A Good Man Is Hard to Find

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In O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Baileys mother, the grandmother, views herself as a proper southern “lady” who is upright, wise and essentially a good person. But to the reader, recognition of contradictions in her character tells a different story. The grandmother has a superficial sense of goodness. She seems to view goodness mostly as a function of being decent, having good manners, and coming from a family of the right people, but her superficial goodness meets genuine evil in the Misfit. The inability to recognize the distinction from her false goodness and genuine goodness in people and things around her, leads to the demise of her and her family. O’Connor suggests the depth of meaning in her story when the grandmother ultimately exhibits a moment of clarity and a revelation of life approaching her ultimate end before it is too late. A particular event of this sort is especially true when considering the relationship of the human race with spirituality and its affiliation with grace, love, and forgiveness (Mitchell 212). The author’s depiction of the characters seems to reflect her views on the world and the spirituality of the modern man. 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). According to Petit,
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