In Flannery O’Connor’s short stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People,” the main characters’ trust is put to the ultimate test. Trapped in vulnerable situations, the protagonists become powerless and have to put their trust in the hands of the “bad guy.” As a result, the main characters fall victim to manipulation. Those who were once in total control of their situations are now stripped of their superior titles and are taken advantage of by the person they once trusted. Egos are bruised in the game of trust and manipulation in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People.” The grandmother and Joy-Hulga are taught lessons of a lifetime that changes the way they see themselves and life forever. In “Good Country …show more content…
Joy-Hulga plans to seduce Manley Pointer into being intimate with her. She assumes he is gullible because he is a young boy; seducing him would be like taking candy from a baby. Joy-Hulga is the victim of an bewildering accident; she now plans to make Manley Pointer a victim of her seduction. Joy-Hulga joins her young prey in the loft of a barn. This is her opportunity to have Manley Pointer all to herself. She falls victim to his first tactic of getting her to tell him she loved him. He proceeds by persuading her to show him how take off her wooden leg. “Without the leg she felt entirely dependent on him (O’Connor 184). This is the moment that the tables turn and Joy-Hulga becomes the victim of Manley Pointer’s manipulation. Mr. Pointer runs off with Joy-Hulga’s artificial leg and she is left sitting there in the loft. Joy-Hulga learns that there are good country people in the world and then there are some people like Manley Pointer who are no good at all. The leading lady in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is the bossy grandmother of a traditional, southern family. It is the grandmother’s “final encounter with the Misfit that changes her relations to the world” (Link, "Means, Meaning, and Mediated Space in ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’"). Before her unexpected meeting with the Misfit, the grandmother feels above everyone else. She feels like she can talk …show more content…
The car “turned over once and landed right-side up” (O’Connor 191). The family suffers from minor injuries after the wreck. The family is not aware that they are being watched at the time of the accident. Out of an approaching car hops three men with guns. The grandmother recognizes one of the men as The Misfit, the escaped convict. Once the grandmother identifies The Misfit he has no choice but to starts killing members of the family. The grandmother ends up being the only family member left to be killed. She tries her hardest to talk The Misfit into not killing her like he did the rest of her family. Stuck in a difficult situation, the grandmother pulls religion into her conversation with the Misfit. She relies on her southern roots to soften the cynical beast in front of her. She rambles on and on telling The Misfit to pray. She tries to gain The Misfit’s trust so she can manipulate him into thinking letting her go is a good idea. He seems to reevaluate his life as he squats in front of her. Moments before her death, the grandmother tells The Misfit that he is “one of my own children” (O’Connor 196). Thinking she has fully gained The Misfit’s trust, the grandmother “reached out and touched him on the shoulder” (O’Connor 196). At this moment, The Misfit shoots her in the chest three times. The idea that The Misfit trusts the grandmother is eliminated and so is the entire
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” the Grandmother is the protagonist. She is the focus of the narrative and the character whose reactions we encounter the most. More importantly, the third person narrative focuses strongly on the grandmother’s point of view, which establishes her in the reader’s mind much more than any other character. Nevertheless, the grandmother views herself as a rather dignified and traditional woman who appears to judge everyone, but manages to constantly overlook her own flaws. This appears various times such as when she conveys her ideas about the upcoming vacation and June Star states “She has to go everywhere we go” (O’Connor 567), in which merely displays the Grandmother as unwanted by the family. This can be compared to that of the Misfit in the story who also appears to be unwanted by his family. Despite this, the Grandmother continuously positions herself in the family’s everyday activities while imposing her judgment every chance she gets. Moreover, she is censorious of her son and daughter in law for not allowing their children to “see different parts of the world and be broad” (O’Connor 567). She is also critical of her grandchildren for not being like children “In my time” (O’Connor 569) who “were more respectful” (O’Connor 569). By doing this, O’Connor presents a strong characterization of the woman and her virtually unbreakable mindset. However, this story reflects on how through any conflict you can find the good in others, but sometimes it is too late for them to realize their own mistakes. Eventually, the Grandmother confronts evil in the form of The Misfit and seems to show a completely different side of
The grandmother, the main character of the story, is manipulative. Her definition of a ‘good man’ refers to the characteristics that a ‘good man’ should possess.
Working Thesis: In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, O’Connor uses the corrupt, manipulative character of the grandmother, as well as the story’s plot and theme in order to emphasize the flaws of the church and the need for grace.
Flannery O’Connor introduces her reader’s too unique short stories. They are “Good Country People” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, having too similar characters in different setting, but with the same symbolic meaning. The comparison between Hugla from “Good Country People” to the grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to find” is interesting, because they both suffer the same fate. In every short story O’Connor has created a intellectual individual who comes to a realization that their beliefs in there ability to control their lives and the lives of other are false. They enviably become the vulnerable, whereas they assumed it would be different. O’Connor has placed two misguide characters, that deem themselves to be manipulative and compulsive. At the end up of each short story they become vulnerable. Hugla from “Good Country People” and the grandmother from “A Good
The grandmother from a Good Man is Hard to Find handles a revelation in her own way. The grandmother happens to be very judgmental throughout the story of people that are in a lower class than her and African Americans. Toward the end of the story she is trapped on the side of the road with her family after they have just experienced a car accident and the misfit along with his crew pulls over to help them. The grandmother eventually realizes who he is. When she realizes that she has nothing left to live for, she connects with another human being and considers the misfit as an equal. She does this by saying to the misfit, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” (377). The grandmother finally
The Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard To Find” is the one of the most prominent characters in the story. Moreover, her personality is quite interesting and greater than most, for she casts an ascendancy over the other characters in the story. Great in the sense that her personality was quite faceted.; though not a particularly admirable mixed bag of personality elements. Evidence of her complexity is sprinkled throughout the story: The Grandmother enticing her grandchildren to get their father to go to a particular area; her interest and enthusiasm for being regarded as a “lady” (357), which is a euphemism for a term you would use when referring to a woman in the upper class; not to mention, a proclivity for doing whatever she deems necessary to get what she wants. The aforementioned examples are proof that The Grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard To Find" is massively status conscious, manipulative, and juvenile.
The grandmother is the central character in the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor. She is also a very well rounded and dynamic character. She shows various characteristics and reveals various remarks as they story progresses. Some of her qualities include selfish and a pushy person. She is also kind of manipulator in a way that she insists her family to change the plan. At the beginning of the story when we first realize her desire to visit her childhood house, she is being a very selfish person. Examining her conversation with her son Bailey, the grandmother is moreover a pushy person. She is convincing Bailey to change the trip plan according to her need only and which will
Manley Pointer is probably the most lying, conniving little twerps that exists. Pointer giggles and tells Hulga the story. He comes to the home of Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga, hoping to sell them a Bible; however, when they refuse to buy one, he becomes distressed and finds a way to stay for dinner. Pointer makes a date with Hulga to meet at the gate and they continue to the second floor of the red barn. Here, he removes her leg, rendering Hulga motionless, and laughs in her face. Pointer insinuates that Hulga is stupid despite her degrees because she believed what he had dished out to her and her mother all night. He admits to have done it before and that he will do it again.
In the short story, 'A Good Man is Hard to Find', the main character is the grandmother. Flannery O'Connor, the author, lets the reader find out who the grandmother is by her conversations and reactions to the other characters in the story. The grandmother is the most important character in the story because she has a main role in the stories principal action. This little old lady is the protagonist in this piece. We learn more about her from her direct conversation with the son, Bailey, her grandchildren, June Star and John Wesley, and the Misfit killer. Through these conversations, we know that she is a lady raised from a traditional background. In the story, her attitude changes
The grandmother in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’ is entirely obsessed with herself. She is so sure that she is a lady and correct in all things that she lives in a constant delusional state stemming from some better time in her past. Her pride and delusions even led to the death of her family and herself by a man who claims there is no pleasure in the world and does atrocious things to anger God. The idea behind the story is that the absence of belief and obsession with self leads to terrible things, including a meaningless death and final realization of whom and what one really is. The story starts with the sentences “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida.
After dinner Manley Pointer secretly asks Joy/Hulga to go on a picnic with him the next day. She agrees and during the night she plans to seduce him. She imagines that she easily seduces him and that then, “of course, she had to reckon with his remorse.'; Being of superior intellect she imagines that she takes his remorse in hand and changes it into a
A good man really is hard to find. But what is the real definition of a real man? Maybe it is not just the prince charming you see in fairy tales or the perfect guy walking down Sixth Ave. that you pass by everyday to work. Maybe a good guy is simply someone that is good what they do. In this case the relationship between the grandmother and the misfit is just that. The only thing is if the reader sees it as clearly as the author would like them too or simply as she does.
“A Good Man is Hard to Find” tells a twisted story of a typical family going about a road trip embedded with ethical pit stops along the way. The story revolves around a cynical grandmother and how her unconventional attitude and habits set the stage for an interesting turn of events. Through manipulative antics, a prejudice character and an ironic story line, author Flannery O’Conner creates a captivating tale that shines a lights on readers’ own moral codes. The author does this by making an example of a woman completely unaware of her own immoral acts.
In “A good man is hard to find”, the grandmother is like no other character in the short story. The grandmother plays a main character that produces much of the conflict and troubles. Have you ever met anyone that tries to make the best decisions for them, or their family, but ultimately it turns out to be a disaster? This story tells of the adventure of a man name Billy, his family and his elderly mother who began on a road trip to Florida. On the trip, the grandmother convinces her son to take a detour which results in tragedy.
Looking at “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the reader is introduced to a family very early on in the story. With a particular character standing out, the grandmother. Her