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An Analysis of A Good Man is Hard to Find

             The classic idea of good versus evil has been an issue of debate since the beginning of mankind. A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a story that deals directly with that age-old conflict. Flannery O"Connor uses the phrase "a good man is hard to find" to help define her view of the decline of goodness in the old southern culture. She also uses this phrase to open up the debate to include Christianity and religions over all effect on the subject, as well as to probe into and question what really defines someone as being "a good man". Goodness and religion are two ideals that are all too often mixed up with one another. Its is not always the case that piety and manors equates directly into goodness.
             A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a third person narrative told from the point of view of the Grandmother. The story begins as the Grandmother, her son Bailey and his wife and two kids embark on a road trip back to the Grandmothers home in Tennessee. Things don't go quite as planned however, when the family has a car accident and ends up fact to face with the an escaped convict known simply as The Misfit.
             Throughout this story there are many small examples used to help show the difference between the past thoughts and traditions and those of the present. The comparison between the mother and the grandmothers" attire prior to the car ride is a prime example of that. "In case of an accident, everyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady" This is the type of thing that was important in the days of the proper deep south which almost survived just on its manners alone. In the beginning of the story, the grandmother is also constantly correcting the children for their behavior. That type of behavior is something that would not have been tolerated when she was growing up. "In my time children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else.


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1. Analysis Of "A Good Man Is Hard To Find"

Analysis of "A Good Man is Hard to Find- The short story by Flannery O'Connor, "A Good Man is Hard to Find-, is about a family that takes a vacation to Florida and somehow along the way manages to get murdered by a man who calls himself "The Misfit-, and two of his friends. ... The short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find- by Flannery O'Connor was written in 1955 during a time when most people in small communities were very religious and followed the Christian faith very strictly. ...

  • Word Count: 598
  • Approx Pages: 2
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2. A Good Man is Hard to Find

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3. A Good Man Is Hard To Find

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  • Word Count: 664
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4. Interpretive Analysis On "A Good Man Is Hard To Find"

Interpretive Analysis On "A Good Man Is Hard To Find "In Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find- we get a portrait of a 1950s postwar family who, in the midst of their own naivety, find themselves not only on the road from Atlanta, Georgia to Florida but on the road to the their own demise. ... - "A good man is hard to find."" ... She repeatedly tells The Misfit out of desperation or lack of anything else to say that she knows he is a good man and that if he would pray, everything would be fine. ... "A Good Man Is Hard to Find- means exactly what it says. It all came d...

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In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" all of the characters - most obviously the Grandmother - are concerned only with their own needs and wishes. ... Some readers of "A Good Man is Hard to Find" believed the grandmother was evil, even a witch. ... Critical opinion over the years has tended to line up behind O'Connor's own explanations; however, O'Connor's analysis of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" still seems baffling, and occasionally a critic has questioned the theology of the fiction. ... Finally, any work of art must speak for itself, and "A Good Man Is Hard to Find''...

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6. An Analysis of A good Man is Hard to find.

Flannery O"Connor provides a glimpse of Christ-like redemption in her short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find". ... The Grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is in need of salvation. ... She often puts vanity before good sense. ... She tries to convince him that he is good, when in reality she tries to say he is as good as she is. ... It is so ironic how things turn out through Flannery O"Connor's work, redemption is both sought and found in the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find", Grandma, a very materialistic person, finds redemption through the Misfit when she realizes that wo...

  • Word Count: 486
  • Approx Pages: 2
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7. Analysis of A Good Man is Hard to Find

In her story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" Flannery O'Connor implements her southern religious personality and uses foreshadowing and characterization to depict the mysterious ways that God works through human beings. ... In "A Good Man is Hard to Find" she uses the grandmother to show that everyone deserves to be saved by God, even if they led a sinful life. The beginning of "A Good Man is Hard to Find" appears to be insignificant. ... You've got good blood! ... "A Good Man is Hard to Find" shows how O'Connor viewed God's myster...

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8. A Good Man Is Hard To Find - Analysis

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9. Violence and the Grotesque in American Literature

"I suppose the reasons for the use of so much violence in modern fiction will differ with each writer who uses it; [nonetheless], violence is strangely capable of returning...characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace" - Flannery O'Connor From a rather simplistic point of view, both Shirley Jackson's, "The Lottery" and Flannery O'Connor's, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," could be considered as grotesque and cruel stories in which violence takes place randomly and totally unreasonably. ... Similarly, "A Good M...

  • Word Count: 1990
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