A Good Man is Hard to Find Analysis The battle between good and evil can be found throughout all of human history, but what is a “good person”? Is it someone who gives to others, or someone who has compassion for all? Is it possible for criminals to be “good”? Questions like these have started endless debates on what a “good person” is. In the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor enters the debate by using irony to illustrate what constitutes a “good person”.Throughout the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the grandmother sees herself as a “good person”. The grandmother is characterized as “good” by saying things like “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t
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This adds to the irony of the story because the grandmother was supposed to symbolize “good” people in society. Yet it took a gun being held to her head, and her entire family being killed for her to finally realize that even she was flawed. Meaning she is no better or worse than anyone else. O’Connor then goes on to depict the grandmother as a “good” person though her actions. The grandmother acts like a “good” person on the road by “...would not let the children throw the box and the peanut butter napkins out the window” (O’Connor 140). This shows the grandmother is a “good” person because she protects the environment by not allowing the children to litter. By not allowing the children to throw out their trash the grandmother is being a “good” person by O’Connor’s standards because she has morals, and is caring about more than just herself and what is easy for her. This action could also be tied back to respect. So by holding onto the trash she is respecting both the environment and the people living in that community. This is later ironic because the grandmother is later found when “Lee returned from the woods and stood over the ditch, looking down at the grandmother who half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood.” (O’Connor 152). The grandmother dying in a ditch is ironic because ditches usually have a negative connotation associated with them, and are seen as dirty and full of trash. The irony is very clear because earlier in the
This adds to the irony of the story because the grandmother was supposed to symbolize “good” people in society. Yet it took a gun being held to her head, and her entire family being killed for her to finally realize that even she was flawed. Meaning she is no better or worse than anyone else. O’Connor then goes on to depict the grandmother as a “good” person though her actions. The grandmother acts like a “good” person on the road by “...would not let the children throw the box and the peanut butter napkins out the window” (O’Connor 140). This shows the grandmother is a “good” person because she protects the environment by not allowing the children to litter. By not allowing the children to throw out their trash the grandmother is being a “good” person by O’Connor’s standards because she has morals, and is caring about more than just herself and what is easy for her. This action could also be tied back to respect. So by holding onto the trash she is respecting both the environment and the people living in that community. This is later ironic because the grandmother is later found when “Lee returned from the woods and stood over the ditch, looking down at the grandmother who half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood.” (O’Connor 152). The grandmother dying in a ditch is ironic because ditches usually have a negative connotation associated with them, and are seen as dirty and full of trash. The irony is very clear because earlier in the