Major Themes In "A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Major Themes In "A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O'Connor
The story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a grotesque yet intriguing story trademarked by a strong religious theme and Flannery O'Connor's use of vision and foreshadowing. The author's foreshadowing techniques and literary devices keep the reader immersed in the text, while the extremely different views of the grandmother and the Misfit on Christianity add a thought provoking, religious flair to the story. These two components make up a disturbing anecdote about an ordinary southern family's extraordinary struggle for their lives.
The vision of Flannery O'Connor is one that is unmatched in the literary world. Her creative foresight and Southern background allow her to create an interesting setting appealing to the reader. A prime example of her literary technique is when she has the grandmother reading the article about an escaped convict running away to Florida. "Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is a loose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people" (O'Connor 1). The grandmother goes on to insist the family should go on vacation to east Tennessee instead of Florida, and will not have it any other way. "The children have been to Florida before," the old lady said. "You all ought to take them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be broad. They never've been to east Tennessee" (2). This shows the grandmother's officious and manipulative character traits to the reader. This selection is also here to introduce the Misfit and keep the reader wondering about why this article was read, and if it means or foreshadows anything. Another point that exemplifies O'Connor's foreshadowing technique is when she expands on the grandmother's self-interest in her appearance, and ends with the quote, "In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady" (O'Connor 2). This presages that the grandmother's selfishness and imperfect character traits will come into play later in the story, and eventually bring her to her demise, foreshadowed by the mention of death in the quote. A third instance of foreshadowing is when Bailey, the father, turns the car around to go back to a...