A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Flannery O Conner
Clarification of Flannery O’Conner: “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Clarification of Flannery O’Connor: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” reveals a sense of personal corruption demonstrated through manipulation and the views of society. She shows these by using foreshadowing and characterization. In the beginning, a family of six people have a disagreement about where they are going for a vacation. The pleasant family road trip takes a sudden turn for the worst. The family is executed one by one. Flannery O’Conner demonstrates the unexpected by using foreshadowing. She uses it by describing grandmother’s attire. “’In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady’”(118). Also, tragedy is being indirectly presented in the opening of the book (Bleikaster). Clearly, the grandmother predicts her own fate. The grandmother thinks it is important to be a “lady” because she is old-fashioned. Another way Flannery O’Conner uses this technique is by giving hints to the rest of the family’s death. “They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island”(119). This uses both foreshadowing and symbolism to give the reader a hint that the graves are for all six of the family members, including the baby. Not only did O’Conner portray foreshadowing of the grandmother and family’s death, but she also describes the conversation between the Misfit and grandmother. Flannery O’Connor usually likes to use conflict to stories, so she uses these two help develop the story’s theme (Burke). First, he is mentioned in the beginning of the story. The grandmother warned the rest of the family that a criminal was on the loose, but they still wanted to go on vacation, which, coincidently, foreshadows their encounter with the Misfit. Likewise, symbolism and foreshadowing is used again. When the family
Clarification of Flannery O’Connor: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” reveals a sense of personal corruption demonstrated through manipulation and the views of society. She shows these by using foreshadowing and characterization. In the beginning, a family of six people have a disagreement about where they are going for a vacation. The pleasant family road trip takes a sudden turn for the worst. The family is executed one by one. Flannery O’Conner demonstrates the unexpected by using foreshadowing. She uses it by describing grandmother’s attire. “’In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady’”(118). Also, tragedy is being indirectly presented in the opening of the book (Bleikaster). Clearly, the grandmother predicts her own fate. The grandmother thinks it is important to be a “lady” because she is old-fashioned. Another way Flannery O’Conner uses this technique is by giving hints to the rest of the family’s death. “They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island”(119). This uses both foreshadowing and symbolism to give the reader a hint that the graves are for all six of the family members, including the baby. Not only did O’Conner portray foreshadowing of the grandmother and family’s death, but she also describes the conversation between the Misfit and grandmother. Flannery O’Connor usually likes to use conflict to stories, so she uses these two help develop the story’s theme (Burke). First, he is mentioned in the beginning of the story. The grandmother warned the rest of the family that a criminal was on the loose, but they still wanted to go on vacation, which, coincidently, foreshadows their encounter with the Misfit. Likewise, symbolism and foreshadowing is used again. When the family
Cited: O’Connor, Flannery. Flannery O’Connor: The Complete Stories. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1972 Blythe, Hal, and Sweet, Charlie. “O’Connor’s ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find.’ (Flannery O’Connor).” The Explicator 55.1(1996):49+.General OneFile White, Terry. “Allegorical evil, existential choice in O’Connor, Oates and Styron. “The Midwest Quarterly 34.4 (1993):383+ Desmond, John. “Flannery O’Connor’s Misfit and the Mystery of Evil.” Renaissance: Essay on Values in Literature 56.2 (2004): 129+ Southern Literary Journal 20.2 (1988): 99+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. DeFelix, Geraline Paulk. “The Forgiveness Factor in the Lives of Two Literary Grandmothers.” Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table (2012) OneFile. Web. 13 Apr. 2012. Steed, J.P. “Through Our Laughter We Are Involved: Bergsonian Humor in Flannery O’Connor’s Fiction.” Midwest Quarterly 46.3 (Spring 2005): 299-313 Story Criticism. Vol. 111 Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Mar 2012 Bleikaster, Andre. “Beginnings and Endings in Flannery O’Connor.” The Mississippi Quarterly 59.1-2 (2005): 177+ Renner, Stanley. “Secular Meaning in ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find’.” College Literature 9.2 (1982): 123-132 Witalec. Vol. 132. Detroit Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. Kaplan, Carola M. “A Good Man Is Hard To Find.” Masterplots II: Short Story Serious, Revised Edition (2004): 1-3