A Good Man Is Hard To Find Novel
Uploaded by surfchick on Feb 20, 2005
A Good Man Is Hard To Find
In Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find the contrast of good and evil is not as evident as it appears. The road on which the family in the story travels symbolizes good until the family makes a detour onto a dirt road that leads to their demise. Grandmother is the reason for the detour. She is the unlikely antagonist. A serial killer named, The Misfit, is the protagonist despite his homicidal actions. Both characters help illustrate how a relationship with God is good and sac religious behavior is evil.
The Grandmother leads the family down the dirt road by enticing the children with stories of a plantation she visited in her youth. "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..." Grandmother lets her nostalgic thoughts lead her, and her family to doom. Once on the dirt road, the family has an accident, another situation that was spurred by Grandmother. Grandmother's cat startled Bailey and the car ran into a ditch. Grandmother knew she had been the cause of her family's predicament. "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 was that the house she has so vividly remembered was not in Georgia but in Tennessee." Though the events seem coincidental, they were indeed for a specific purpose. The purpose...for God to reclaim what was rightfully his.
The family encounters The Misfit on their detour. The Misfit is wearing no shirt, which is a direct parallel to Grandmother whom had dressed in " collars and cuffs that were white organdy trimmed with lace" so that she could be identified as a lady "in case of an accident". "I'm sorry I don't have on a shirt before you ladies...". The Misfit explains for his appearance. He too, was going to do what he considered to be God's work. All during the ordeal, the Grandmother asked The Misfit to pray. "Do you ever pray?" she asked. She acted as if she...