"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor uses irony as a fictional component to make a lot of different character traits and character personalities; such as the character The Misfit or even the mother of Bailey. Bailey's mother feels that she is a southern belle. To the readers, she is somewhat different from what everyone thinks. Bailey's mother sees herself as a lady, wiser than most, and conducts herself with more etiquette than others. Instead she is always using racist language, telling lies. She also resents America's generosity towards Europe through the postwar, during that time she yells out that she knows The Misfit. Once all the tragic turn are taken it's not until then that the grandmother then realizes she is not who she portrays herself to be. Situational irony takes place when the readers get the opposite of what they expect. In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" that type of irony is present when The Misfit, makes Bailey's mother see herself for what everyone else sees her, a sinner. Her insight lets her convert herself by molding off her greediness and connecting to the crazy killer. After he shoots her, a smile is present on her face as she dies. She is glad she becomes a decent woman before she dies. Later the Misfit's wrongdoing lead to the lady's restoration.
What is present in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is the battle between good and bad. Readers cannot deny that O'Connor bases the story on of Christian views: death, faith, and salvation. The only two main characters in the story are the grandmother and the Misfit. Even though the Misfit does not show up until the end of the story, his presence is heard from the first part of the story by the grandmother who notifies Bailey of the dangerous inmate that has escaped from prison. Once they start off on the road for their vacation the grandmother somehow forgets her pretentious concern, for it is only a scheme she hopes to force Bailey to take them all in another direction.