Religious Elements In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor is a short story that depicts a family's vacation to Florida that turned into an abysmal tragedy when they met with the Misfit, a convict who escaped from prison. This story is meant to be interpreted as a parable, whereby O'Connor made skilful use of symbolism to bring about messages such as the class-consciousness and the lack of spiritual faith that exist amongst human.

Violence and the indefinable definition of a “good man” are two major themes utilized by O’Connor throughout the short story. Violence is a huge factor across America as much as it was when “A Good Man is Hard To Find” was published. Although during those times most individuals were against violence and murder and reacted negatively. People during those times reacted negatively and believed those who committed crimes should be sentenced to death or to cruel punishment. In the short story,

A grandmother and her family planned a trip to Florida and on their trip to Florida, the grandmother convinces her son to take a small detour. On the way there, the grandmother's smuggled cat jumps out and attaches itself to her son's shoulder, resulting them to crash into a ditch. There the family meets the criminal, the Misfit, and his crew. The Misfit has his crew kill the grandmother's family as the grandmother tries to sway the Misfit's decision of killing her. In her last attempt, the Misfit kills her. In O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the Misfit is an unlikely savior to the grandmother. The Misfit shows himself as an unlikely savior through his lack of faith, his and the grandmothers contrasting yet similar personalities, in the final moment of before and after the grandmother's death.

Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, is tale about a grandmother who unknowingly steers her family to a fatal meeting with a fugitive. The chance encounter with the murderous fugitive ultimately costs the grandmother and her family their lives. Sticking with the Southern Gothic genre, O’Connor takes odd characters and mixes in dark encounters to produce a story packed full of hidden meanings and foreshadowing (Language and Literature, 2). At first glance, it seems easy to identify the character that represents evil in the story, the murderous outlaw. However, things are not always, what they seem; a closer look will reveal that the murder might not be the evilest character in the story.

Religion is man’s answer to the question why are we here. People devote themselves to their God or gods, finding purpose and meaning through their faith. In Flannery O’Connor’s Good Country People and A Good Man Is Hard to Find there are several characters who have found their faith and purpose in it, but there are also a few who still are lost. To hide their disbelief in God Manley Pointer and The Misfit created a set of polite mannerisms to fool other people. It is when these polite speeches break that one realizes that the human mind is hard wired to believe only what it can see, but a faith in the unseen is necessary to live a purposed life.

The story begins by introducing the grandmother, who is trying to convince her son, Bailey and his family to not go to Florida for their vacation, but to Tennessee instead. She gives them reasons to not go including, news of a murderer en route to Florida as well. The family ignores her pleas and they all go to Florida the next day. The family members do not seem to care at all about the grandmother. She tries to engage the children in various ways and they

Character Analysis of Misfits in “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” Flannery O'Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard To Find is a southern gothic style of literature with grotesque characters. This story by O’Connor takes place in the American south where the characters appear to be very normal but they have a very deep side hidden to them. The character, The Misfit, is a great example to the case.

In the short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Conner a Christian writer, uses the grandmother to try and convince a criminal named the Misfit to pray, in hopes that he would spare her life because of religion. She uses the Misfit as an example of evil, a man who has doubts in Jesus which ultimately makes him believe that there is no right from wrong and no real purpose in life. O’Conner uses spiritual challenge and desperation to expose the religious flaws in the characters.

O’ Connor’s “A good man is hard to find” is a short story about a grandmother who causes her family to get into a car accident and end up in a deadly predicament with, The Misfit, who had escaped from the federal pen. The characters are clear, with both motivation and credibility. O’Connor’s use of third person is brilliant, even though there’s one weakness with the point of view. The theme is enlightening; changing from evil to good. Not only is this short story enlightening, but it is also entertaining and keeps the attention of the reader throughout the entire story.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” is one of the most well-known Southern Gothic writings that convenes strange events, unusual characters and honored the time of Southern America depicting how life was. Throughout the story, O’Connor infuses elements of the Catholic faith

The story starts off with the old lady’s grandchildren, John Wesley and June Star, ridiculing her as she tries to persuade the family into traveling to Tennessee to visit her connections but instead the family wants to travel to Florida. The Grandmother attempts to convince her son Bailey into taking the

“You’re The Misfit!” she said. “I recognized you at once!” “Yes’m,” the man said, smiling slightly as if he were pleased in spite of himself to be known, “but it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn’t of reckernized me” (O’Connor 575). That is when the family’s road trip to Florida takes a turn for the worst.“A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a short story of a psychologically troubled young adult who seeks revenge on an innocent family. The Misfit is a character who has a great deal of psychological symbolism, who may have had childhood problems, and a character who has questionable moral truths.

In the story, A Good Man Is Hard to Find from Flannery O’Connor tell a story with varies characters: The Grandmother, The Misfit, Bailey, John Wesley, June Star, Red Sammy Butts, Bobby Lee, and Hiram. The story seems to be told in a gothic genre that includes most of the times include insanity or murder stories. O’Connor seems to be describing his life and the concept of what really makes a “good” person has been the subject throughout the story. However, in the case of O’Connor’s the main character, the grandma somehow struggles knowing the qualities of a good person from other people and herself. And O’Connor also uses flashback to explore what they mean by being a good person. However, the only person that appears to be a good person in the person the grandma becomes through the struggles she has with the Misfit. Overall, O’Connor he seems to be the only thing in the conflict is the “good” can be found. He also explains no matter how nice you might be, when you find evil people there's no way to run away from death.

In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, a family is the South are on a road trip when they get in a severe accident. The family, consisting of the mother, father, two daughters, son, and grandmother, end up meeting the Misfit, an escaped convict. At first, they did not know until the grandmother, a stubborn old lady, pointed it out who he was. After her stating who he was, the rest of the family was killed off while the grandmother had pleaded only for her life to the Misfit. The whole family was killed off because of the grandmother being so stiff-necked. Both the Misfit and grandmother show their beliefs, which are profoundly different. The grandmother and the Misfit both had beliefs but the way each one valued and committed to the beliefs was a contrast to the other.

O’Connors, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a story about faith, sin, forgiveness, peace, and finding grace in the eyes of god. Using grotesque characters and placing them in violent circumstances with seemingly innocent people O’Conner may desire to assault our consciousness but I believe that I can make a better argument than one based on religion.