Literary Analysis of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” In her short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Conner uses many literary devices to tell a fictional tale of a horrid family who sets out on a road trip to Florida like they had many times before. Only this time they have a run-in with an escaped convict who is in conflict with his predetermined fate. Ultimately, he will be the one who teaches the family a life lesson. One theme of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is to expose the very ugliness of human nature and the degradation of society over time. The theme is supported through characterization and plot by presenting the questionable morality of the characters actions in this short story. O’Conner characterizes the family as
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In the beginning of the short story, the author describes grandmother standing over her son who was reading the orange sports section of the “Journal”. The quote, “Now look here,”, “See here, read this”, are both commands (O’Conner 4). O’Conner also mentions grandmother’s body language as having her hand on her hip to back up the grandmother’s tone of voice. This demonstrates a bit of an overbearing side to the grandmother. Her purpose for ordering her son around was her relentless attempt to sway him into taking the children to Tennessee instead of Florida. After reading the morning paper, she feared they would run into the escaped misfit (he had just escaped from Florida’s federal penitentiary). Her son, Bailey does not respond and completely ignores her. This indirectly characterizes a pushy side of the grandmother and the utter lack of disrespect Bailey has for …show more content…
The conversation between Red Sam and the grandmother in the diner forms a portion of the theme. They support each other’s beliefs that people have less trust worthy and lack disrespect for others. This supports a theme of degradation of society over time. When many families are broken, it becomes bigger than just one family. Future generations and interactions with people become less conscience of the feelings of others. Could we learn a lesson from this family? Yes, not to allow our human nature to take our appreciation of life and happiness
In the beginning of the short story, the author describes grandmother standing over her son who was reading the orange sports section of the “Journal”. The quote, “Now look here,”, “See here, read this”, are both commands (O’Conner 4). O’Conner also mentions grandmother’s body language as having her hand on her hip to back up the grandmother’s tone of voice. This demonstrates a bit of an overbearing side to the grandmother. Her purpose for ordering her son around was her relentless attempt to sway him into taking the children to Tennessee instead of Florida. After reading the morning paper, she feared they would run into the escaped misfit (he had just escaped from Florida’s federal penitentiary). Her son, Bailey does not respond and completely ignores her. This indirectly characterizes a pushy side of the grandmother and the utter lack of disrespect Bailey has for …show more content…
The conversation between Red Sam and the grandmother in the diner forms a portion of the theme. They support each other’s beliefs that people have less trust worthy and lack disrespect for others. This supports a theme of degradation of society over time. When many families are broken, it becomes bigger than just one family. Future generations and interactions with people become less conscience of the feelings of others. Could we learn a lesson from this family? Yes, not to allow our human nature to take our appreciation of life and happiness