A Good Man Is Hard To Find Rhetorical Analysis

The short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, demonstrates how the perception of “good” and “bad” is relative among individuals, which can lead to moral choices that would seem conflicting and morally-wrong to other individuals. The subjectivity between “goodness” and “badness” is as demonstrated through the contradicting and irreconcilable viewpoints and attitudes between the Misfit and Grandma. Although Grandma

Like Mr. Paul said, ¨Folks sometimes do ugly things, Hiram, but that don't necessarily make them evil. A lot of good folks just make stupid decisions or get themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.¨ (Crowe 221) What a reader can learn from this is that sometimes, people make

A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor is a short story about good and evil. Critics have argued that one should interpret the story as a parable of grace and redemption but others disagree, and argue that one needs to find other meanings of the text. When reading this story, some readers believe this story is actually a moment of grace and redemption just as the author wants us to, but other readers believe this is not a story of grace and redemption, but a story that shows a self-centered grandmother, that would say and do anything to save herself. I believe that the grandmother in this story did not have a “moment of grace” but a moment in which she tried to save herself from being killed by the Misfit.

When we look at Falnnery O’Connors “A Good Man is Hard to Find” we see many forms of evil even before we meet the criminals. The family has a trip planned to Florida which the grandmother does not approve of because she would rather visit Tennessee. The grandmother then tries to per sway the family by instilling fear bringing up “The Misfits” who were local criminals that just escaped from prison; although her actions may seem rather insignificant and perhaps even debatable if they are evil, the grandmother’s actions can still be perceived as selfish. The grandmother’s selfish motives can be viewed as a form evil even if it is not the worst evil. This begs the question where precisely does the line lay on what is done through purely evil motives and if the line is really as clear cut as we may possibly think it is?

You specifically see this when the grandmother is begging for her life. She brings up the topic of prayer and asks The Misfit if he prayes. O'Connor being from a Catholic background would be no stranger to prayer and thus why she incorporates it. She also bring up the topic of segregation between blacks and whites. You see this mainly from the grandmother. For example when she says, “Little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do. If I could paint, I’d paint that picture,”. Also in this short story she uses her own life story. At a young age, The Misfit’s father died because of a flu epidemic, O'Connor’s father also died when she was at a young

4.The misfit’s life philosophy can be described in once sentence spoked by him “because I can't make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment”. The misfit describes how the punishment he suffered growing up will never equal the wrong he does in his life. The way misfit handles his upbringing is one of an evil man because his philosophy is flawed as he brings punishment to others even though they may have not done wrong as is the case with the family his goons murder. The family may have done no wrong but they suffered the ultimate punishment, death.

You are sitting in your living room at home watching the nightly news. The lead story for the night is about a family of four that were murdered. After seeing and hearing about something like that we often ask ourselves, What could possess a person enough to kill another human being? What is it that drives a person to kill? Will we ever know? Many authors use this unique mentality in short stories. They write about what the killer thinks and how he/she acts on his/her thoughts. One of these stories is "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", by Flannery O'Connor. In this story O'Connor's victim, The Misfit, is an escaped convict. He was in the Federal Penitentiary for killing his father. Throughout the story O'Connor builds up this killers

The story dives deeper than just characters with protagonist with action being thrown at them and deciding in the critical moments what to do, it delves into the need for religion and what exactly a good person is, in society, in religion, and in God’s eyes. O’Connor uses the dialogue and mannerism’s between the grandmother and the misfit to comment on mankind’s sinful state, God’s grace and the need for salvation. The discourse begins when the misfit and his friends arrive to find them in the ditch after having a wreck. Prior to this, the grandmother has been rambling on about how awful the times were and that a good man was hard to

The first characteristic of the Grandmother, in this story, is that she obtains everything what she wants. At the beginnings the reader can appreciate that she does not desire to go to Florida because she has family in Tennessee. She always tries to see the scene to her favor or her way when there is something against of her. Also, O’Connor creates an astute grandmother. An

The story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a fascinating story about a family traveling to Florida for a family vacation. The story’s main characters are the grandmother, the mother and a baby, the father Bailey, and the two children June Star and John Wesley. On this trip the family has a run in with the other characters The Misfit, Bobby Lee, and Hiram who are escaped convicts headed towards Florida. O’Connor uses literary elements such as flashback and characterization to explore what it means to be a good person. It appears as the only good person in the story is the person the grandmother becomes through her struggle with the Misfit. O’Connor seems to

O'Connor believes that people have embraced hatred and no one cares about the other person’s welfare. Grandma claims that people are not as nice as they used to be a long time ago "Certainly people are not as nice as the used to be." Grandma, however, claims that Red Sam was a good man when he does a good action against some boys "Because you are a good man!" says Grandma. Red Sammy believes that nowadays it is almost impossible to find a good man. He remembers the old days that there was security but not anymore, “A good man is hard to find. Everything is getting terrible. I remember the days you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more" This shows how the world had changed over time. People had ignored their earlier principles and care for one another and had allowed animosity to get in their path. The author depicts irony when grandma is succumbed by a difficult situation and refers Misfit as a good man despite her stand that it was nowadays difficult to find a good man “I know you are a good man at heart. I can just look and tell.” This is only a futile an attempt to save her life and that of her

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor is a suspenseful and intriguing story. At the beginning, the family is getting ready for a trip to Florida, but the grandmother was afraid because of the article she had read in the newspaper about The Misfit. The grandmother begged her son, Bailey, to take the family to east Tennessee instead. The grandmother tells the children an enticing story of an old house that she remembers, or so she thinks. She convinces Bailey she was certain of where the house was, but after turning on the road she remembered that the house was in Tennessee.

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” there are two main characters who fit the description of evil. Whether it is the pretentious grandmother or the unlawful Misfit, “O’Connor touches upon the violence and grotesque” that she witnessed in her youth (O’Connor). The grandmother is a woman who grew up during the times when racial diversity was more prevalent and clearly was brought up by a successful family. A little sympathy could be shown towards the grandmother since most of the narrative is through her eyes, but like The Misfit she has cruel intentions. The sophisticated lifestyle she lived isolated her from all the harshness in the world and led to her to believe that her way is always right. This is until The Misfit approaches her and his acquaintance takes the remaining family to the woods to be murdered. The Misfit has his own internal logic leading him to believe he is killing because that is what makes him happy, not because he is blood thirsty. In fact, he is

O'connor implies the social flow, rights and equality of both races. The story also suggests the past is nothing, and the present changes in society are far more important.

One of the ways O'Connor conveys the theme of loss of morals is by showing the reader that poor wisdom leads to unfortunate events. With the use of descriptive imagery and symbols, O’Connor supports this idea. The grandmother's morals of selfishness are seen in paragraph twelve. She is focusing on her appearance over the responsibility of watching her grandkids. The narrator shows this by using imagery in paragraph twelve, saying, “the grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white