A Good Man is HArd to Find

A detailed Summary of A Good Man is HArd to Find

In Flanney O'Conner's, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" a great deal of irony is used to express her views on how society and culture in the present day and how it has changed from the past. O'Connor used the family's grandmother as a key component in the story because of her personality and also because of her old age. She was able to show her feeling about the deterioration of respect for family and elders through the grandmother. The tale's idea explores into deeper things then just respect. As the story continues many spiritual observations are made and the regards to how the "old South" views on religion and "common blood" used to be.

The beginning of the story is an important part because the reader is first exposed to the idea that the grandmother is little respected or listened to by any of the family members. She begins by challenging the family against taking a trip to Florida, because she had just learned a crazed killer by the name of the Misfit who is on the run into that area. When this argument is brought forth to the family, "Bailey didn't look up from his reading, so she wheeled around then and faced the children's mother" (232) who also showed the same interest and respect as the father did. One important

The families encounter with Red Sammy serves as another outlet for O'Connor to express how trust and respect have begun to wear away. As Red and the grandmother began to discuss better times, they seem to be close in age relationship. Their discussion leads them to learn they both share the same views that modern life and society have been changing for the worse. Red Sammy explained, "A good man is hard to find. Everything is getting terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more" (235).

As the grandmother tries to plead with Misfit with the use of religion it can easily be seen that they are on two very different levels with concern to religion. The Misfit seems to have a much deeper understanding of religion and the spiritual aspects of life than the grandmother. As the two continue in conversation I believe that they both come to a type of understanding that the religious beliefs of yesterday are no match for the scientific context of the modern world. The grandmother responds in the only way she knows how to by clinging to her beliefs about "good blood" and men behaving as a gentleman would.

A perfect example of the situation which Red and the grandmother spoke about was when Red Sam's wife was admiring how cute June Star. When Red's wife joked and asked if she would like to come stay with her June snapped back with, "No, I certainly wouldn't. I wouldn't live in a broken-down place like this for a million bucks!" (235) At this point it is important once again to see how the parent's role is incorporated in the story. Not at any point where the children ever scolded or disciplined for their actions, they only sat back and ignored what was going on. The grandmother once again had to take it upon herself to scold June star for making such a rude comment to the woman.

Even with changing family styles, grandparents are a group of people who are usually admired and looked up to by family members, and a favorite of young children. The aspect of this story that made it even more powerful was the authors chose to include the children in playing a role that was much similar to their older counterparts

Some common words found in the essay are:
O'Conner's Hard, John Wesley, June Star, Star Red's, Red Sammy, Finally Bailey, Misfit Ironically, Pitty Sing, Red Sam's, june star, Let's Georgia, john wesley, common blood, grandmother tries, society culture, trip florida, red grandmother, life grandmother, red sammy, modern world,

Approximate Word count = 1467
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English