a good man is hard to find characterization essay

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Literary Critical Analysis Essay

Introduction, short summary of “a good man is hard to find”, “a good man is hard to find” theme analysis, “a good man is hard to find” character analysis: the grandmother, works cited.

The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” stands as the American Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor’s most disturbing work of fiction. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is the title work of O’Connor’s debut collection of short stories which appeared in 1955, and the piece remains her signature short story (Kinney 1).

The action of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” depicts a family vacation gone terribly awry. On a road trip to Florida a family from Atlanta encounter a homicidal escaped convict whom the media dubs The Misfit. The Misfit and his henchmen execute the entire family and steal their clothes, car and cat. O’Connor tells the story from the point of view of the grandmother.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” centers upon two themes: selfishness, and individualism. Essentially the grandmother’s insistence on achieving her own selfish ends results in the death of her entire family, as well as the loss of her own life. This essay analyzes the story’s thematic message in regards to selfishness, individualism and its effect on the family as well as the larger community, as represented by The Misfit.

O’Connor identifies the main character – the grandmother – only by role, while all of the other character she provides with names. Despite having no name the grandmother’s character reveals itself early and profoundly; she is obsessed with appearances, connected to a vague Southern past, and concerned with propriety and the value of being a lady.

O’Connor describes her “navy blue straw sailor hat,” her “collars and cuffs [that] were white organdy trimmed with lace” and “purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet” that the grandmother pins at her neckline to ensure that “in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (O’Connor 2).

Behavior wise the grandmother is a selfish woman who deliberately manipulates her family to suit her own purposes unapologetically and with impunity.

She intentionally misinforms her son Bailey about her cat, Pitty Sing, which she smuggles into the car underneath her “big black valise that looked like the head of a hippopotamus,” even though Bailey has expressly forbid the cat to share the motel room with them (O’Connor 1). Pitty Sing later brings about the deaths of the whole family following the car accident and ensuing encounter with The Misfit.

The grandmother’s pride and inflated sense of self importance, not to mention her failing memory, bring about the family’s downfall. Upon waking up from a nap in the car, the grandmother claims to remember a plantation house from her youth. Even though she knows that her son Bailey “would not be willing to lose any time looking at an old house…the more she talked about it, the more she wanted to see it once again and find out if the little twin arbors were still standing” (O’Connor 5).

Her son’s reluctance, in her mind, remains a simple obstacle to overcome in her desire to get things done her way. Even though Bailey’s “jaw was as rigid as a horseshoe” in response to her goading, the grandmother does not relent (O’Connor 5).

Instead, she lies, and enlists the shrill support of her grandchildren: “There was a secret:-panel in this house,” she said craftily, not telling the truth but wishing that she were, “and the story went that all the family silver was hidden in it when Sherman came through but it was never found” (O’Connor 5). Having stirred the children’s imagination, the grandmother lies again – “It’s not far from here, I know,” the grandmother said. “It wouldn’t take over twenty minutes” (O’Connor 5). The fact is she doesn’t know.

She has no idea where they are. It is not until they are hopelessly lost on the dirt road that “looked as if no one had traveled on it in months” that the grandmother’s “horrible thought” reminds her that the plantation house in question does not exist in the state of Georgia, but in Tennessee, though she is too full of pride to admit this to her son (O’Connor 6) And the wild goose chase that she leads her family on, again, for selfish purposes, leads them to their doomful meeting with The Misfit.

Similarly, the strident individualism that propels the grandmother’s fateful actions manifests itself squarely in the character of The Misfit. The Misfit, like the grandmother, focuses exclusively on himself and employs the other people around him as pawns meant to achieve his own selfish needs and wants (Hooten 198).

The objectification of others – in the case of the grandmother this means the objectification of her own family – results in an overall loss of cohesiveness, wherein “community holds no value” (Hooten 198). Set adrift, peripatetic and aimlessly moving from one empty community to another, “The Misfit exemplifies this void [as] the lost individual who relates to the community through constantly shifting roles” (Hooten 198). Like the grandmother, he takes what he needs in order to get what he wants, and then moves on.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” also treats individualism through the lens of identity. We see clearly that The Misfit shares Bailey’s ire at the senseless grandmother’s shriek “You’re The Misfit!” she said. “I recognized you at once!” “Yes’m,” the man said…”But it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn’t of reckernized me.” Bailey turned his head sharply and said something to his mother that shocked even the children.

The old lady began to cry and The Misfit reddened” (O’Connor 8). When The Misfit’s fellow criminal Bobby Lee returns from the woods with Bailey’s yellow shirt full of parrots, a moment happens wherein The Misfit, by donning the dead man’s attire, acquires his identity for a moment (Gresham 18). He, like Bailey, views the grandmother’s idiotic obsession with decorum as “selfish, superficial, and condescending,” yet unlike Bailey, he remains free to take action to condemn her (Kinney 1).

The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” represents Flannery O’Connor’s concern that selfishness and rampant individualism casts people apart and promotes the disenfranchisement of characters such as The Misfit, who invariably end up as “self-focused wanderers without community who use others as means to their own ends” (Hooten 197).

Very little difference exists between the character of the grandmother and the character of The Misfit, aside from their social viability. Both remain selfish and extreme individualists, who will lie, steal, manipulate and murder to affect their own ends. In Flannery O’Connor’s hands, this selfishness and individualism collides at a disaster point and initiates the deaths of five innocent people. Worse, the instigator of their murder is one of their own.

Gresham, Stephen. “Things Darkly Buried: In Praise of A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Shenandoah 60.1-2 (2010): 17-18. Web.

Hooten, Jessica. “Individualism in O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find.” The Explicator 66.4 (2008): 197-198. Web.

Kinney, Arthur F. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Overview.” Reference Guide to Short Fiction . Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. 1-2. Print.

O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing: Custom Edition. Eds. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2011. 1-12. Print.

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A Summary and Analysis of Flannery O’Connor’s ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ is one of the best-known short stories by Flannery O’Connor (1925-64), who produced a string of powerful stories during her short life. First published in the collection A Good Man Is Hard to Find in 1955, the story is about an American family who run into an escaped murderer at a plantation.

Before we offer an analysis of some of the key details of the story, here’s a brief summary of its plot.

Plot summary

The story is about a grandmother, her son named Bailey, Bailey’s wife, and the couple’s three children, named June Star, John Wesley, and simply ‘the baby’. The family are going on holiday to Florida. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother points out to her son that a notorious criminal, known as the Misfit, is on the loose and she doesn’t think they should be going on vacation to Florida when the Misfit is rumoured to be heading there.

On their way to their destination, the grandmother tells the children a story of how she was courted by a wealthy man who used to leave her a watermelon every day with his initials, E. A. T., inscribed in it. However, one day a black boy saw the word ‘EAT’ on the watermelon and ate it. This story amuses the children.

The family then stop off for lunch a barbecue diner, The Tower, run by a man named Red Sammy, who talks to the grandmother about the Misfit. It is Red Sammy who remarks, ‘A good man is hard to find’, in reference to the dangerous convict on the loose.

When the family get back on the road, the grandmother persuades her son to take a detour to a plantation she remembers from her youth. She embellishes the story by inventing details, such as the idea that a secret panel concealed the family silver in the house.

However, she has misremembered where the plantation is: Tennessee, rather than Georgia (where the family are). When the grandmother’s cat escapes from his basket and frightens Bailey, he crashes the car into a ditch.

Another car approaches them. It contains three men, one of whom the grandmother recognises as the notorious Misfit. He seems familiar to her, as though she has known him for years.

When she blurts out that she recognises him, the Misfit tells them that it would have been better if she hadn’t recognised him. He talks to the grandmother while his two accomplices lead Bailey into the woods and shoot him. They then do the same with Bailey’s wife and the children. The grandmother tries to flatter the Misfit into sparing her life, telling him that she knows he’s a good man, but to no avail.

The story ends with the grandmother addressing the Misfit as one of her own ‘babies’ or ‘children’; the Misfit shoots her dead. The Misfit has the final word, observing that the grandmother would have been a good woman if she had had someone there ‘to shoot her every minute of her life.’

The character of the grandmother is central to the dramatic power of ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’. The first two words of the story are ‘The grandmother’; the story begins with her warning her son about the escaped Misfit and ends with her being shot dead by the Misfit; the story opens with the third-person narrator’s reference to Bailey as the grandmother’s ‘only boy’ but ends with her addressing the Misfit as one of her ‘own children’.

And although ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ is narrated by an impersonal third-person narrator, in terms of the story’s focalisation we remain close to the grandmother’s perspective on events, seeing things through her eyes and gaining access to her thoughts and feelings as the story approaches its shocking and dramatic climax.

The skill of O’Connor’s writing lies in her ability to shuttle rapidly between comedic moments poking gentle fun at the grandmother and darker plot developments. The point is not that the shift between these two very different modes seems awkward or out of place, but that O’Connor lends the already shocking moments at the end of the story an even more alarming element, through juxtaposing them with lighter comic interludes.

A central theme of O’Connor’s story is, as the title makes clear, goodness: note how the grandmother and Red Sammy’s repeated references to a ‘good man’ meet their match in the Misfit’s statement at the end of the story that the grandmother would have been a ‘good woman’ if someone had been there to (threaten to) shoot her at all times.

This statement of the Misfit’s also highlights another theme O’Connor is exploring: that of crime and punishment. The Misfit tells the grandmother that the punishments he has undergone don’t match with the crimes he has committed. But the story contains a religious angle, too, as exemplified by the grandmother’s epiphany at the end of the story, in which – when confronted with her own imminent death – she reaches out and acknowledges her killer as one of her ‘children’.

This blessing is in stark contrast to the Misfit, who – in almost Dostoevskian fashion – characterises Christianity as a case of either giving up anything and following Christ or rejecting him and doing as one pleases. Anything – murder, burning down someone’s house – is permissible and constitutes the only true pleasure one can get from life.

The grandmother’s final act of blessing (forgiveness, or a last desperate attempt to save her own life?) raises this petty, racially prejudiced, and comical old woman far above the level of the nihilistic Misfit and all he represents.

Of course, it may also be significant that the Misfit – who was accused by one of the prison psychiatrists of killing his own father – personally kills the grandmother, who represents an old and outmoded America. Flannery O’Connor’s story is about a changing America, and the text is marked by the Grandmother’s continual reminiscences about a better, simpler life when she was younger.

The story’s title, taken from Red Sammy’s conversation with the Grandmother in which they lament that the world has become debased and degraded during their lifetimes, places this mood and tone at the centre of the story.

In this connection, the grandmother’s attitude towards African-Americans is already outdated, even in 1955 when the story first appeared.

Her racial stereotypes , such as associating African-Americans with watermelons, the offensive words she uses to describe the black boy they pass in the car, and her casual presumptions about the lives of black people all mark her out as a representative of an older American outlook which is about to be entirely laid to rest with the onset of the US Civil Rights movement. (The Montgomery Bus Boycott , for example, occurred at the end of 1955, the year the story appeared.)

Final thoughts

Viewed this way, ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ might be productively analysed alongside a another key American text from the 1950s: Tennessee Williams’ play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof , also from 1955, similarly deals with the generational gap between an older America and the younger Americans who represent a new attitude, especially regarding race.

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A Good Man is Hard to Find

Flannery o’connor, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Flannery O’Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Good Man: Introduction

Good man: plot summary, good man: detailed summary & analysis, good man: themes, good man: quotes, good man: characters, good man: symbols, good man: theme wheel, brief biography of flannery o’connor.

Historical Context of A Good Man is Hard to Find

Other books related to a good man is hard to find.

• Full Title: A Good Man is Hard to Find
• When Written: 1955
• Where Written: Milledgeville, GA
• When Published: 1955
• Literary Period: Southern Gothic
• Genre: Southern Gothic Short Story
• Setting: Twentieth Century Rural South
• Climax: The Grandmother reaches out and touches The Misfit, exclaiming, “You’re one of my own children,” and he shoots her three times.
• Antagonist: The Misfit
• Point of View: Third-person, mostly following the Grandmother

Extra Credit for A Good Man is Hard to Find

Fifteen Minutes of Fame. At the age of five, a photographer came to take photographs of one of O’Connor’s chickens, which she had taught to walk backwards. Film footage of this later made national newsreels.

Not Well Received. At ten years old, O’Connor began to write a series of sketches of her family members. Later in life, she described the collection, “My Relatives,” as “not well received.” Many of her family members were apparently displeased with how they were portrayed.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find Analysis: Essay Example & Summary

Are you about to write  A Good Man Is Hard to Find theme essay? Then, make sure to check this sample out! Here, you’ll find the story’s summary, moral lesson, themes, and other aspects of the analysis. Keep reading to get some inspiration for your A Good Man Is Hard to Find thesis! 

A great writer Flannery O’Connor has always been a central figure in American literature. Just like her colleague Nadine Gordimer, she covered the moral issues in her bizarre stories. Her short story A Good Man is Hard to Find provides a solid ground for literary analysis. Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find analysis will help you better grasp the story.

Introduction

A Good Man is Hard to Find appeared in 1955 and remains a widely-discussed story up till nowadays. Flannery O’Connor combined the most thoughts-provocative issues of that time in a short piece (Kinney 1). Although society has developed since then, people still deal with the problems mentioned by Flannery O’Connor. A Good Man is Hard to Find analysis will discuss two key themes of the story: selfishness and individualism.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Summary

A Good Man is Hard to Find is a tragic short story about a family. A grandmother, father, mother, and three kids are going to visit Florida. At first sight, they seem to be good country people. However, there are many pitfalls. Their older children – John Wesley and June Star – are very boorish and ignorant. The mother devotes herself to her kids, not having enough time to live a fulfilled life. The father seems to be annoyed by his children. Finally, the grandmother thinks only about herself, not paying enough attention to the family.

Despite the rumors about the escaped prisoner, The Misfit, the family goes on a trip. While on the way to Florida, the grandmom suddenly remembers an old plantation. Many years ago, she was astonished by its incredible beauty. So, she convinces Bailey, the father, to go off the road and visit that place. Being unsure if she is pointing in the right direction, the grandmother loses her control. As a result, she does not manage to hold her cat. It jumps on Bailey’s shoulder, causing a car accident.

Fortunately, everybody stayed alive. But then, the real troubles start. Trying to deal with the situation, the family hopes somebody will stop by them and offer help. Suddenly, the car appears on the road. The three men get out of the car, and the grandmom recognizes The Misfit among them. In desperate attempts to save her life, the grandmother tries to convince the criminal that he is a good man. She asks him to pray to become closer to Jesus. However, her effort is useless. Ultimately, The Misfit commands to kill all the family members and kills the grandmom himself. That is how dramatically the story ends. 

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Literary Analysis

Selfishness and individualism are the essential themes covered in the story A Good Man is Hard to Find . In the story, the grandmother prioritized her interests rather than the interest of her family. As a result, the tragic ending occurred to everybody. With the example of the grandmom, the author shows how the desire to achieve personal needs affects society.

Selfishness

The main character of the story – the grandmother – is an entirely selfish woman. Her selfishness reflects in the way she acts, the way she interacts with her family, and even in the way she dresses up.

The grandmother is always concerned about her appearance. She is obsessed with the idea of being a lady. So, she dresses up in elegant dresses and fancy hats. She hopes that “in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (O’Connor 2). Thus, she does not spend time with her grandchildren or help her daughter-in-law with household chores. Instead, the grandmother devotes all her time to herself, choosing appropriate dresses and hats.

Besides being ignorant, the grandmom is also a manipulative woman. She effectively manipulates her family members to suit her interests. For example, she takes her cat on a trip despite Bailey’s prohibition against doing that. She just thinks her cat would miss her if she left it alone at home. As a result, the cat becomes a cause of a terrible car crash.

Moreover, the grandmother manipulates her family to see a plantation she saw many years ago. After taking a nap in the car, she suddenly remembers a beautiful place she visited while young. She wants to recall these memories, so she urges her son to go off the road. The grandmother is sure that Bailey will not be willing to spend much time on an old plantation. Thus, she lies to her grandchildren’s children about a secret panel with plenty of silver in that house. The woman says: “It’s not far from here, I know. It wouldn’t take over twenty minutes” (O’Connor 5). In reality, she does not know for sure how long it would take to reach that place. However, her sense of self-importance makes her lie to her family. She manipulates her son to achieve the desired result.

Grandmom’s selfish purposes create dangerous circumstances for the family. Being under the pressure of his mother, Bailey follows her directions. As a result, they get into a car accident and meet The Misfit. 

Individualism

In addition to selfishness, the grandmother’s character traits also include individualism. In the story, the woman’s individualism is confronted with the individualism of the Misfit. Both characters achieve their own needs through surrounding people. They take whatever they need and move forward, not taking into consideration the needs of others. As a result of this behavior, the world becomes a place where “community holds no value” (Hooten 198).

Both the grandmom and The Misfit are predisposed to be humane. For example, the woman tries to convince the prisoner about the significance of spiritual values. Thus, she has a clear image of what kindness means. Similarly, The Misfit seems to be a well-behaved person from first sight. For instance, he apologizes for being dressed improperly. Nevertheless, in the inner battle of good and evil, evil wins in both characters. 

Therefore, individualism takes the upper hand in the character set of both: the grandmother and the Misfit. While being ignorant of other people, the woman and the criminal destroy society. Their individualistic nature becomes a real threat to the surrounding people. 

The analysis of A Good Man is Hard to Find reveals an intriguing aspect. The grandmother and The Misfit have very similar personalities. They both are ready to lie, manipulate, and murder to fulfill their desires.

A Good Man is Hard to Find essay covers Flannery O’Connor’s concern. The themes of selfishness and individualism worry the author. This issue is critical and should be dealt with immediately. If people keep being selfish individualists, the world will become a group of “self-focused wanderers without a community who use others as means to their own ends” (Hooten 197).

• Gresham, Stephen. Things Darkly Buried: In Praise of A Good Man Is Hard to Find. 2010, Shenandoah , 1-2: 17-18. Web.
• Hooten, Jessica. Individualism in O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find. 2008, The Explicator , 4: 197-198. Web.
• Kinney, Arthur F. A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Overview. 1994, Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press 1-2. Print.
• O’Connor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find. 2 011, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing: Custom Edition . X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 1-12. Print.

How do you start A Good Man Is Hard to Find analysis essay?

The best way to start an essay on A Good Man Is Hard to Find is to state a clear thesis statement. First, decide on the main points you are going to present. Then, develop a strong thesis, including those ideas. Put everything in words and impress your audience from the very beginning of your essay.

What is the main theme of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

A Good Man Is Hard to Find covers a lot of crucial issues. However, the central theme is the destructive nature of selfishness and individualism. Flannery O’Connor points out that these traits lead to the establishment of an immoral society.

How would you describe the grandmother in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

The grandmother is a woman from the Old South. She considers herself an elegant and graceful lady. In fact, she is a selfish, judgmental, and manipulative granny. She gets what she desires by disrespecting the people that surround her.

What is the message in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

Flannery O’Connor’s message is that human compassion and grace may change even the most ignorant person. It is best seen during the final encounter between the grandmother and The Misfit.

Is the Misfit a good man?

It is a controversial question, and the reader needs to decide for himself. On the one hand, The Misfit is a dangerous escaped convict. He does not feel responsible for his actions and does not believe in God. On the other hand, he compares himself to Jesus. The Misfit gets into a deep philosophical conversation with the grandmother.

What literary devices are used in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

A Good Man Is Hard to Find is full of literary devices. The author uses symbolism, irony, foreshadowing, and philosophical thoughts that awaken conversations. These literary devices help the reader understand the story’s moral and experience it better.

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Essays on A Good Man is Hard to Find

Our curated selection of essay samples on "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" offers a wide range of perspectives on this seminal work. Each essay provides unique insights into the story's rich tapestry of characters, from the morally complex Grandmother to the enigmatic Misfit, whose interactions prompt readers to question the nature of true goodness and grace.

Themes Explored in Depth

Dive into essays that meticulously analyze the story's central themes, including the moral dilemmas faced by the characters, the role of grace and redemption, and the profound commentary on the human condition. Understand how O'Connor employs her narrative to challenge and redefine the concept of a "good" person in the context of her Southern Gothic setting.

Literary Devices and Symbolism Uncovered

Flannery O'Connor's use of literary devices and symbolism is pivotal to the depth and resonance of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Our essay samples explore how irony, foreshadowing, and vivid imagery enhance the narrative's impact, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of O'Connor's storytelling prowess.

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Analysis of The Role of Grandmother in a Good Man is Hard to Find

A look at the family setting in the book, a good man is hard to find, flannery o'connor's view of the representation of fallacy behind uprightness as depicted in his story, a good man is hard to find, agent of grace in flannery o'connor's "a good man is hard to find", analysis of dysfunctional family in o’connor's story, gothic elements in "a good man is hard to find" and "the lottery, time flies: or how hospitable the south is, analysis of differences in "a rose for emily" and "a good man is hard to find", human imperfection in o'connor and marquez's tales, evaluation of a good man is hard to find vs. cathedral, pride goes before the fall: analysis of a good man is hard to find and the necklace, humanity in "a good man is hard to find", the theme of religion in o'connor's works, the essence of man in o'connor's story, morality in in flannery o'connor's a good man is hard to find, a good man is hard to find and the lottery: symbolism and irony, a good man is hard to find: symbolism of redemption, a good man is hard to find: symbolism and theme of violence, character analysis: the grandmother and anders.

Flannery O'Connor

Short Story, Southern Gothic

Bailey, Bailey's wife, Grandmother, John Wesley, June Star, The Baby, Red Sammy Butts, Red Sammy's Wife, The Misfit, Hiram, Bobby Lee, Edgar Atkins Teagarden, Pitty Sing, Gray Monkey, The Negro child

Relevant topics

• The Things They Carried
• A Modest Proposal
• Catcher in The Rye
• Lord of The Flies
• The Hate U Give
• A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings
• A Farewell to Arms
• Bleak House
• A Hunger Artist

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