"A Good Man Is Hard To Find" by Flannery O"Conner, is the short story I have chosen to analyze. It is a story I find extremely fascinating. Most of the students in my humanities class did not understand what the intent and contents of the writing meant, and at first my view wasn't as clear as well. The story speaks of a family that is on their way to a vacation in Florida. The road trip eventually ends in horror when the family has an accident in which a local "misfit" and his gang, murders the bunch in an ironic twist. In this piece I have found that in order to understand the outcome, readers must first understand the characters, which are of the innermost importance.
The first character (who is also the main character) introduced in the story is the grandmother. She proves to be the most interesting persona throughout the entire story. Starting at the very opening, she is shown to be an egocentric woman that is manipulative and quite irritating. Her selfishness is first seen when she interrupts her son's reading to mention that the family has visited Florida already and that they should visit east Tennessee instead, which is what she wanted. She tries to manipulate her son and his wife by saying that it would do the children good and that going to Florida will only put them in the harm of the misfit. The old woman uses the misfit to try and influence the family into going to her desired destination (which she does not achieve). Her manipulative ways are also shown in the way she managed to get the kids in favor of her visiting and old house she believes is near. Her manipulation is what eventually leads her family into their horrid fate.
Another interesting character is the dad, who is named Bailey. Bailey is a man that holds the burdens of his family on his shoulders. He does his best to ignore his mother, because he sees her for what she is. While his mother tries to plead her case on why they should all go to Tennessee, he sits and continues to read his paper.
