ipl-logo

The Misfit: A Good Man Is Hard To Find

1165 Words5 Pages

Spears 1
Jason Spears
Dr. Dale Salwak
English 101
5 June 2016
The Misfit: “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Born March 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia was Flannery O’Connor. Growing up she faced some hardships by losing her father at an early age to lupus erythematosus. She wrote many novels, but was well known for her short story collections. In 1964 she died of lupus after battling it for more than 10 years (Biography.com). One of her best short stories was called A Good Man Is Hard to Find. The story is about a family getting ready to go on vacation in Florida, but the grandmother tries to get them to go to Tennessee instead, due to a criminal on the loose heading that way. Later in the story the grandmother’s cat escapes, causing the …show more content…

You have to think something isn’t alright in The Misfits head. That statement also makes you think that this guy can snap at any moment and towards the end of the story when the grandmother says to The Misfit, “why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” (O’Connor pg.715), the guy just snapped and shot her. So maybe he doesn’t fit well with emotions. In the dictionary it describes a misfit as: a person who is not suited or is unable to adjust to the circumstances of his or her particular situation (dictionary.com). With The Misfit being an escaped convict, it can be quite understanding why he would feel unable to adjust to life on the outside of jail walls. From viewing television shows about how one must survive in jail and then trying to survive in the normal world, it seems that it could be quite difficult at first. Shmoop describes how during one part of the story, the misfit talks about how he went to the penitentiary for a crime he didn’t believe he had committed (Shmoop). With this information being revealed, it makes you think if The Misfit was looney, but then he also describes how he wasn’t always a bad …show more content…

It’s quite simple. There are many factors to this such as family, upbringing, culture and etc. According to Moral Code, “When people are educated, they are able to distinguish between right and wrong. They abide by their moral codes which are behaviors and beliefs that they think most fit them” (Moral Code). A good man is honest, has compassion and The Misfit has none of these. He feeds on doing evil and think it is right. He rejects Jesus and states that Jesus was wrong to ever raised the dead and because of that he threw everything off balance. The misfit has not thrown everything away “to follow Christ,” but instead he is “enjoying the few minutes” he has left by killing and robbing

Show More
Related

  • Comparing A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Good Country People

    680 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since being a lady is a big part of what the grandmother considers moral, the Misfit obviously doesn’t abide by the same moral code of ethics as she does. She desperately calls him a good man, as though appealing to some value deep within that he couldn’t deny. Her definition of “good” is skewed though, resting on her belief that the Misfit isn’t like most people. The grandmother’s application of the label “good” shows that it does not mean “kind” or “moral”. “Good” simply means whatever ideals align with hers.

    Read More

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

    856 Words  | 4 Pages

    He believes that there is no pleasure in life, and takes no remorse in killing people. His selfish morals are what causes him to be so empty hearted and almost soulless, obsessing in his own codes of right and wrong that he is being led into the worst things any person can have, hatred and hopelessness. The Misfit is blinded by his own actions and desires, believing that what he is doing is right, which ultimately leads to the death of his mother and her family. The second symbol utilized in this story is the black hat. The Misfit shows up to the car wreck wearing tight jeans and “holding a black hat and a gun.”

    Read More

  • Redemption In Flannery O Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    946 Words  | 4 Pages

    Even though human nature is flawed within Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, there is a chance for redemption near the story’s ending. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the Grandmother has an epiphany with the Misfit that increases her chance for redemption. Throughout the entire story, the Grandmother is known for her selfish thinking and her one-track mind that, like many humans, is only focused on what she would like to do. Redemption for

    Read More

  • A Good Man Is Hard To Find Psychopath Analysis

    1097 Words  | 5 Pages

    The grotesque psychopathic nature of the characters in Flannery O’Connor’s, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” ironically shows how a good man does not truly exist through the revelation and proclamation of what characteristics a good man possess. In the story The Misfit shows characteristics of a psychopath by escaping prison and killing an innocent family. However, The Misfit isn’t the only character in the short story to show psychopathic tendencies. The grandma also shows some characteristics of a psychopath because she does not care or show remorse for her family who was brutally murdered

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    1208 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the author, Flannery O'Connor, demonstrates how a family vacation can quickly face a violent end, caused by a criminal known as “The Misfit.” Looking at the short story through a feminist point of view, one can quickly gather that O’Connor uses the traditional gender roles right from the beginning of the story. As reading the title, it automatically suggests the men 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

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

    1371 Words  | 6 Pages

    In the 1953 short story titled “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, readers are given a glimpse of what the end of the story may look like through use of foreshadowing, symbolism, and other literary techniques. Although the story looks to be an innocent story of a family who travels to Florida for vacation at the start of it, readers soon find out that the story has a darker twist to it. This family trip turns violent and this gruesome ending can easily represent the violence taking place in America during the time this story was written by O’Connor and even today. The short story starts off with a family of six- parents, a grandmother, and three children-

    Read More

  • A Good Man Is Hard To Find Selfishness Essay

    1559 Words  | 7 Pages

    In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the author portrays the grandmother as self-centered, dishonest and prideful woman. The grandmother is an old, southern, Caucasian woman who describes herself as a good woman. Throughout the story, O’Connor shows how the grandmother’s pride, and selfishness leads her to unappreciated her family. She does not care about them, she only cares about herself and what will benefit her. The grandmother’s selfishness, judgmental actions, dishonesty put the family in danger.

    Read More

  • Southern Gothic Elements In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    844 Words  | 4 Pages

    No one would have thought that the idyllic Southern life style could be turned into a Southern nightmare. In O 'Connors "A Good Man is Hard to Find" that is precisely what happens. " A Good Man is Hard to Find" is set in Southern America. This story has many tenets comparable to that of Southern Gothic fiction. Southern Gothic writing emphasizes on abnormal character and unusual events to create an unsettling portray of life in Southern America.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    1254 Words  | 6 Pages

    In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” she uses writing skills such as symbolism and imagery to get across her different themes to the reader’s with plenty of room for self-interpretation. Though O’Connor’s work could be defined as cynical, she does an excellent job of writing in the third person with her uncomplicated structure of sentences leaving plenty of room for her character 's thoughts, feelings, and actions to get across the realism of our world. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a battle between a grandmother with a rather artificial sense of goodness, and a criminal who symbolizes evil. The grandmother treats goodness as having good manners, and coming from a family of higher class, but at the end of the story comes to

    Read More

  • The Grandmother And The Misfit's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    1601 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Misfit is seen as being a part of reality and only believing what he sees with physical evidence. He also stays true to his morals of what he believes is right and wrong, especially when it comes to showing the equality of no mercy among the family members. Both characters reveal their use of Jesus, the spiritual battle that inhibits them and their concepts of reality. All of this gives insight to how there are no good or bad characters at the finale of this story. The battle of morality between the two characters only shows the

    Read More

  • Manipulation In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    786 Words  | 4 Pages

    In another quote the grandmother implies that the misfit is a good man by stating, "Yes it's a beautiful day," said the grandmother. "Listen, " she said, "You shouldn't call yourself the misfit because I know you're a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell" (421). The grandmother doesn't know the misfit from Adam, yet she already gave him a persona that he has to match. Besides the grandmother has already called Red Sammy a good man, and by now it is already apparent that its feigned.

    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

  • Flannery O Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    1142 Words  | 5 Pages

    Flannery O’Connor is a renowned Southern author, noted for her gothic works and heavily Catholic themes. She focuses predominantly on racial tensions, morality, and divine grace. The religious and moral themes of her short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, converge on the character of the grandmother. Despite the self-proclamations of fulfilling what it means to be a Southern lady, Grandmother holds a superficial grasp of her religion. Throughout the story, the Grandmother never truly changed, only her ostensible actions did.

    Read More

  • The Misfit Symbolism

    851 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Misfit was a purely evil character while the Grandmother had good intentions. Color symbolism was used throughout the story to give an insight of what is going to happen eventually. The animals also played a large portion of the symbolism attached to… The Misfit along with Hiram and Bobby Lee were all purely evil characters that killed everyone in his way.

    Read More

  • Good Man Is Hard To Find Response

    1016 Words  | 5 Pages

    In her short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor introduces the reader to a world of family issues, danger, and murder. The story was written in 1955 during a period of social and racial unrest in the southern United States. Mostly, the story follows O 'Connor 's basic Southern Gothic writing style. A work that is "cold and dispassionate, as well as almost absurdly stark and violent" (Galloway). While the quote gives major insight into the theme of the story, it does not offer a glimpse into O 'Connor 's real message of the story.

    Read More

More about The Misfit: A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Open Document