (380). Mrs. Hopewell says towards the end, “He was so simple...but I guess the world would be better off if we were all that simple” (380). This is a perfect example of dramatic irony because she has no idea what he has been doing to her daughter and other
395: Explain how “Revelation” could be used as a title for any of the O’Connor stories you have read. “Revelation could be used for as a title for any of these stories. In “Good Country People”, Hulga comes to a revelation that people are sometimes not what they appear to be, like the saying, “Wolf in Sheep’s clothing”. Also, it could be used for “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, in that the grandmother comes to a revelation that people are not inherently good and can’t force themselves to be good.

5. After reading the “Perspectives on O’Connor” section, choose two of these questions and respond:
• Question 1, p. 396: Consider how O’Connor’s fiction expresses her belief that “you have to cherish the world at the same time that you struggle to endure it.”
• Question 1, p. 398: Why is a “statement” (para. 1) inadequate to convey the meaning of a story
• Question 2, p. 398: Consider how this personality makes itself apparent in any one of O’Connor’s stories you have read. How does the anecdote help to characterize the narrator’s voice in the