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A Good Man

            In Flanney O"Conner's, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" a great deal of irony is used to express her views on how society and culture in the present day and how it has changed from that of the past. O"Connor used the family's grandmother as a key component in the story because of her personality and her old age. She was able to show her feeling about the lack of respect for family and elders through the grandmother. The stories idea explores into deeper things than just respect. As the story continues many spiritual observations are made in regard's to how the "old South" use to view religion. The beginning of the story is an important part because the reader is first exposed to the idea that the grandmother is little respected or listened to by any of the family members. She begins by challenging the family against taking a trip to Florida, because she had just learned a crazed killer by the name of the Misfit who is on the run into that area. When this argument is brought forth to the family, "Bailey didn't look up from his reading, so she wheeled around then and faced the children's mother" (232) who also showed the same interest and respect as the father did. One important element in this scene was when the grandmother made this remark. She was astounded that her son would be willing to take his family into such a place with possible danger and remarked with, "I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that a lose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did" (232). At first interpretation most readers probably thought was just a way for the grandmother to get out of going on the trip, although it was an example for the author to show how family life had changed from her time. Even with changing family styles, grandparents are a group of people who are usually admired and looked up to by family members, and a favorite of young children. The aspect of this story that made it even more powerful was the authors chose to include the children in playing a role that was much similar to their older counterparts.


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