Analysis of ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’
‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ is a short story by US American writer Flannery O’Connor. It was published in 1953. The story as many other stories by that author tells the history may have happened in the South of the United States of America.
A family is expecting a summer vacation. Grandmother, a central character of the story, wants to go to Tennessee instead of Florida but her son Bailey insists they should go to Florida. Next morning Grandmother is the first in the car and ready to go. She dresses her best to look like a lady. She takes her cat, Pitty Sing, with her. She is accompanied with her son Bailey, who is the driver, his wife with a little baby on her hands, John Wesley and June Star, her grandchildren. The family starts their vacation trip. Grandmother tells stories about Tennessee and how attractive is the state in comparison with Florida. Children are fascinated with her stories.
They stop at Red Sammy’s restaurant to have a lunch. Grandmother of course talks to the owner of the diner, Red Sammy, and his wife, who is working a waitress there. Their conversation is concentrated on the local criminal known as Misfit, who escaped from the prison. The Grandmother says "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he didn't attack this place right here," (O’Connor, 1953). Red Sammy’s answers that a good man is hard to find and the grandmother agrees with him. On the way Bailey’s mother tells a story about a house she visited as she was a child. She just does not want to go to Florida. Children listen to her and ask father to drive to that house. Bailey feels suspicious when they come into a dirt road. Because of Pitty Sing they end up in an accident. Everybody stays alive and children are glad to that little adventure. They wait for a help. Suddenly, three men appear. One of them is of course Misfit, the escaped criminal. Misfit tells his buddies to shoot the family one by one. Grandmother tries to save her own life talking about Jesus and his resurrection. But Misfit gets only angry about this. He shoots the old lady and says to his companions that actually there is no pleasure in life (O’Connor, 1953).
The story’s ending is unsurprising and inevitable. A good man is really hard to find. Taking into account that O’Connor based most of her stories on the Christian beliefs it is even harder. Grandmother seems to be a believer but she is not till the end of the story when she finally understands the Holy truth that everybody is a member of a human race, everybody is brother or sister to each other. She seems to be a well-bred Christian from her manners but she does not have Jesus in her heart until her death. Misfit is neither a good man. He always suppresses his voice of conscience. He cannot find pleasure and meaning in life because he can not understand the resurrection of Jesus. Perhaps, a “good man” is Jesus himself, as it can be suggest from the Christian orientation of O’Connor’s stories (Kirk, 2008, p.76). It is hard to find him among alive but it is even harder to find him in the heart and soul.
References
Kirk, C. A. (2008). Critical Companion to Flannery O’Connor. New York: Infobase Publishing.
O’Connor, F. (1953). A good man is hard to find. Retrieved from http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~surette/goodman.html
