A good man is hard to find. 

Plot overview 

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” was first published in 1953, among the most famous stories by Georgia writer Flannery O’Connor. O’Connor. Just like most of her stories like most of her stories, this short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” battles with questions of good and evil and the possibility of divine grace. The story follows a man named Bailey who intends to take his family from Georgia to Florida for a summer vacation, where (the Misfit) has escaped convict heading toward Florida. The grandmother tries to convince her son, Bailey, and his wife to take the family to East Tennessee for vacation instead of Florida but they continue on the quest for Florida. The short story explores the presence of goodness and grace in certain characters throughout the text. 

Characters you found interesting and why ?

A character I found interesting was the grandmother. The grandmother is Bailey’s mother, who lives with the family with no identified name. The grandmother is a very close-minded individual who has her own set ideals on morality and virtue which she believes everyone should uphold. Her values can be seen when she always dresses up to appear like a “lady” or when she criticises her grandchildren for not being respectful throughout certain areas of the text. The grandmother thinks of herself as superior because she is able to maintain her precious standards, however, she is actually extremely hypocritical. By becoming so wrapped up in her old fashioned mentality of others’ character, she becomes a selfish and judgemental woman. Her hypocritical ways can be seen when she becomes absorbed in pleading for her life and never once asking the Misfit to spare her family’s lives. When she is trying to sympathize with the Misfit, she has a realization finally understanding her weaknesses. Right after this moment, she is murdered like the rest of her family. When faced with death, the grandmother lies, flatters, and begs. But at the very end, she reaches out to touch The Misfit and utters those rather cryptic lines, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” this shows the perspective and how she her mentality changes in different situations in a matter of life or death. In my opinion the grandmother was interesting because she was a liar but also was a grace in the text. She was portrayed as a good person but inside she was a liar and selfish just like the Misfit.

Messages you took from this text ?

Messages I took from this text was the misfits mind and how someone’s mind can think differently to their actions. During the road trip the wanted criminal who stumbles upon the family when they crash their car in the woods. The Misfit lives by a moral code that involves murder and remorselessness, but he also spends time wondering about Jesus. Because he doesn’t know for sure whether Jesus really raised the dead, he has opted for “meanness” as a way of giving his life meaning. He doesn’t see himself as a terrible person. His two henchmen kill the entire family, and the Misfit shoots the grandmother himself. The Misfit thinks he is a good person inside but he is a murderer. This gives me a message saying that some people can be good and bad and you can never be safe. 

Challenges the characters had to deal with ? 

A challenge the grandmother had to deal with was confronting the Misfit. After crashing their car A passing car stops and three men get out, carrying guns. The grandmother thinks she recognizes one of them and screams releasing its the misfit. The grandmother attempts to praise the Misfit saying he is a good man and the misfit agrees. While in a standoff with the Misfit,  She tries to draw him into her world by assuring him that he’s a good man, but even though he agrees with her assessment of him, he doesn’t see this as a reason to spare her. “Do you ever pray?” she asks the Misfit. Only when the grandmother is facing death, in her final moments alone with the Misfit, does she understand where she has gone wrong in her life. Instead of being superior, she realizes, she is flawed like everyone else. When she tells the Misfit that he is “one of her own children,” she is showing that she has found the ability to see others with compassion and understanding. This is a moment of realization, one that is immediately followed by her death. I cannot relate to this situation because I have never been put in a similar type of situation before but I can see that the grandmother tries her best to overcome the Misfit but he is to strong to be broken.

Why is the title of the text appropriate ?

The title of the text is appropriate because it relates to the grandmother and the Misfit because they are both recipients of grace, despite their many flaws and weaknesses. The grandmother is an unlikely candidate for receiving grace. She lies to her grandchildren, manipulates her son, and harps constantly about the inadequacy of the present and superiority of the past. She has no self-awareness and seems oblivious to the world around her. Certain of her own moral superiority, the grandmother believes that she is the right person to judge the goodness of others as well as the right person to instruct other people on how to live their lives. However, she herself has an inherent moral weakness. She instructs the Misfit to pray, for example, even though she herself is unable to formulate a coherent prayer. She changes her mind about Jesus’ rising from the dead as she grows more afraid of what will happen to her. The Misfit, for his part, is an unrepentant murderer. Both “bad” people in their own way, they are each unlikely even undeserving recipients of grace. “Lady,” he said, “don’t you get upset. Sometimes a man says things he don’t mean. I don’t reckon he meant to talk to you thataway.” this quote is from the Misfit before killing her. 

In my opinion I do not recommend this book because leads on and it very hard to keep up with the story line. For students around 13-17 years it is a good short book but hard to understand and follow along with what is going on throughout the text.