Preview

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Analisys 6

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1119 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Analisys 6
You are sitting in your living room at home watching the nightly news. The lead story for the night is about a family of four that were murdered. After seeing and hearing about something like that we often ask ourselves, What could possess a person enough to kill another human being? What is it that drives a person to kill? Will we ever know? Many authors use this unique mentality in short stories. They write about what the killer thinks and how he/she acts on his/her thoughts. One of these stories is "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", by Flannery O'Connor. In this story O'Connor's victim, The Misfit, is an escaped convict. He was in the Federal Penitentiary for killing his father. Throughout the story O'Connor builds up this killers mentality through his words and body language. Like many other murderers, The Misfit could not distinguish the difference between fantasy and reality. When The Misfit first comes in contact with the family he immediately becomes nervous. He looks at the grandmother and says, "Would you mind calling them children to sit down by you? Children make me nervous" (O'Connor 687). The Misfit shows that he is obviously not comfortable being with or around children. The Misfit continues to watch all of the family members, like a hawk eyeing up his prey. The reality of the situation is that the children are very scared of The Misfit, and in no physical way could they harm him. The Misfit's fantasy or conscience tells him that the children will do something wrong if he doesn't watch them carefully. His thoughts of fantasy take over and the children huddle around their grandmother, shaking with fear. Just moments after his first interaction with the family, the grandmother said something that The Misfit did not like. She recognized his face and said, "You're The Misfit! I recognized you at once!" (O'Connor 687). The Misfit then replied, "Yes'm, … but it would have been better for all of you lady, if you hadn't of recognized
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Summary of Literary criticism of O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find"
    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages

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

    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.…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find Summary
    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find Summary

    In the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, a family plans a vacation to Florida, in which it does not turn out as they had expected. The story begins with a family from Georgia consisting of the father Bailey, his wife, baby, two kids John Wesley and June Star, and their grandmother whose name is never announced. Among planning their trip to Florida, the Grandmother suggest they go elsewhere, justifying herself saying that there is a misfit on the loose and he’s heading that direction. The rest of the family does not take her suggestion seriously, and so the next day they all leave for Florida, including the grandmother. The grandmother makes the decision to bring her cat along for the trip as well while not telling any of the other family. During the trip, the grandmother tells the children stories and plays games with…

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Literary Analysis
    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Literary Analysis

    “A good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'Conner depicts a southern family, who is at odds about where they should go for a family vacation. They will eventually agree to head for Florida, once in the car the family will go through a series of events that will shapen each indivudal character. One of the main characters in the story, “The Grandmother”, who is known for her critical , savvy ways gives the audience her definition of what exactly it means to be a lady. The Grandmother and her family will be put to death by an escaped criminal by the name of the Misfit, who the grandmother warns the family of before there voyage to Florida. In the story one will see that although the Grandmother had not been a known convicted felon, like the Misfit, her way for thinking and immoral behavior was no different than that of the Misfit and that they were alike in many different ways. Although the Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to find”, tries to portray herself has a good role model and a Christian lady one will later see as story evolve that she was a woman contrary of her word and was indeed the ultimate “misfit”.…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Alice Miller's Banished Knowledge
    • 3146 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Alice Miller's Banished Knowledge

    On the one hand, O'Conner wants us and the grandmother to "see" The Misfit for who he really is; a sad, weak person who is in pain, so she says of him at the end of the story, "Without his glasses, The Misfit's eyes were red rimmed and pale and defenseless-looking; on the other hand, O'Connor also wants us and The Misfits to "see" the grandmother for who she really is; she has become the child she once was because she has connected with her real self and feelings; she knows at last the truth she has been avoiding her whole life and dies a happy woman; because, she says of the grandmother at the end of the story "… the grandmother…half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child's and her face smiling up at the cloudless…

    • 3146 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    AP Lit Essay
    • 1007 Words
    • 3 Pages

    AP Lit Essay

    In the beginning of the story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The Misfit was alienated by the Grandmother by her exclaim of how bad of a person he is. And he is one of the many things wrong with the country. Then when the Grandmother meets The Misfit in person she suddenly has a “change of heart” about him. As The Grandmother advises The Misfit to pray to Jesus, Hiram and Bobby Lee return from the woods dragging Bailey's shirt and The Misfit puts it on. Then Bobby Lee and Hiram politely help up The Mother and June Star to take them back into the woods, as well. The Grandmother begins to panic and resumes trying to convince The Misfit to find Jesus. She repeats, "I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady." She thus contradicts herself because earlier in the story she clams of his bad parents. Then she bargains with him, offering all her money to save her life. When The Grandmother hears the pistol shots that announce the deaths of the rest of her family deep in the woods, she cries out, "Bailey Boy!" for her son. The Misfit reminds her that no one has raised the dead except for Jesus, and opines that Jesus shouldn't have done that: the only pleasure he finds in life is "meanness." He reveals his lack of faith in God by saying that he can't believe Jesus even raised the dead, since he wasn't there to see it, and blames this lack of knowledge for how he has turned out. Noticing he looks like he is about to cry, The Grandmother cries out, "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!" and touches…

    • 1007 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find Rhetorical Analysis Essay
    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    In addition it demonstrates the lack of compassion and fatherly representation he was given as a younger child. For most of his life he had been struggling with adapting to the values of the everyday society, and inevitably ends up killing more people as a way to survive the torment of “punishment”. His previous life, in the penitentiary, didn’t serve as a force of justice, but rather it provided a way for Misfit to undergo a disturbing transformation into a spiteful murder. In addition, Misfit’s dialect demonstrates how the hateful and misjudgment of our society can negatively affect the way a person carries on with their…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find Misfit
    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find Misfit

    The Misfit as an external force is the one that helps the Grandma realize how much of a conceited life she has lived. She uses the name of “Jesus” so often that the word itself seems “…as if she might be cursing,” which shows how she has tricked herself into believing she is a devout Christian (O’Connor 308). Minutes before her passing, her soul is redeemed from the fantasy she lived in, to the hard truth about her religion when the Misfit involves Jesus by saying “Maybe he didn’t raise the dead”…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Misfit And The Grandmother Analysis
    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Misfit And The Grandmother Analysis

    Grace, an important theme to O'Connor, is given to both The Grandmother and The Misfit, neither of whom is particularly deserving. As she realizes what is happening, The Grandmother begins to beg The Misfit to pray so that Jesus will help him. Right before The Misfit kills her, The Grandmother calls him one of her own children, recognizing him as a fellow human capable of being saved by God's Grace. Even though he murders her, the Misfit is implied to have achieved some level of Grace as well when he ends the story by saying, "It's no real pleasure in life." Earlier in the story, he claimed the only pleasure in life was meanness. The glorification of the past is prevalent in this story through the character of The Grandmother, who expresses nostalgia for the way things used to be in the South. Her mistake about the "old plantation that she had visited in this…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find Comparison Essay
    • 1148 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find Comparison Essay

    Instead of killing all family members in plain sight he had Hiram and Bobby Lee take them into the woods and out of sight to kill them. They killed quickly without making them physically suffer. The Misfit did kill Grandma after she reached out to touch him but when Bobby Lee indicated it would be "some fun" to shoot Grandma everyday The Misfit told him in the last line to shut up and then said, "It's no real pleasure in life". He killed because he was "a different breed of…

    • 1148 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Misfit Vs Brown
    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Misfit Vs Brown

    This leads the reader to almost forget about the Misfit as a factor in the narrative. When the family wrecks their car as a result of the grandmother's impaired judgment, the Misfit and his comrades witness the wreck and stop, seemingly to assist them. The Misfit initially comes across as cool and collected, but the family's situation takes an ominous turn when the grandmother recognizes the Misfit as the escaped criminal she read about in the newspaper. In response to the accusation of indeed being the Misfit, he kindly replies "Yes'm" (1312). During the ensuing conversation, the Misfit continues utilizing social niceties, leaving the reader to almost approve of the Misfit in spite of the fact that he has committed some unknown horrendous crime. As the Misfit begins to have his cronies kill the family, he continues a conversation with the grandmother that ultimately leads to a discussion of religion. The Misfit confesses, "I was a gospel singer for a while," which leads the reader to believe that religion was once indeed a factor in his life. His use of past tense, however, along with his failure to pray with the grandmother and his attitude of contempt towards Jesus leads the reader to believe that he no longer utilizes religious principles. The grandmother makes final attempts to reason…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    A Good Man Is Hard to Find - 4
    • 1874 Words
    • 8 Pages

    A Good Man Is Hard to Find - 4

    Many people struggle with the idea of what it means to be a “good” person and what it means to be a “bad” person. The human quest to be good drives virtually everything we do but sometimes in the end may not amount to enough. We all want to be good, but it 's not easy. If you ask an evil person and a good person the same question, "Are you a good person?" Who do you think is more likely to say yes, the good person or the evil person? Everyone has their own opinion about certain issues, and they depend on their values, judgment, and beliefs to see them through their difficulties. Flannery O’Connor, an American writer, was quoted as saying "I see from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. This means the meaning of life is centered in our Redemption by Christ and that what I see in the world I see in relation to that" (Contemporary Authors 402). In the short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," Flannery O’ Connor illustrates her argument of good and evil through a grandmother who struggles with her own insincere sense of goodness, and the Misfit who represents evil. Only true goodness illuminates when in the face of something bad. In the story a character who views herself as good comes to realize that this goodness that she believes she has cannot protect against the works of evil.…

    • 1874 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find
    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a traumatic short story about a family, that is taking a trip to Florida, but never makes it because of their run in with the outlaw the Misfit, who in the end kills the whole family. Throughout, the story O’Connor shows what a good man is through the Characterization of the Misfit, the grandmother, and Bailey.…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Penitentiaries Research Paper
    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Penitentiaries Research Paper

    When Misfit was in prison, he had this continue thought in this mind that he is not fairly treated. Which changed his definition of good. So, what is bad for other is good for him. Also when he has fired three bullets in the grandmother’s chest, he says she might have been “a good woman… if it had been somebody to shoot her every minute of her life.” (O’Conner 11). Thought, when the grandmother touches him in the end, it was a moment of grace for her, which comes to her through Misfit. The gesture of grandmother and her words to misfit “you are one of my babies” were completely misunderstood by the Misfit and he shot her. By killing her Misfit believes he is killing the most presumption of grandmother that he is any child of her. Because for Misfit being a child means accept anything without questioning it. When grandmother touched her, he thinks that she is trying to be sympathetic to him, but when she says “you are one of my babies” Misfit thinks that she is also talking for the society and telling him to understand everything without question (Hendricks 207).…

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Misfit
    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Misfit

    Further in the story, after The Misfit had killed the grandmother, O' Connor describes The Misfit’s response to his actions: “The Misfit’s eyes were red-rimmed and pale and defenseless looking”(pg. 257). Could The Misfit has been crying or is this a sign that he was actually troubled by his course of action? The phrase “defenseless looking” implies that for a brief moment his emotional state had become very vulnerable and that he was possibly seeing the error of his ways. This is again shown at the end of the story when his cohort Bobby Lee begins to…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Good Man is Hard to Find, and Boys and Girls: Use of Symbols
    • 1175 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A Good Man is Hard to Find, and Boys and Girls: Use of Symbols

    O’Connor uses the gun that The Misfit carries to symbolize fear. Until the climax, the family was enjoying their road trip to Tennessee. When The Misfit, Hiram, and Bobby Lee arrive with their guns, the characters in the family slowly begin to show symptoms of fear. “There was a pistol shot from the woods, followed closely by another”, (O’Connor 63). Even though the characters remaining with The Misfit don’t directly see who Hiram and Bobby shot at that moment, they start to fear. The children’s mother begins to make heaving noises as if she couldn’t breathe. When The Misfit asks if she would like to join her husband and son, she replies “‘Yes, thank you,’ the mother said faintly” (O’Connor 64). At that same situation, the grandmother also begins to fear. “‘Pray, pray,’ the grandmother began, ‘pray, pray…’” (O’Connor 63). The grandmother starts to fear even more when she hears the “pistol report” for the second time after the children’s mother and June Star were taken to the dark forest. “Pray! Jesus, you ought not shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!” (O’Connor 65). She is so consumed by fear that she begins to negotiate for her life. The grandmother is the last member of the family to persist with The Misfit before she is killed. As a result of fear, her attitude has the most dramatic change from how she behaves when the story started. In contrast, Munro uses the gun to symbolize shame. The narrator quotes “I shot two rabid wolves who…

    • 1175 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics