Summary of Literary criticism of O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

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. Nester begins by explaining what information that is given about Bailey. “Bailey is the grandmother’s ‘only’ boy, but perhaps not the only child.” She states that Bailey has his mother live with him, deals with her constant nagging, and deals with her going wherever they go (Bailey and his family) with patience and tolerance. Nester also makes sure to include that Bailey can come off as rude when he glares at the wife of Red Sammy and does use a foul word when his mother reveals the identity of the Misfit out loud. She compares Bailey to “the loyal sibling in the biblical story of the prodigal son”. She talks about how Bailey tries to assert his authority after the accident and while they were being held at gun point by the Misfit. Bailey tries to deal with negotiations with the Misfit because he is the only one that seems to grasp their imminent danger. Nester also explains Bailey as the only intelligent one, realizing what is happening, and tries to avert the impending doom upon himself and his family by yelling back at his mother, “I’ll be back in a minute, Mama, wait on me!” Bailey also is shown as a compassionate father by holding his son’s hand while they are walking to their death. Nester shows that in the grandmother’s final moments on this earth, she realizes what kind of person her son was. The clarity the rushes through the grandmother generates her feelings of love towards her son and that goodness is out there rather than her vanity and discontent with the world. She always had goodness