The Characterization of the Grandmother and the Misfit.
In the first paragraph of Flannery O"Connor's short story, "A Good Man Is Hard to.
Find", the grandmother is introduced trying to change a planned family trip to Florida.
with her son, Bailey and his family. It is the night before the trip, and grandmother is.
"seizing at every chance to change Bailey's mind." (p.465). The grandmother is the.
central character of the story, and the family is rather a bland, generic family. The.
children are portrayed as disrespectful brats, but are a humorous aspect to the story. The.
family is a typical nuclear family of the fifties, who appear to be disconnected not only to.
each other, but also to any form of family values.
In the first paragraph, grandmother introduces us to the character, the Misfit, as she.
reads from the newspaper, "Here is this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose.
from the Federal pen and headed toward Florida". She is trying to manipulate the plans of.
the trip by pointing this out to her son, Bailey. "Bailey didn't look up from his reading so.
she wheeled around then and faced the children's mother,". This is the first introduction.
to the mother in the story, who appears throughout the story to be indifferent to.
everything going on around her. She does however get a reaction from the children, June.
Star and John Wesley, as they challenge her to stay home if she wants to. The children's.
disregard to their grandmother's feelings is ignored by both of the parents, and allows a.
glimpse of the grandmother's point of view.
The first hint of unsettling just below the surface of this story, is when grandmother is.
the first one in the car the next morning, wearing what seems to be her best clothing. "the.
grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the.
brim" while the mother still had on slacks (466). This could be interpreted as dressing for.
