The characters in William Faulkner’s writings were affected by the Southern social classes. “Faulkner’s story, the one story he has to tell, is the his-story of the South into which he was born and which, in turn, has lived in his bones and words.” (Friedman) Old, new and reconstructed South; if it had anything to do about the South, Faulkner would write about it. Not many other writers understood the Southern social class like Faulkner did. When reading William Faulkner’s writings you most always find a Southern theme. You can see the theme of the South in individuals, social classes, groups and in families. The classic struggle of the privileged and the underprivileged.…
Gothic literature has been around for centuries (starting roughly around the 1760’s). They consist of darker elements, typically incorporating the supernatural, grotesque violence and the madness of others. As well as using the imagination to create a very vivid and lively story that grips the reader. Its elements can be seen in present day novels.…
The title of the story is "A good man is hard to find". This relates to the story's theme because ever so unluckily, they encountered one of the worst men out there. The men they encountered decided not to help them fix their car at all, but instead they were merely blood thirsty killers. Even as the family pleaded with the misfit convict to spare them their lives, he showed no signs of…
A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor is taken place in 1953 in Tennessee. The story revolves around a family of seven who are taking a vacation to Florida. Unfortunately for the family, a familiar criminal who calls himself the Misfit has absconded the penitentiary and is also heading for Florida. The author apprises the majority of her story through the grandmother’s eyes. Everything the audience learns about the characters are absorbed from the grandmother and her own opinions. O’Connor uses different forms of pathos, logos, and ethos to tell the story to the audience.…
American gothic literature is known for its focus on the capacity for human evil. While gothic literature has that central idea different authors interpret human evil in different ways. For instance Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher is a fine example of the common gothic traits of insanity and human corruption. Poe’s tone of doom and fear controlling and affecting every aspect of a person’s life is best illustrated when examining the imagery and character traits he uses.…
Gothic fiction is one of the most intriguing and captivating, if not most popular, literary genres for a reason. Branded mainly by the elements of fear, horror, death, and gloom, this style of writing, whose name derives from the dark and decaying gothic architecture and art, is also rich in romantic elements, such as nature, individuality, and sentiment. Originated in England in the second half of the 18th century, the gothic fiction has spread its popularity across continental Europe by the end of the century, reaching as far as Russia. However, it took almost a century for the literary genre to reach its peak, not in Europe, but in North America, through the works that have become known as the American gothic fiction. The uniqueness of this…
Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner were authors who wrote in the style of Southern Gothic. Southern Gothic is “a style of writing practiced by many writers of the American South whose stories set in that region are characterized by grotesque, macabre, or fantastic incidents.”…
Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a very interesting short story. The story starts with a grandmother trying to talk his son into going to Tennessee instead of Florida for a family trip. She tells the son about The Misfit who escaped prison who is going toward Florida. The family disagrees with the grandmother and they end up going to Florida. On their way the grandmother tells the kids about a house with a secret panel in Georgia they will be passing. They beg the dad to go to the house, so the dad goes down the dirt road heading toward the house. The cat jumps out scaring the dad causing them to get in an accident. The Misfit and two other men that escaped prison him run into the family. They kill the family one by one. As the grandmother is the last living member of the family she begs The Misfit not to kill her, he shoots her three times in the chest. The three men drive away.…
Flannery O’ Connor’s “Good country people” is certainly a southern gothic for numerous reasons. The characters in this story were eerie in a subtle way, none being above the man named Manley Pointer. Two characters that seemed disturbed are Mrs. Freeman and Joy, who legally changed her name to Hulga. Many of the depicted topics are unpleasant, such as the loss of a limb or keeping track of vomiting. This text provides macabre histories of many characters, most of them have some tragic event in their pasts or faces a grizzly end. Alongside the previous evidence are diseases or disabilities being an inhibitor towards some of the character’s desires. Based on the available descriptions, these reasons are key in a southern Gothic fictional tale.…
There are many books and stories that fall under the genre of gothic literature. Then there is the southern gothic genre which has its own qualifications. The stories, “A Rose for Emily,” “The Book of the Grotesque,” “Good Country People,” and “Paper Pills” all meet the qualifications to be categorized as southern gothic pieces of literature. Now the question rises, “what makes these stories southern gothic”? All four of these stories use different southern gothic conventions. In the story, “A Rose for Emily,” the decay of characters and the setting acts as a southern gothic convention. In the story, “Good Country People,” the idea of macabre is a southern gothic convention. In the story, “The Book of the Grotesque,” grotesque itself acts as…
American Literature shaped the Southern Gothic Genre by exploring the south and criticizing the moral blindness of the south. Disturbed personalities, macabre situations, and moral blindness are the traits of the Southern Gothic Genre. A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor, The Possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson, and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner had held the traits of Southern Gothic Literature. Southern Gothic is portrayed through the character and situations within the stories.(Work on)…
The plot of "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a horror story of a family’s vacation to Florida. There are many ways to go about writing a plot. The plot in this story was almost written…
Flannery O’Connor is known for her grotesque tales, and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is no exception. The story follows a family’s journey to Florida and their encounter with a wanted criminal, the Misfit. The Grandmother lies and leads the family to a plantation with a secret panel. However, the plantation she remembers is in Tennessee and not in Georgia. While the family drives through the woods, the Grandmother comes to this realization and startles Bailey, the driver, which causes him to wreck the car. A passing car stops by the accident, but unfortunately it is the Misfit and his henchmen. The Misfit orders his henchmen to take the family out into the woods and shoot them one by one. The Grandmother is the last remaining…
This was one of the best short stories I have ever read. A good man is hard to find required me to think critically and to ask questions. This short story was about a family who decided to take a family vacation. Many families take vacations to get along with one another and to create family memories. This family was hoping to accomplish this very goal. They make a pit stop to feed the family. While at the restaurant, the staff and the family were gossiping about the misfit who broke out of jail. This misfit would be the very reason this family doesn’t get the opportunity to enjoy the vacation because he murders each family member in cold blood after the vehicle crashed off the road. Is the misfit the wrongful character in this story? Or were the events leading up to the crash result in the death of this family?…
“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor has been one of the most interesting stories I have ever come across. The story revolves around a family who decide to go on a vacation to Florida, toting along their grandmother. Along the way, the family encounters ‘The Misfit,’ a runaway criminal. O’Connor writes the characters of the grandmother and The Misfit, who at first glance seem so different from each other, yet throughout the short story, share underlying similarities.…