Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”: The Role of The Misfit

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A Goodman is Hard to Find is a short story created by Flannery O’Connor back in 1953. It should primarily be mentioned that this literature piece is very interesting to read because it makes the readers think about the main characters and their distinguishing features, and apply the identified ideas to real life. For instance, the grandmother is the main character of the story whose personality we get to understand and whose transformation we encounter. By comparing her to other characters and carefully analyzing the scenes, the readers receive an opportunity to make a unique interpretation of the reading overall. Therefore, the following essay will prove that in A Good Man is Hard to Find the author uses The Misfit as a tool that eventually causes the grandmother to see herself for what she truly is – a sinner.

As was already mentioned, the grandmother is the main character of the short story. Throughout the reading, it can easily be understood that she is an extremely close-minded and underdeveloped individual. For example, she refers to a child that she sees on the road as a “little nigger” who does not “have things like they do” which meant that she is racist and judges people based on their skin color (2). The woman believes that she is superior to others and authentic because of her values and mentality, and this can be seen when she says that “people a certainly not nice like they used to be” (4). As a result, she becomes so selfish and absorbed in herself that when her family is being killed, she never thinks of them but just begs for her life and tries to talk the murders out of assassinating her. In general, the grandmother can be described as a terrible person who thinks too much of herself. The author includes the character of the Misfit in the story for a specific reason – to cause the grandmother to understand her sinful nature. He seems to be even worse than the grandmother because he is a criminal who does not understand the terrible consequences of the things he did. Even though, after encountering him, the grandmother still shows her negative side by totally forgetting about her family, their conversation leads her to a positive realization. The woman tries to save her soul and pushes The Misfit on the right path of praying and asking for forgiveness because “Jesus would help” him (10). Thus, she finally forgets about her status as a “lady,” loses her superiority over the killer, and, instead, turns to morality and talks about trust and the love for God. She embraces herself at least for a little bit and, by comparing the personal character to the Misfit’s, understands her nature. To summarize, A Good Man is Hard to Find is a fascinating and insightful short story by Flannery O’Connor. By looking closely at the main character of the story, the readers can understand and apply her distinguishing feature to real life. It is easy to think of oneself as superior to others but it is also so hard to be in a situation when you are no longer the powerful one. Thus, the presented paper proved that The Misfit was a tool used by the author that caused the grandmother to see herself for what she truly is – a sinner.

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