A Good Man Is Hard To Find

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A Good Man is Hard To Find

The author Flannery O'Connor developed the subject of the struggle between good and evil in her work "A Good Man is Hard to Find". The story developed the subject by expressing anxieties of the contemporary world and the threat of sudden disturbance or violence. As it is considered as a rare uncertainty, therefore characters create the wrong perspective that things defined will never happen to them. In another way, the storyline presented the unexpected irony to the readers. The concept of evil and good remained the main focus of the author. The story reveals the subject that is Misfit and grandmother. In the story, Misfit who was the serial killer represented the evil while grandmother was the character who represented the good. Through the point of view of the author, the story indicates that confornation of the grandmother with The Misfit present her situation, opportunity, and a supreme test that every person somehow face. The Misfit in his lift acquired the sadism and egotism. The gesture of the grandmother became the reason to make The Misfit into the person for the reason he was born to be. In other words, the author used the characters constituting reasonable of the unreasonable where the reasonableness may not be obvious.

The human being are portrayed in the story as good and evil. Their action and behavior in a particular situation made them a good person and an evil person. The stories like other fiction story have characters as heroic and also selfish. In other word, story presents the mix of characters. It does not focused on just one character and made him a hero, in fact, the character who was portrayed as evil preserved the same importance and focus in the story. The characters included in the story are Bailey, grandmother (character represented as good), The Misfit (a character who was portrayed as evil), Red Sammy Butts, John Wesley, and June Star. The beauty of the story can be identifyied through the character of the grandmother who was portrayed as good. Even her character had a mixed perception. For instance, on one side she was considered as the character which showed the good person. On the other hand, the same character represents the racial and class prejudice. Grandmother was selfish and vain in her character. However, she believed that good character can come from a good person only. It was the crucial concept of the story " A Good Man Hard to Find".

Every character in the story had its own importance. They portray them by presenting the difference in thoughts people acquire when they face an uncertain situation at the same time. The grandmother was the heroic character who faces death. She was selfish but still her action and decisions made her good. The Misfit was evil, his thoughts, and actions made him lie in the evil category. Therefore these two characters were typified, representing the goodness and evilness. The character was not round. Every character had its own uniqueness and importance in the story formation. The character of Misfit embodies a highly negative quality. He was a serial killer. The character who had redeeming qualities was the grandmother. She faced death. Interestingly, the story also portrays her as a character who is not good by highlighting her hypocrisy and stubbornness. On the other contrary, The Misfit who was the evil character of the story got sympathy and positivity through her thoughts and feelings for his grandmother. The Misfit loved her grandmother but his actions made him evil. The reader can find both good and evil in both the characters although the author highlighted one characteristic in one of the characters but it is possible that the reader can think and shape other perspective of the story.

The author presented the society in which characters live as full of rigidness and self-obsessed. The character of The Misfit did not belong to the squabble and self-absorption of society. The family did not listen to her grandmother and grandmother with her hypocritic and narrow-minded nature tried to manipulate the situation when her grandchildren mocked her. The story highlighted that most of the time family was involved in an argument and no one was ready to listen to the other member of the family. The author did not portray the loving and happy family ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"DpopIi41","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}LitCharts\\uc0\\u8221{})","plainCitation":"(“LitCharts”)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":403,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/rVaVAHaF/items/RSX6EIZJ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/rVaVAHaF/items/RSX6EIZJ"],"itemData":{"id":403,"type":"webpage","title":"LitCharts","container-title":"LitCharts","abstract":"A Good Man is Hard to Find Summary & Analysis from LitCharts | The creators of SparkNotes","URL":"https://www.litcharts.com/lit/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find/summary-and-analysis","language":"en","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",3,30]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (“LitCharts”). Instead, she portrayed the family with full of argument, anxieties, and anger in them. The story reveals that it was a life-destroying society where no one was ready to understand the point of view of others. The characters also tried to escape from the society as The Misfit does not fit in the family and he tried to avoid their family member and engagment in any argument. The grandmother also tried to manipulate and change the situation when her grandchildren did not give her importance or respect. They were trapped in society. It was their family whom they could not leave and they really wanted to change the environment of the family. They wished for a peaceful and happy family.

The character had not much control over their lives. For instance, the grandmother lived with his son. The grandson always wanted her to leave their home. He did not want her as a family member but grandmother had no other choice. Despite the fact that grandchildren did not listen to the grandmother still she ,most of the time, tried to enforce their decisions and suggestions on them which grandchildren did not like. The Misfit was the character who was free to choose regarding his decisions. He compared himself to Jesus. All his bad actions and killing did not make him ashamed of anything. He got pleasure from his action; it was his own choice to kill innocent people. Even when grandmother met The Misfit, she tried to convince him not to kill her family. However, The Misfit was free to make his decisions. He killed the whole family including grandmother without any guilt and sorrow. They all were blamed for their action. For instance, grandchildren thought their grandmother was a hypocrite lady while she always strived to tie up her family together. The Misfit was also blamed as evil but he had chosen his path himself.

The character of the grandmother served as the moral center of the work. She was the one who was portrayed as the hypocrite and narrow-minded lady in the family. However, in reality, she loved her family and tried to bring them together. She was a decent and modern lady as well. For instance, when the family went out to visit their family friend, grandmother was well dressed and wore a hat which symbolized her ego and hierocracy but in reality, she was a lovely lady. When she met The Misfit, she did not call him killer or evil instead she tried to convince him to stop the evil acts. As in every fiction story, character like the grandmother reflects that goodness is necessary. It is because the main purpose of any fictional book is to pursue a critical message to the reader. Authors always try to bring positivity and good thoughts regarding the personality and society within the life of the readers. Therefore, a good moral of the story is necessary to fulfill the purpose of its writing. In this story, the author tried to convince us that good characters only come from good people. It was highlighted the scene where the grandmother met The Misfit. The Misfit was so proud of his evil actions. He thought he was the Jesus. He compared himself with the God. The grandmother on the other side tried to bring something good from The Misfit. The effect of the moral center on the other character was that there come circumstances in life when we cannot blame the situation. It is our decision and behavior which make us good or evil.

The main conflict of the story exists within the character of the grandmother. The grandchildren portrayed her as a hypocrite while she thought that she was a Christian woman. Grandmother thought that all she did is just according to the massage of Jesus, therefore, she is the true Christian lady. However, when she met with The Misfit, she realized that she was not a Christian lady. She thought of her sinfulness and realized her weakness. The conflict was resolved at the end of the story. While convincing The Misfits about his evilness and bad act, the authors resolved the conflicts through the word "head cleared for an instant". The grandmother realized about her sinfulness and instead of reminding the message of Jesus to The Misfit, she said "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!" ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ORdIQIRQ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}What Is One of the Conflicts in \\uc0\\u8216{}A Good Man Is Hard To Find,\\uc0\\u8217{} and How Is This Conflict Resolved?\\uc0\\u8221{})","plainCitation":"(“What Is One of the Conflicts in ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find,’ and How Is This Conflict Resolved?”)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":402,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/rVaVAHaF/items/GWQNM9PE"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/rVaVAHaF/items/GWQNM9PE"],"itemData":{"id":402,"type":"webpage","title":"What is one of the conflicts in \"A Good Man Is Hard To Find,\" and how is this conflict resolved?","container-title":"eNotes","abstract":"Get an answer for 'What is one of the conflicts in \"A Good Man Is Hard To Find,\" and how is this conflict resolved?' and find homework help for other A Good Man Is Hard to Find questions at eNotes","URL":"http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-one-conflicts-good-man-hard-find-how-resolved-481296","language":"en","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",3,30]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (“What Is One of the Conflicts in ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find,’ and How Is This Conflict Resolved?”). The end was unusual where the grandmother who was portrayed as good died and The Misfit who was evil survived. It was because the author did not present the typical ending where evil lose and goodness conquers at the end. Instead, she spreads the message that it is an open choice offered to all to choose the path. You can be good or evil, all depends on you.

Work Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY “LitCharts.” LitCharts, https://www.litcharts.com/lit/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find/summary-and-analysis. Accessed 30 Mar. 2019.

“What Is One of the Conflicts in ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find,’ and How Is This Conflict Resolved?” ENotes, http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-one-conflicts-good-man-hard-find-how-resolved-481296. Accessed 30 Mar. 2019.