First published in the year 1953, this short story symbolizes lots of characters and themes, which characterized the typical O'Connor’s story. In most instances, she banked on available resources to induce certain themes to her stories. These resources could be the people she encountered or the books she read such as journals and newspapers. For instance, the obsessive assassin (Misfit) who massacres a whole household as evident in this novel is from two convicts who intimidated residents of the Atlanta region in the early 1950’s. As a result, it is, therefore, important to discuss how significant the title of this story is, in relevance to the characters that consider themselves good. Whether the term “good” loses meaning as this story ends and if the subject is about nonexistence of good men.
The title certainly seems to be true according to the storyline; it clearly comes out when the guy who owns the barbecue where they stopped to eat, and the grandmother are talking about the presence of good men and how few people are trustworthy these days. Both unanimously accept that, without a doubt, good men are not easily found (O'Connor 5). However, characters used offer a dissimilar perception on what kind of a man is “good,” making the title look ironical as well. Themes of conviction can also attach to this story’s title as predominant to various O’Connor’s stories. They ended their discussion about exactly how the realm has turn out to be a place where people are no longer trustworthy; their grandmother approves that “virtuous men” can not easily be found in such a society.
She says this for she is certain she is a respectable critic, but from the look of things, her arguments are based on fortune, prominence, and external looks of a person which are not significant elements of determining whether a person is good or bad. Other than this, she is a Christian but hardly shows love and compassion to anyone else not up to death struck that she recognizes that a good man has only been difficult to find for she has failed to identify good aspects in people. This title is hence significant in that it relates to the characters view to determine if finding a moral man is difficult (Holliday par 3).
In her story, the grandmother ( name not provided) deliberates herself as being virtuous for being Christian and valuing religion. Red Sammy after being conned gasoline by two people the grandmother refers to him as moral. His wife goes ahead to state that this world is so full of wicked people except fo her husband. In this context, they try to make him look good and insinuate that he is among the few men who still have good qualities. Nevertheless, this is being gullible and not good as put by the grandmother. In fact, she comforts Red Sammy by telling him that he allowed himself get duped for his nobleness. At several instances in the plot of the story, the grandmother is quick to judge people as good or bad based on how they behave or how they look as seen in the case of Sammy.
Just after the accident and Misfit and his cohorts appear, the grandmother seems to recognize him and from his politeness alone, she concludes that he is a good man and tells him that she knows he is a moral man without common kinship and comes from good people (O'Connor 9). Although it is possible that she misread Misfit’s personality to curry favor with him; there is no way she could term him badly, yet he was threating to kill her. Her reward is three bullets to the chest, and one wonders whether Misfit was really good as referred to by the grandmother. From the events unfolding in this story, it is very difficult to determine who is good or rather what the characters mean by the word “good.”
When they get involved in an accident, and Misfit appears, the grandmother quickly speaks of him being good and not a bit common (O'Connor 10). Shockingly, Misfits confesses he is not a respectable man; he knows he has committed countless wrongdoings, and he can never be good. This affirmation provides an accurate description of what “good’ truly means in this story. The grandmother, on the other side, maintains that she is good, but this woman’s kindness is only seen once throughout this story when her death knocks and Misfit appears. There are chances she is pretending just to rescue her dear life, in a real sense, therefore, the grandmother is not good, and the meaning of the word good greatly changes. However, the true meaning of the word resurfaces when Misfits declines he is not good and goes ahead to shoot the grandmother.
The subject in this story is not about nonappearance of decent men but somewhat how society in questions perceives and treats the word “good.” If according to the grandmother Redd Sammy was good by allowing himself get fooled then the world lacks good men because not everyone is susceptible. There are good men but how the society views them is what matters considering how they carry on themselves and behave. However, it is also possible to argue that the absence of good men might not be the only theme in this story, there are other several themes that are relevant to the events in this story; for instance, religion, as witnessed before grandmother, is shot by Misfit.
At first, Redd Sammy is conned of gasoline making the people who con him look wicked. In another instance, Misfit does a lot of crimes and even considers himself bad when grandmother pleads with him before he shoots him. Additionally, Bailey is disrespectful to his grandmother; he does not even lift up his head when his grandmother is taking to him, that shows signs of disrespect and portrays him as not being good as well. From the title, and the series of other continuous events, it is clear that there are no good men in the society. This phrase can, therefore, be employed as the main theme min this book.
In conclusion, this story, just like most O’Connor’s stories talks about the events that occur in modern lives. She has used several themes and styles to show clearly that indeed good men are hard to find in the current societies. Her characters conduct themselves in such a way that the events in the story justify the title of the book in several ways, right from the grandmother to Misfit and Redd Sammy and his wife. Nonetheless, it is not easy to settle that good men are hard to find based solely on the characters of the book as Misfit proves the grandmother wrong by saying he is not a good man.
Works Cited
O'Connor, Flannery. “A good man is hard to find and other short stories.” Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data. 2015. Web. 1 May. 2016. <http://www.boyd.k12.ky.us/userfiles/447/Classes/28660/A%20Good%20Man%20Is%20Hard%20To%20Find.pdf>
Holliday, Stephen. “What is the irony in Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find?” Enotes. 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 1 May. 2016. <http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-irony-good-man-hard-find-309651>
