As the family sets off for their trip, all the grandmother does is complain that she would rather go to Tennessee. When she wasn’t even really invited, but rather going because she doesn’t like to miss out on anything. “Afraid she’d miss something. She has to go everywhere we go.” (O’Connor 367). As the trip is under way she believes she is in another state, and mistakes a road for another one.
Her prejudice side shows through on their trip when she shares stories about a little nigger boy. During the trip, she complains about the many differences in the past and present behaviors of good people (O'Connor). John Desmond tells the readers that the Grandmother’s lying and selfishness are directly the cause of the accident and death of her family (Desmond). The Grandmother’s sins should not be a death sentence but are they forgivable in the eyes of Jesus? The Grandmother tried to convince the Misfit he was a good man in order to save herself (O'Connor).
Eddie’s tragic downfall is triggered by his inability to understand his ‘improper’ feelings for Catherine, his some what foster daughter, his hubris and his ignorance of the warnings given to him by both Alfieri and his wife, Beatrice. Eddie Carbone’s illicit love for Catherine is ‘ a sin against nature’ , these feeling are what drives him to his Peripeteia, which was calling the Immigration Bureau. Eddie pays for his mistake with his life, his death is an event that must occur to restore order in the community and to perhaps be a warning to the rest of the community as they learn from his mistake. Our understanding of domestic tragedy shows us that tragedy is inevitable; however in A View from the Bridge the tragic death of Eddie Carbone seems evitable. Characters such as Beatrice and Alfieri try to prevent Eddie from making his Peripeteia by giving him warnings and trying to make him understand his feelings for Catherine but Eddie, due to his ignorance and hubris, rejects these.
She does this when Walter was out drinking, feeling sorrow because of Mama not giving him a penny to help his dream of opening a liquor store. She finally sits down with him and gives him he insurance money he was looking for. Not only that, she also exclaims, "I'm telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be" (107). Before, Mama would make all the decisions of the family and decide what's right and not let Walter be a part of it. Now she develops the family by making Walter feel proud about being able to run the family the way he wants it.
Justice is essential to living an ordered and supportive world as seen through the mistreatment of King Lear by his daughters, the tricks Edmund played on his family, and the eventual deaths of Goneril, Regan, Edmund. The order of the kingdom was destroyed after Lear passed on his power and land too soon. By giving away much of his power before he died, Lear messed up the great chain of being, putting his daughters above him. Lear’s Fool pointed out his mistake in doing so but Lear didn’t listen and therefore didn’t fix the problem before trouble came. “I have used it, Nuncle, e’er since thou mad’st / thy daughters thy mothers; for when thou gav’st / them the rod, and put’st down thine own breeches,” (I iv 176-178).
O’Connor’s use of characterization, symbolism and the theme, “A Good Man is Hard To Find” reveals the breakdown of respect and discipline in American society. Grandma represents the past with her “southern hospitality” heritage. The Misfit’s character is the result of the breakdown of humanity, family values and values that have been lost in today’s culture. O’Connor believed that
The death of the family might be an expression of an underlying design. Although the children describe the car crash as an “ACCIDENT”, O’Connor represents the working of fate and bringing their family to their destiny. Throughout the story the Grandmother brought the Misfit to surface, even in the first paragraph "Here this fellow 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. I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it.
Moreover, the author is able to bring out the theme of good and evil through various encounters involving the grandmother. This paper will focus on Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” How O’Connor Views the World From the way O’Connor treats her characters, it is apparent that she views the man as a fallen creature and the world to be full of evil. Briefly, O’Connor’s story is a depiction of the destruction of a normal family by escaped convicts. The climax of the story involves a gift of grace to the grandmother just before her death. However, the events preceding the climax reveal the stance of the author on the contemporary world (Mitchell 212-213).
They stop to get food along the way ran by a man by the name of Red Sammy. The grandmother reminisces the past with Red Sammy and how things have changed a lot since. Here we begin to truly learn about the character of the grandmother. She seems to consider herself morally superior to others and believes what she thinks is right for the most part. She likes to criticize others such as when she did so to the mother questioning her on the choice to always go to Florida instead of changing it up a bit for the kids.
His first encounter of a problem is when the Grandmother recognizes his face and exclaims “You're the Misfit” (O' Connor 1257). While those few words may not seem that important, those three words create a huge problem for the Misfit. The Misfit is being kind and somewhat courteous helping a family in need, but when the Grandmother recognizes his face it puts him in jeopardy of being caught. Since the Misfit can not be sure of whether or not the family will turn him in, he must make a decision on how to solve the problem. His decision is surely made when he tells the Grandmother “it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn't of reckernized me” (1257).