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A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Decent Essays

What makes a good man

How many people do you encounter each day whom considers themselves to be a righteous person? Do you agree or disagree with this persons judgement of their own character? Often a person might hide behind his or her religion as a justification for the actions made in every day life. Perhaps some people may decide that commiting enough positive actions can some how cancel out their negative actions, allowing them to consider themselves a righteous person. In Flannery O'Connors story "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", the author challenges her readers to consider what it truly means to be a "good man" and why these qualities are so hard to find in a person. As the story opens we are introduced to a grandmother who is …show more content…

The reader Bailey's wrath would not come down on her all at once". (Paragraph 67) Even with all of the trouble she has caused the elderly woman is so concerned with the belief that she is a good person that she uses it as a justification for her wrongdoings.

It is not until the family is faced with a criminal who calls himself "The Misfit" that the truth behind the grandmother really comes to the surface. The grandmother immediately recognizes him and ignorantly calls him out on his identity, which puts her family into more danger than before. Her son Bailey is so angry with his mother at this point that he "says something to his mother that shocked even the children" (Paragraph 85) and it becomes even more evident that the woman has been provocing angry feelings from her family for some time now. Even the children have made remarks towards the woman throughout the story, which is a devastating blow when even your own family has negative feelings towards you. Throughout all of the responses from her family, the grandmother still continues to act in her usual selfish ways. Once she is faced up against The Misfit, the grandmother begins trying to manipulate him just as she has done to her family. She tries to persuade him into trusting that she believes him to be a "good man at heart".(Paragraph 91) At this point the grandmother has always been able to manipulate those around her, but The Misfit proves to be not so

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