Ally V Professor Young English 10227 October 2019a Good Man

Ally Vprofessor Youngenglish 10227 October 2019a Good Man Is Hard To F

Ally Vprofessor Youngenglish 10227 October 2019a Good Man Is Hard To F

Ally V Professor Young English October 2019 A Good Man is Hard to Find Character Analysis The main focus of the story A Good Man is Hard to Find is the grandmother. The story centers around her viewpoints on different things that take place within the story. The story begins with a disagreement between the grandmother and the rest of the family. The dispute is about where to go on vacation. The grandmother wants to go to Tennessee, and the other members of the family want to head down to Florida.

The grandmother is worried about a man named The Misfit, an escaped prisoner in Florida she had heard about in the paper. "Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did." Despite the grandmother expressing her concerns and reading the family, the news article about The Misfit, the family chooses to ignore her fears and head on to Florida.

The second conflict that arises is a man vs. man conflict between the grandmother and her son Bailey. Another issue that comes up between them is the grandmother bringing her cat. "She had her big black valise that looked like the head of a hippopotamus in one corner, and underneath it, she was hiding a basket with Pitty Sing, the cat, in it. She 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 her gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself. Her son, Bailey, didn't like to arrive at a motel with a cat." This sparks problems within the family.

Bringing the cat is just one of the many issues that the grandmother causes that leads to more conflicts in the story. A perfect example of the grandmother causing more conflicts is the fact that the cat, Pitty Sing, will later cause the accident that leads to the family's death. "It's not much farther," the grandmother said, and just as she said it, a horrible thought came to her. The thought was so embarrassing that she turned red in the face and her eyes dilated and her feet jumped up, upsetting her valise in the corner. The instant the valise moved, the newspaper top she had over the basket under it rose with a snarl and Pitty Sing, the cat, sprang onto Bailey's shoulder.

The children were thrown to the floor and their mother, clutching the baby, was thrown out the door onto the ground; the old lady was thrown into the front seat. The car turned over once and landed right-side-up in a gulch off the side of the road. Bailey remained in the driver's seat with the cat gray-striped with a broad white face and an orange nose clinging to his neck like a caterpillar. As soon as the children saw they could move their arms and legs, they scrambled out of the car, shouting, "We've had an ACCIDENT!" The grandmother was curled up under the dashboard, hoping she was injured so that Bailey's wrath would not come down on her all at once. The horrible thought she had had before the accident was that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee." Another man vs. man conflict arises between the grandmother and The Misfit.

This is where the central battle begins. She has to face the Misfit, the escaped prisoner; When he confronts her with a gun, she struggles within herself to figure out what to say to save her life. The grandmother struggles to find the words to say. She kept repeating, "I know you're a good man. You don't look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people!" This quote shows the hypocrisy of the grandmother; she thinks down on everyone until someone confronts her. The Misfit sees how hypocritical the woman is and decides that he is willing to kill her even though she is an older woman. Which shows he has completely lost his humanity. He kills her in the end because she annoyed him. The grandmother did not change much over time.

She started the trip off in a negative manner, and that trip and her life ended negatively. She was also judgemental. An example of this is her calling a black child a racial slur. "Little niggers in the country don't have things like we do. If I could paint, I'd paint that picture," she said." This quote is a prime example of the grandmother's mean nature. This quote also helps us to understand how vital that setting is to the story. The grandmother is a combination of all the worst parts of the south. The story is set in a period that racism was thought of as just a part of life. That is why the setting is significant to the meaning of the story. The setting leads to the critical reading strategy that works best for this story.

Which is preview, the preview reading strategy is a strategy in which the reader will research the story before reading it. Previewing allows the reader to understand the dialogue and meaning behind the innuendos better. By previewing A Good Man is Hard to Find, the reader can see that the grandmother is a southern lady. She is a lady with high standards and a strict moral code because that is how women of the south were at that time. This is a crucial component of the story because it shows why the grandmother acts the way she does.

In the end, A Good Man is Hard to Find is a story about the south and the southern culture. That is why the grandmother is the main focus of the story; She is the epitome of a person of the south. Works Cited MEYER, MICHAEL. COMPACT BEDFORD INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE: Reading, Thinking, and Writing. BEDFORD BKS ST MARTINS, 2019.

Paper For Above instruction

Flannery O'Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a profound story that explores themes of morality, hypocrisy, and the cultural identity of the American South through its vivid characters and setting. Central to the narrative is the grandmother, whose personality and prejudices exemplify the traditional Southern Lady, embodying the values, biases, and moral divisions characteristic of the region during the mid-20th century. The story’s portrayal of her actions and worldview provides critical insight into the cultural fabric that shapes her identity and influences her interactions with others, ultimately culminating in the tragic ending of the story.

The grandmother's character is intricately developed through her interactions and thought processes. She is depicted as a woman obsessed with social status, appearance, and moral superiority. Her insistence on going to Tennessee over Florida reveals her desire to connect with the “old South” and its genteel traditions. Her concern about The Misfit, an escaped convict, exemplifies her tendency to judge and fear the external threats that threaten her perceived social order. Her reading of the newspaper about The Misfit, despite the family's dismissal of her warnings, underscores her instinct to prepare for danger based on her prejudiced worldview.

Furthermore, her relationship with her family highlights her manipulative and judgmental nature. Her insistence on bringing her cat, Pitty Sing, exemplifies her need to control and her lack of consideration for her family’s wishes. The incident where the cat causes the car accident illustrates how her stubbornness and interference directly lead to tragedy. This accidental death motif reflects her inability to adapt or accept reality, maintaining her own flawed moral compass until the story’s violent climax.

The climax of the story features her confrontation with The Misfit—a pivotal man vs. man conflict. Her attempt to appeal to his sense of morality by calling him a "good man" reveals her superficial understanding of goodness and morality. Her repeated declaration that she recognizes his “goodness” and her efforts to compare him to her ideal notion of a “good man” exemplify her hypocritical attitude. Her inability to recognize her own flaws and her blindness to her moral shortcomings make her vulnerable, culminating in her tragic death. Her death signifies her final escape from her hypocritical worldview, yet also symbolizes the fallibility and moral blindness endemic to her character.

O’Connor’s portrayal of the grandmother also highlights the racial and social attitudes prevalent in the Southern United States during her lifetime. Her racial slur against the Black child demonstrates her ingrained racism, a reflection of the societal norms of her time and setting. This aspect of her personality sheds light on the racial tensions and prejudices that undergird Southern identity, illustrating the moral decay hidden beneath her genteel exterior. The setting of the story—rural Georgia, characterized by old Southern traditions—further accentuates these themes and situates her behavior within a broader cultural context.

An important analytical approach for understanding “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the preview strategy. This involves researching and understanding the historical, cultural, and social background of the story before reading. By doing so, readers can appreciate the significance of the characters’ attitudes and actions, especially regarding race, class, and morality. Recognizing the story’s setting and social atmosphere enriches the reading experience, providing insights into the motivations behind the grandmother’s prejudiced worldview and her adherence to traditional Southern values. This contextual understanding is crucial for a deeper comprehension of the thematic elements in O’Connor’s work.

In conclusion, Flannery O'Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” functions as a critical exploration of Southern culture, morality, and hypocrisy through the character of the grandmother. Her personality, prejudices, and interactions illustrate the moral blindness and cultural tensions of her environment. The story’s tragic ending underscores the destructive consequences of such moral and social flaws, making it a compelling critique of the Southern identity that remains relevant to contemporary discussions of race, morality, and cultural heritage. The story emphasizes that true goodness is complex and cannot be superficial, encouraging readers to reflect on the moral shortcomings embedded in societal norms and individual characters.

References

• O’Connor, Flannery. (1953). “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” In The Complete Stories. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
• Bloom, Harold (Ed.). (2007). Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”: A Casebook. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Gordon, Lois. (2004). The Religious Imagination in Contemporary American Fiction. Cambridge University Press.
• Giles, Robert E. (2012). The Moral Vision of Flannery O’Connor. University of Georgia Press.
• Murphy, Patrick J. (2010). Flannery O’Connor: An Introduction. University of Georgia Press.
• Harris, Sharon. (2014). “Southern Gothic and Sacred Violence in Flannery O’Connor.” Journal of Southern Literature, 50(1), 25-44.
• Harpham, Geoffrey Galt. (1989). The Comic Idea and the Transformation of Modern America. University of Virginia Press.
• Carson, Anne. (1998). “The Little Girl in the Radiator: Race and Gender in the Fiction of Flannery O’Connor.” American Literature, 70(4), 635-652.
• Williams, Raymond. (1983). Cultural Theory: An Introduction. Harper & Row.
• Petry, Annette J. (2012). Race and Representations of Rural Life in the U.S. South. Journal of American Studies, 46(2), 291-309.