Characterization of The Grandmother and the Misfit in A Good Man is Hard to Find

A detailed Summary of Characterization of The Grandmother and the Misfit in A Good Man is Hard to Find

The Characterization of the Grandmother and the Misfit

In the first paragraph of Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man Is Hard to

Find", the grandmother is introduced trying to change a planned family trip to Florida

with her son, Bailey and his family. It is the night before the trip, and grandmother is

"seizing at every chance to change Bailey's mind." (p.465). The grandmother is the

central character of the story, and the family is rather a bland, generic family. The

children are portrayed as disrespectful brats, but are a humorous aspect to the story. The

family is a typical nuclear family of the fifties, who appear to be disconnected not only to

each other, but also to any form of family values.

In the first paragraph, grandmother introduces us to the character, the Misfit, as she

reads from the newspaper, "Here is this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose

from the Federal pen and headed toward Florida". She is trying to manipulate the plans of

the trip by pointing this out to her son, Bailey. "Bailey didn't look up from his reading so

she wheeled around then and faced the children's mother,". This is the first introduction

to the mother in the story, who appears throughout the s

Georgia, but Tennessee, she is so embarrassed she upsets her hiding cat, Pitty Sing, who

sun." :The spiritual emptiness of the grandmother is felt in these words. The fact that the

pass a a black child standing in a the door of a shack (467). When it comes to the racism

lady), and so in this way is a good man. Here is the paradox of the story, finding

that is the heart of this story (476-477). He has revealed to the grandmother that he was

Star and John Wesley, as they challenge her to stay home if she wants to. The children's

Throughout the story, the grandmother rambles on about the sites to the family, who

Approximate Word count = 1019
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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