A Good Man Is Hard To Find Grotesque Analysis

In the story, we see how selfish the grandmother was when dealing with the “Misfit” as he began to murder her family we saw her beg for her life and not anyone else’s in her family. The only character in “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” that is selfless is the mother who is barely acknowledged. However, the one thing that she did do was when confronted with the idea of her joining her family dead she simply said yes while the grandmother kept on pleading and eventually stated, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children” (O’Connor 1153) which got her murdered seconds later. This shows that by being selfish it allows you to not care about your family and friends which is also exemplified in “A Rose for Emily.” In Faulkner’s

First of all, the power that close family holds creates fear inside of Rosina when she thinks her father is lying to her. When Thomas Wentworth, Rosina’s father, calls her to his office, he tells her “”Your sister is dead, as she deserved. There will be no mourning, and no further mention of her. You may go.” His look said, as clearly as if he spoken, “Disobey me, and the same may happen to you.”...the next thing I knew, I was back in my room, possessed by a dreadful suspicion that he had caused her death.” (Harwood 117). The power and control over Rosina and her actions is portrayed by her father.

O’Connor also carefully draws out her characters. O’Connor made the Grandmother a women so that any reader felt lower than and feel below in authority. The grandmother is shown as a pushy woman with characteristics of selfishness. These characteristics show when she insisted on going to the old house. When she realized that Bailey was not too keen on the idea, she made up a story about treasure to get the kid’s to help beg their dad.

She murders him on an impulse. Contrastingly, Dora hides what may happen to Calvin though there is surely a chance to do so when she follows him to the hole. Thirdly, Mary and Dora’s reactions to their husbands’ deaths are different. Because Mary does not seem clever enough to cry false tears, it is obvious from the tear Mary sheds for the death that she gets upset without a need to pretend to do so. On the other hand, Dora just says “I do declare (6).” without showing her sorrow or pain.

Her kinslaying is committed without a shred of guilt, instead blaming Jason for their death, saying “how your father’s weakness caused your deaths!” (1364). She kills her own flesh and blood as a way of getting back at a man who wanted to give her and her children a life of ease. Furthermore, she uses her children as pawns to assist in enacting revenge on Jason by killing the royal family. The royal family had agreed to accept her children and also had given her a day to settle her state of affairs, against Creon’s own good judgement as he admits by saying “in showing respect to petitioners I have too often / invited disaster” (349-50). While still having exiled her from Corinth, the royal family shows many kindnesses to Medea that are not required, and in return Medea has them fatally poisoned.

And even though he was a pioneer in the development of horror and the grotesque in American literature, not that many people think him first and foremost as a Southern writer. He had a unique and dark way of writing. His mysterious style of writing appeals to emotion and drama. Poe's most impressionable works of fiction are gothic. His stories tend to have the same recurring theme of either death, lost love or both.

This story is about a grandmother who does all the wrong things and ends up getting herself and her family killed. In A Good Man is Hard to Find, we go through this adventure with a family that never truly makes their destination. The lies begin to build and the loose term of a good man gets thrown around one too many times. Does dressing like a lady and acting proper like a lady truly save your life? The grandmother’s moral code and values are skewed and largely self-concerning.

I recognized you at once” which caused the Misfit to say, “Yes’m. But it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn’t reckernized me.” This causes her own son to whisper horrible things about her. After the announcement of this serial killer, the grandmother looks out for herself by asking the Misfit, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you” (Kelly 362)? This shows her carelessness about everybody except her well-being. As Bailey and his son goes in the woods with Hiram, the grandmother and the Misfit began talking about praying as two shots went off.

Southern gothic is a unique style of writing that takes a certain finesse to utilize. Flannery O’ Connor does it splendidly in her short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”. She takes dark humor, a southern twang and combines them to bring that unique to her southern gothic style. O’Connor graduated from Georgia State College in 1945 and went on to earn her Masters in Fine Art at Iowa State University in 1947. She even went on to go on to win a National Book Award.

In “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, Mary Maloney is not the innocent wife of Patrick Maloney as she seems to be; but instead, is a woman, capable of murder. Mary was tired of being treated like a second class citizen when it came to Patrick. For instance, when Patrick Maloney was giving his wife one-word answers like, “yes”, or “I’m tired”, it hurt Mary. Mary was at the end of her rope; she was losing her husband. Although Mary had murderous intent, one of her strongest characteristics is thinking of the consequences; not for her, but for her unborn child.