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 by saying, "She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Baileys mind." This quote shows that the grandmother is being manipulative in trying to make Bailey change his mind about going to Florida and uses the excuse of an escaped convict to continue the manipulation strategy until she can convince Bailey to go to Tennessee, which is where she wants to go. 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. I couldn't answer...