Flannery O Connor's The Good Man Is Hard To Find

Two more pertinent points are made by the author, in regards to the grandmother, follow in quick succession; both allude to further yet-to-be seen gloom within the story. O’Connor writes of the grandmother “[s]he didn’t intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might brush against one of the gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself” (1043) and of the way she is dressed “[i]n case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (1043). These two observations are innocent enough on the surface but provide true intent on the foreshadowing that O’Connor uses throughout the story. It is these two devices, irony and foreshadowing, that I feel are prominent and important aspects of the story and are evidenced in my quest to decipher this story.

She intentionally lies about the house having a secret panel just to get the kids interest so that Bailey would be more likely to stop and visit. The grandmother is also portrayed as being very loud and outgoing. When the family stops at the restaurant, she carries on a conversation with a complete stranger. She also wants to get up and dance.

In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor starts out by giving a look at a dysfunctional family on a vacation, but ultimately, gives insight into ourselves as well as the nature of good and evil, how they can clash, and how they can co-exist, even in the same person. The setting, which plays a critical role in this short story because the grandmother shows her selfish wants and views on people and society and believes that things were much better in her early years. As the story unfolds the setting provides insights to the where the dysfunctional family will eventually meet their doom, which is

The story “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor published in 1955, is a very interesting story about a family father with two kids and their grandmother, planning on taking a road trip. The father decided that they will go to one place and the grandmother decides that she has a better and safe place for them to go which is her hometown Tennessee to change the family mind to not go their destination but instead goes to hers, she tell them family a scary situation that might occur in order for them to reconsidered. In the short story " A Good Man Is Hard To Find", Flannery O'Conner uses characterization, setting and plot to reveal the negative aspects of human behavior

     One of the most important scenes in the story takes place in the vehicle. The grandmother spots an old family graveyard that once belonged to a plantation. She tells the children that the graves

The grandmother hid her cat in a basket, which she puts in the car with her on the day of the trip. The grandmother wears a floral hat and dress, because if she were to get into a car accident people would know she is “a lady”. The two kids June Star and John Wesley clearly dislike their grandmother, it is very clear because they often make remarks to suggest this. The family makes their way through Georgia and they Grandma reminisces about an old suitor she had back in the day when the family passes

From the time they all got in the car to the time they got out, all the grandmother did was talk. She was trying to talk her way to Tennessee and she talked her way into them detouring to go see some house that the grandmother

In the beginning, the grandmother is reading the newspaper where she then learns about the Misfit who escaped prison. The grandmother says, “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscious if it did” (O’Connor 485). This quote foreshadows as the accident happened with her guidance on the road it is what led them to steer off the main road. They were on and into the arms of who they call the Misfit and his

As the family is driving along, the grandmother awakens from a nap and recalls “an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady” (189). This recollection happens while the family is driving through the town of Toomsboro, GA. The grandmother is extremely manipulative and selfish and coaxes the family into visiting the old plantation by lying to them with the possibility of finding hidden treasure. The name of the town is only a slight indication of the terrible tragedy that is yet to come. It is no

She concludes that Florida is where they are going and there is no open discussion to it. She accepts the reality to it and decides to amend to it. Stuck in her ways she decides to make up a make-believe story about an old plantation with a “secret panel” and speaks highly of the destination. even though she is aware of her lie, she states that it will be educational for the children. Bailey breaks through and accepts her request and detours back to a mysterious dirt road. The road was so desolate and fear arises of the unknown. Bailey states, “This place had better turn up in a minute” “or I’m going to turn around” (449). The uncertainty that it appeared that no recent travel had taken place in this road, brings guilt to the grandmother’s conscious of the lie she had made up. O’Connor utilizes the presence of the cat at the time that the story takes a twist. Although the color of the cat is not mentioned, the presence of a black cat is a symbolic for bad news. The happenings always re-track to the protagonist, Due to her conniving manipulative and fibbering

Next, self-conception is introduced into the story because the grandmother gets into the car with the family wearing a hat. The grandmother wants everyone to know, if

Soon after a car pulled up to the scene with three guys who stepped out. Taking a minute to stare at the family down into the ditch, they began communicating. The children were in shock from being involved in this bizarre accident, only able to shout at the guys that they have just been in an accident. The grandmother still in a frenzy gathering her thoughts together blurted out ‘We rolled over twice’ but then the older guy corrected her saying he saw the accident (possibly from afar) and saw the car roll over ‘once’ he said. The unfortunate part of this predicament came as the grandmother studied the man a bit more. she seemed to recognize him so she begun to stare more intensely at his face as he spoke. She soon noticed that he was ‘The Misfit’ who had escaped from prison.

So they got on a dirt road that she thought would lead to her old house. This road was in very bad condition. You could tell nobody used it because of the holes and bumps and washouts. The grandmother had remembered that they were in

Ned arrived and lead me to the farm. Willie’s son, knew that this city girl had never driven the backwoods, he instructed me to follow him, I did, his driving in my opinion felt like I was in the "Indianapolis 500" with me in pursuit and barely keeping up. On the left, logging trucks fully loaded doing about 70 mph and little or no shoulder on the right, I was terror-stricken, thinking will I make it to the farm? Honestly, I had never driven on dirt roads, not like that, no less in a rent-a-car, in the backwoods of Mississippi. The final blow to this adventure in driving, crossing a wooden bridge, shaky at best, built

Everybody around the plantation just in a uproar, celebrating and getting all they stuff, what little it may be. But I can’t find momma. I see Ms. Ella so I walk up to her.