Thursday, August 26, 2021

A Good Man Is Hard to Find Essay: Summary & Analysis

This is an essay about a short story by Flannery O'Connor. The essay discusses the paradoxical nature of the protagonist, and how he represents a certain type of man that is hard to find.

This essay analyzes Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." This story is about a family who drives from Georgia to Florida and gets caught up in a series of misadventures that eventually lead them to meet up with the Misfit, who has committed murder. The author seems to be describing her own experience in life, which can be interpreted as being reflected in the protagonist's character.

The protagonist in this story is an unusual man for this time period because he does not fit into one group or stereotype. He cannot be categorized as belonging to any one of them.

Introduction

The story is about a woman who decides to travel to Florida and live with her father after being jilted by her fiancé. The protagonist of the story, the unnamed woman, goes to visit her father in Florida every winter. She finds out that she really enjoys living in Florida, but is always unhappy when she has to leave.

The title of the story comes from a line in the song "Scarlet Ribbons" that says "A good man is hard to find."

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Summary

Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" takes place in the summertime in rural Georgia. The Grandmother and her "entire family" are on their annual trip to a place that they call home.

The family is driving through the Deep South and they are running out of gas, so they stop for gas at a general store with some cabins near it. They meet a man who tells them about how he was once accused of stealing even though he didn't do it. They stay at the cabin for lunch while waiting for the man to bring back the food that they order, but when he does, it turns out that he's actually not just a man "he was The Misfit."

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Literary Analysis

Flannery O'Connor's novel A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a story about family, morality, and the chaotic world. The protagonist is called The Grandmother, but there is no clear indication that she is the protagonist of the novel. She considers herself to be a good woman and she has an extreme sense of morality; she forces her son Bailey to take over his father's role as head of the family when her father becomes too ill.

The grandmother doesn't seem to be aware of how others perceive her. She has very strong opinions and spends a lot of time trying to convince everyone else that they are wrong and should come around to her way of thinking. She goes on long tirades about sin in people's lives and how they should save themselves from eternal damnation by confessing their sins.

Conclusion

Flannery O’Connor concludes with the idea that humans are not much more than the sum of their parts. That everything that makes us special is inside, and we can’t rely on outward appearances to tell us who someone is.

"It was a truth known to all of them, an article of faith like any other article of faith they had been taught in Sunday school or catechism class: a good man is hard to find."

Flannery O'Connor tells us that it's not always easy to know if someone is a good man. We can't judge them just by looking at their outside qualities because every person has their own inner qualities which make them who they are.

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