Why The Grandmother In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor, the grandmother is a lady who believes that she is morally superior to others. The grandmother believes that she is a good Christian lady and that there are not that many good people around anymore. She is closed minded, selfish, and not very self-observant. Whenever there is an opportunity to criticize someone or something the grandmother takes it. She has her own definition of good, a way of how things should be done, and expects the world to meet her expectations. The story revolves around the grandmother, and in the end, the closed minded woman is fatally brought to reality.
In the beginning of the story, the grandmother is trying to convince her son Bailey to go to Tennessee instead of to Florida for a family trip. The grandmother tries to convince Bailey by telling him “it’s a man that escaped from a federal penitentiary is on the loose and headed towards Florida”. She doesn’t really care about her family’s safety. The first and second line of the story state, “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee”. So she only act concerned and suggest that they shouldn’t go because she wants to go to Tennessee. When Bailey and his wife don’t pay her any mind, she …show more content…
Although the Misfit states, “Nome, I ain’t a good man” The grandmother believes that since he appears to have “common blood” that the Misfit must have good morals. This is an assumption that she has created about a certain type of people. She tries to plea to a man whose conscience doesn’t exist. When the grandmother finally realizes that her beliefs about the man are not true, it is too late. The grandmother has a reality check right before her death. She realizes that her definition of a good man is meaningless and that everybody isn’t the way that she believes that they should