The Topic of Change in the Story a good man is hard to find

In the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to find”, Flannery O’Connor provides us with the story of a grandmother who is selfish in her feelings and manipulative in getting what she wants. By using the threatening example of death, O’Connor shows us that people can change from being self-centered to being someone that cares about others, their feelings, and their outlook on life. This story is about how a family who decides to go on a vacation to Florida gets detoured by the main character, the grandmother, into going to an “old home”. On their way they get into an accident and are killed by an escape convict called The Misfit. From the beginning of the story until right before she dies, the grandmother is relentless in her pursuit of being self-centered and manipulative. The reader is brought through a journey of change through an examination of the grandmother’s manipulative actions throughout her life, and then to her selfless acts right before she dies. O’Connor brings the reader to the conclusion that anyone can change.

There are four major events representing the degree to which the grandmother is selfish and manipulative. The first example of this is when the grandmother tries to talk the family out of going to Florida

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She does this by saying, “This fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the federal pen and headed toward Florida…I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it.

She happily convinces the family to go to the house. ” The grandmother says this to make Bailey wonder what would happen if they did run into the misfit. by saying, “She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Baileys mind. From the beginning of the story where she was trying to convince Bailey and his family to go to East Tennessee to the end where she believes that she is hurt because she doesn’t want her son to be mad at her, the grandmother never thinks about anyone but herself and her own problems. Then she craftily says, “There was a secret panel in this house, not telling the truth but wishing that she were. “She knew that Bailey would not be willing to lose any time looking at an old house, but the more she talked about it, the more she wanted to see it once again. This definitively demonstrates that the grandmother is a self-interested and a scheming person. The Misfit then shoots and kills her. This symbolizes that now she has changed and is going straight to heaven with no sins or “wrong doings” and that nothing, not even a cloud will stand in her way. She is lying down with her legs crossed like a child. She does this because she knows that she can use the children to her advantage in getting Bailey to go visit the “old home”. The reader soon finds out that the boy is not wearing any pants. ” She recalls all the wonderful things about the house.

Approximate Word count = 1755
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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