ately understand that the grandmother is from the South and
             probably does not have much education. She uses the word "aloose" and the
             southern expression, "I couldn't answer my conscience to it" (O'Connor
             117). The next paragraph suggests that the grandmother is a nag. She goes
             on and on, causing everyone to tune her outâ€"nothing she has to say is of
             any importance to anyone but her. Her son, Bailey, does not look up from
             reading his newspaper after she speaks and the daughter-in-law appears not
             to hear her mother-in-law. The children do hear the grandmother and treat
             her with disrespect. In writing about the story, William Brown sees "A Good
             Man is Hard to Find" as a reflection of O'Connor's belief that society at
             Through characterization, O'Connor shows a generation gap that, in
             turn, speaks to the dying southern culture. She describes the daughter-in-
             law, who incidentally is never given a name, twice in the first two pages.
             "a young woman in slacks . . . with a green head-kerchief that had two
             points (O'Connor 117, 118). In comparison, the grandmother dresses for the
             tripâ€"she wears a hat, her cuffs and collars are organdy and she wears white
             gloves. She does so in case she is in an accident and anyone seeing her
             would know immediately that she is a lady. The characterization serves two
             purposes. First the reader learns a little more about the grandmother. By
             the way she dresses to travel, it is obvious that she wants to be seen as a
             Southern Belle, even if she is not one. The second purpose of the
             characterization is to show that there is a generation gap, symbolized by
             the attention each woman gives to their dress and the way they dress.
             ...