The Grandmother tried to convince the Misfit he was a good man in order to save herself (O'Connor). When she could not achieve this task, she began to question Jesus herself, “Maybe He didn’t raise the dead,” the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her.” (O'Connor). It’s unclear why she said what she said next. She reached out and touched the Misfit and told him, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” Upon this action, the Misfit shot
In Year of Wonders Anna Frith is presented as “too good to be true”, she may be seen as a courageous and honorable character, but Anna, like everyone, has her flaws and is thus a believable and realistic character. Anna fears risks of situations, experiences jealousy and desire, turns to the wrong solution for her grief, and questions her faith throughout the novel. Anna acts bravely and risks her life in unfamiliar situations though she still fears the risks. This is demonstrated when Anna helps birth Mary Daniel’s baby as the Gowdies are gone and Randall Daniel had no one to turn to so he went to Mrs. Mompellion. Mrs Mompellion had never conceived a child herself so it was up to Anna as she had the most experience out of the two.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS Character Analysis The grandmother in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is selfish and manipulative. The very first thing that is learned about her is that she does not want to go to Florida because she has relatives in Tennessee that she would rather go visit. Then the second thing about her is that whenever something runs up against the grandmother's will, she still tries to have it her way. She never does this openly or bluntly, though. Her style is always a bit more indirect.
Symbolism in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” In a superficial view, Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is no more than a simple story of a family travelling to Florida for the vacation and facing their last moment after confronting the escaped criminal, Misfit. However, it contains numerous foreshadows that allude to the ending of the story and O’Connor’s tremendous use of symbolism implicated in the conversations between characters at various parts of the story. It is very surprising how the author uses this symbolism and allusive descriptions to teach us a veiled lesson. One important thing needed to catch the symbolism of this story is the understanding of characters. Grandmother, the leading character of the story, is a lady who has a South-heritage deep in her heart and admires the glorious time-honored tradition of South.
In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the grandmother is the main character. She is a snobby old woman who only has faith is these words, “I’m a lady” (pg. 507). In her last moments of breath, she tries to plead with her murderer, the Misfit, by adding prayer and Jesus into the picture when she knows that Jesus and prayer are not the faith she is using to save her life when she says to the Misfit,
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.
Irony within “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” In the story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” Flannery O’Connor creates a sequence of events that lead to a miserable and deathly vacation for a family of six. The family consisting of a grandma, her son, his wife and three children plan a road trip to Florida. Everyone except the grandma is fond of the vacation site, simply because she would rather go to East Tennessee. She tries to justify her thoughts be making a remark about how there is a dangerous criminal on the loose and headed straight for Florida. When this does not work, the grandma then quotes, “the children have been to Florida before, you all ought to take them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be broad” (3).
The grandmother is a complex character who believes that her conscience and faith are the motivating forces behind her moral superiority. She constantly passes judgement on others, but has the inability to see her flaws. As the story unfolds the grandmother is conveyed a racist, liar, and a hypocrite. On the road to Florida the family passes by a "pickaninny," boy with no pants, and the grandmother says that "He probably didn't have any" pants because "little niggers in the country don't have things like we do." The grandmother refers to the boy as a pickaninny and a nigger, two terms that are used to racially degrade African Americans, coloreds, or blacks.
Her family on the other hand seemed a bit more laid back when it came too a religious point of view. In the beginning of the story the grandmother points out on her sons newspaper the article about the misfits who escaped from jail and how she would never head in the direction of where they could be near. The family begins their road trip down south to Florida in which the grandmother wasn’t too fond of. The grandmother lectures her two grandchildren several times during the car ride while the father and mother sat up front quietly. They stop to get food along the way ran by a man by the name of Red Sammy.
However, scholars noted that there are many inconsistencies concerning this, seeing that though the Bible did say this, women were still treated as inferior to men, and that women were limited to the home. They still were seen as a means to produce children, more of an object for sexuality, and be silent while serving her husband (Ellwood 325). Some Christians even blamed women for “the sin of humanity that necessitated the death of the savior,” and they were referred to as “the devil’s gateway.” Celibacy soon became a choice of women because it soon became more holy than marrying someone (Ellwood 325). Because of these views of women, they became the popular blame for many problems, villages and towns were suspicious of women. This was seen in the Witch Trials of Salem, and these women were a woman who sinned or stepped out of their place t hat was put upon them.