ipl-logo

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Setting Analysis

734 Words3 Pages

A key component in all short stories is the setting. The setting can act as an additional character which moves the story along and creates drama. In short stories, the author must paint a detailed picture quickly and effectively, while being able to not give too much information so the plot cannot effectively move along. The three short stories that portray a good setting that ties the story together are; “A good man is hard to find” by Flanery O’Connor, “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The setting for “A Good Man is Hard to Find” sets up the story by having the family travel from Georgia to Florida when they take an isolated road where an escaped convict could possibly be …show more content…

The story begins with a discussion about the trip's location and the grandmother's immediate abrasive behavior. The family's journey to Florida is set up as a road trip through the rural South, adding to the setting's significance. As the story progresses, the family takes an isolated road, that the grandmother thinks is the right road, that leads them into the path of an escaped convict known as "The Misfit." The setting of the story serves as a strong inner feeling of impending doom or misfortune, foreshadowing the danger that awaits the family. The use of the Southern setting can also highlight the family's cultural values, including their religious beliefs and their understanding of …show more content…

The story follows a woman named Elisa, who is confined to her home and garden while her husband is away. The setting emphasizes the isolation that Elisa feels and her desire to break free from her simple, lonely, unhappy life. The harsh environment and lack of resources in the setting highlight the struggle for survival in this time period, while Elisa's chrysanthemums represent her need for beauty and fulfillment in her life and in a difficult world. The setting of "The Chrysanthemums" is significant because it helps to create a sense of confinement and limitation that mirrors Elisa's own experience. The fact that she is stuck on a farm with no real prospects for the future helps to further reinforce her sense of hopelessness and despair, while the barren landscape around her shows just how harsh the reality of life during the dust bowl

Show More
Related

  • Book Report On The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

    1329 Words  | 6 Pages

    The story touches on things such as poverty, alcoholism, bullying, abuse, etc. It is an extremely eye-opening, humbling book that shows you that you can change your life around no matter how you were raised. This book is relatable to many people, including children and teenagers who are or may have gone through some of the same things that Jeannette and her siblings did. The theme that most resonated with me while reading the book was alcoholism. It is something that has been a part of my family life for a long time.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle

    768 Words  | 4 Pages

    While their poverty, nomadic lifestyle, and frequent illegal activity endanger Jeanette and her siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen, it is all that they know. The following of it brings a sense of order to the family. This way of life somewhat brings the family close together early in the novel. Some examples being the camping trip and stargazing early on in “The Desert”. Also, during this time, Rex fantasizes about a “Glass Castle” with Jeannette: A home for the family that he would build as soon as they “struck it rich”.

    Read More

  • The Grandmother In Flannery O 'Connor's The Misfit'

    574 Words  | 3 Pages

    The grandmother can be characterized as a misfit in the story because she originally wants to go to Tennessee but the rest of the family wants to go to Florida. This shows you that she is the only one that doesn’t conform to everyone else’s opinion. She tries to convince everyone about the serial killer going around named “The Misfit” and how they might encounter it, but they choose to ignore her, this also foreshadows the events to come. Even though she didn’t want to go to Florida she doesn’t want to stay home, and also trying to convince her son’s kids but they just end up making fun of her.

    Read More

  • A Good Man Is Hard To Find Rhetorical Analysis

    1085 Words  | 5 Pages

    While doing so, she stumbles upon a newspaper article written about an escaped convict by the name of The Misfit that was headed toward that direction and tries to warn him about it. During the trip, the family makes a pit stop in Georgia and decides to visit a restaurant called The Tower. It is owned by a man named Red Sammy Butts, who tells the grandmother that he had recently let two men get gas on credit that had never returned to pay to him. She claims that he is a good man for doing so and agrees when he further complains to her that they were becoming increasingly hard to find.

    Read More

  • A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor

    486 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story, the family takes a trip to Florida with a dangerous risk at hand. On the way, they turn down a dirt road with hopes of a fun experience, but instead run into the risk the grandmother was worried about all along, the murderer himself, the misfit. “God never made a

    Read More

  • A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor

    888 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Flannery O’ Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” she presents to her readers a grandmother that gets herself and her family into trouble with a convict, known as The Misfit, while heading to Florida. The grandmother, old and concerned, convincing her son from going to Florida where The Misfit had escaped from. The grandkids aren’t looking forward to the trip with their grandmother. The grandmother hides her cat, Pitty Sing, in a basket so she can take it on the trip. While driving through Georgia, the family stops at a little restaurant called the Tower, owned by Red Sammy Butts.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Grandmother In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    814 Words  | 4 Pages

    The story gives way of foreshadowing the unfortunate ending in several instances. The first one is when Grandmother Bailey is trying to change the destination of the trip by showing her son the newspaper article about the man that escaped from the penitentiary. "Here this that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it”

    Read More

  • Foreshadowing In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    915 Words  | 4 Pages

    The short story “A Good Man Is Hard To find” by Flannery O’Conner, was published in 1955. It was written in third person limited point of view. The story takes place in the 1940s after world two, family takes a road trip traveling to Florida, but their journey takes an unsuspecting turn. O’Conner uses foreshadowing, verbal and situational irony and symbolism that illustrates the theme of the effect of the selfishness of the grandmother upon the family. The first character introduced in the story is the protagonist, the unnamed grandmother.

    Read More

  • Fate In Flannery O Conner's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    927 Words  | 4 Pages

    Midterm Exam A Good Man is Hard to Find #2: What is the role of chance or fate in the story? •In Flannery O ' Conner 's “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the roles of chance and fate help to drive the plot to its high point. Chance is present when the grandmother, at the preamble of the story, refuses to be persuaded to travel to Florida in fear of a loose criminal nicknamed The Misfit. Instead, she decides on a whim to visit a friend in Tennessee.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor

    1371 Words  | 6 Pages

    and they are all planning a trip to Florida. Although it has been decided that they are going to Florida, the grandmother is frustrated and tries to convince her son and his family that they should go to Tennessee instead since more family lives there and there are sights to see there. She also argues that going to Florida would only put the family in danger as there was a serial killer on the loose who goes by the name of “Misfit”. This, in itself, already raises a red flag for readers since they just so happen to be travelling to a place where a serial killer is running loose. Despite the grandmother’s protests against their trip to Florida, they all get in the car and begin their journey.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Marigolds By Eugenia Collier

    660 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through her use of symbolism the author shows how much the marigolds mean to Miss Lottie. Through her use of point of view readers have a clear view of the look and atmosphere of the old town and the how the marigolds were the only beautiful thing

    Read More

  • A Good Man Is Hard To Find Analysis

    1274 Words  | 6 Pages

    In the short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the author, Flannery O 'Connor, demonstrates how a short story can contain many aspects of feminism without one even noticing. Looking at the short story through a feminist point of view, one can quickly gather that O’Connor uses the old school gender roles from the very beginning of the short story. As reading the title, it automatically suggests the male characters in this short story are untrustworthy, not prevalent, and dangerous. With that being said, the female characters in this story are viewed in the eyes of how a woman should act.

    Read More

  • The Chrysanthemums Setting Analysis

    469 Words  | 2 Pages

    The setting in the story depicts what is happing to Elisa not only in the physical world, but what is happening in her emotional world. This connection of the physical setting on the character develops Elisa as a character throughout the story and builds

    Read More

  • Good Man Is Hard To Find Response

    1016 Words  | 5 Pages

    The story opens with a man named Bailey who is going on a trip with his family to Florida. However, his mother had other plans and becomes the "manipulative grandmother lecturing her apathetic son" (Sparrow). At first she tries to convince her son to change the trip destination saying ""(O 'Connor). It might be inferred that she meant well by warning Bailey about the prison escapee traveling in the same direction. Unfortunately, later in the story the reader finds out that .

    Read More

  • A Few Good Men Character Analysis

    759 Words  | 4 Pages

    Motivation is the deciding force that guides a person on any journey. Every action or decision you make is consciously or subconsciously influenced by prior thoughts and events. These thoughts and events can create several different types of motivations in different people. In A Few Good Men, the main character has many turning points because of the challenges presented to him throughout the film. In Rob Reiner’s

    Read More

More about A Good Man Is Hard To Find Setting Analysis

Open Document