A Good Man is HArd to Find

             In Flanney O'Conner's, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" a great deal of irony is used to express her views on how society and culture in the present day and how it has changed from the past. O'Connor used the family's grandmother as a key component in the story because of her personality and also because of her old age. She was able to show her feeling about the deterioration of respect for family and elders through the grandmother. The tale's idea explores into deeper things then just respect. As the story continues many spiritual observations are made and the regards to how the "old South" views on religion and "common blood" used to be.
             The beginning of the story is an important part because the reader is first exposed to the idea that the grandmother is little respected or listened to by any of the family members. She begins by challenging the family against taking a trip to Florida, because she had just learned a crazed killer by the name of the Misfit who is on the run into that area. When this argument is brought forth to the family, "Bailey didn't look up from his reading, so she wheeled around then and faced the children's mother" (232) who also showed the same interest and respect as the father did. One important element in this scene was when the grandmother made this remark. She was astounded that her son would be willing to take his family into such a place with possible danger and remarked with, "I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that a lose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did" (232). At first interpretation most readers probably thought was just a way for the grandmother to get out of going on the trip, although it was an example for the author to show how family life had changed from her time.
             Even with changing family styles, grandparents are a group of people who ...

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A Good Man is HArd to Find. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 14:35, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/52002.html