The grandmother reads in the newspaper about a convicted killer, The Misfit, who has escaped from the Federal Pen, and is headed towards Florida. She seizes her opportunity, and points out to Bailey of the breaking news. Her son is easily persuaded by his mother and plans are changed to have the family vacation in east Tennessee. There are times when we opt to be deceitful to others in hopes of protecting a self-image that has been created by our own lies; as a result, we only cause excruciating pain or harm to those who surround us. Unfortunately, the grandmother is not able to see the damage that she causes by her character.
The grandmother wanted to go and see her friends in Tennessee instead of Florida, which is where the family wanted to go. The Grandmother lied and said that the Misfit would be in Florida instead of Tennessee. She did this so Baily, her son, would change his mind about where the family would go for the trip. Throughout the story, the Grandmother is very noisy. She is very concerned with small ideas.
The beginning of the story starts off with the Grandmother trying to persuade her family not to take the road trip to Florida. She brings up the release of the Misfit, a serial killer, saying "I couldn't answer to my conscience" if the family came across him as if she was referring to herself. From here, every decision or thought made by the Grandmother steers her wrong, as a consequence for ignoring her first instinct. The Grandmother is first in the car, ready to go. She dresses like a lady "just in case" something may happen to her.
The story begins with the grandmother trying to persuade the family not to travel towards Florida but perhaps go to Tennessee instead. This is based on the grounds that "The Misfit", an escaped criminal is on the loose somewhere in Florida. The ironic part of this is that the grandmother is the only family member to conjure up, bad things happening to the family. She bases this solely on the fact that they were traveling in the same direction as “The Misfit”. This negative thinking quite possibly could have led to the ultimate rendezvous between the convict and the family.
The grandmother then brings up the topic after noting an article about an escaped convict called “The Misfit” who was heading in the same destination, which was Florida. After all of the disagreements about not wanting to go to Florida, the family still insisted that they were going and nothing will deter them from going. The very next morning the family sets on the long-awaited trip to Florida. The grandmother hides her cat (Pitty Sing) into a basket in the back of the car—she had this notion that she couldn’t “bear” to leave her cat at home while they are on vacation. Also, she wore a dress and a hat with flower designs so people can discern that she is “a lady” if there is any accident that might ensue.
A passive mother and her baby, and the two difficult children. As the family is getting ready to part, the grandmother, Alarmed by newspaper accounts of an escaped convict, The Misfit, attempts to persuade the family to change their vacation destination away from the vicinity of the fugitive. This intent fails as usual so the family starts its journey. As they are traveling the grandmother relates the story of a nearby plantation house with a secret panel. The story fires the children's interest, consequently forcing Bailey, to take an unplanned detour down a rough dirt road in search of the house.
Later that night when maybe leave's Norma Jean tells Leroy; "She just said that about the baby because she caught me smoking. She's trying to pay me back" (621). In the falling action, Norma Jean’s relationships with her mother is becoming tense and is making Norma Jean realize how controlling her mother is over her life. Leroy is not doing anything to help the relationship between Norma Jean and her mother any better. Mable is sitting with Leroy and tells him, "I don't know what is going on with that girl" (621).
The Tragic Fall of the Family In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the author creates a character called The Misfit who kills a family. The story begins with the family discussing where to travel on their vacation. The grandmother tries to tell the family that there is an escaped convict in Florida where they are travelling and that they should not go there. But instead the family does not listen to her and they are destined for tragedy. There are many elements that foreshadow the tragic events to come.
I came home barely alive almost hitting 3 cars but I made and when I arrived Brian and Ashton were arguing and I couldn’t control either o of them so I told Brian to leave which he did but when he came back he brought the police and said I was on drugs and didn’t know how to take care of my kids which I thought was postures since I didn’t even know what drugs looked like. The police toke us down to the station but before they did that I gave Ashton some money to get on an airplane and go to his aunt’s house I Florida and stay there until everything got restored to the rightful order. They toke a strand of my hair and put it in a machine and I came back positive with heroin in it which I said wasn’t possible until they described it’s to me which they said it was black and it looked like brownies the I started crying because that’s what Brian was eating on my bed the day I came home from work. They locked brain and I up which didn’t surprise me but I only had a week and then I had to go to rehabilitation for 5 years before I would be totally free which I thought was better
The grandmother frequently criticizes others on their behavior, such as when she complains about vacationing in Florida where the escaped convict could be and how it would weigh heavily on her conscience. She criticizes the children’s mother, accusing her of not wanting to travel to a place that would allow her children to “be broad” (261). She criticizes the children for not being respectful of their native state Georgia. She never criticizes herself, not even when she realizes that the house with the secret panel she had been thinking of (and the whole cause of the detour) was not in Georgia but actually Tennessee. In her final moments,