Post by Alex on Nov 30, 2011 0:40:50 GMT -5
Nadia Park English 201
A Good Man is Hard to Find
The story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is about a family who goes on a road trip. The characters consist of the Grandmother, the parents, the two kids, the cat, and of course the Misfit, a murderer who had escaped from jail. The purpose of this analytical paper is to discuss the circumstances surrounding the death of the family, especially the Grandmother, and take apart the last section of the story so that it can be looked at in detail.
To begin to understand the ending of the story, it is important to look at the two main characters -- first the Misfit. According to a Gale article, “The Misfit wore tan and white shoes, no socks, no shirt. He had a pair of glasses which ‘gave him a scholarly look.’” Unfortunately, however, as he keeps speaking it is clear that he is not educated after all. He is a polite person even as he instructed his companions to carry off the family members one by one and he had a lengthy conversation with the Grandmother about two main things, himself and Jesus. The Misfit blames Jesus for throwing things off balance.
The second character to be analyzed is the Grandmother. According to that same Gale article, the Grandmother is described as “pushy” and having a “superior moral attitude.” From the way she treats her son like a child to the way she acts with the Misfit shows that this character is not really a good character to be around at all. In fact, it can be concluded from the story and this article that it was her own refusal to say that she was wrong about the location of an old house that eventually gets her and the rest of her family killed. Had she not detoured, the family might have avoided the unfortunate massacre.
Now that the background and the character have been discussed at some length, it’s time to look at the last scenes of the story and the last moments of the Grandmother’s life and present an analysis of the whole event.
The story does not seem to take a serious tone until the family car ends up in the ditch. In this section of the paper, I plan to take the last couple scenes apart and analyze them to the best of my abilities.
Things really start when the car accident happens; everyone is thrown out of the car or makes it out of the car themselves; the other car comes along;; and the men get out. The Misfit’s first words are “Good Afternoon” making this situation a bit weird, because normally when people come up on stranded people in the woods and they look like that, the last thing they would say is “Good Afternoon.” The next thing the Misfit does is to ask the mother to get the children to sit next to her, to have everyone sit down. This is the second weird thing about this scene because he’s not threatening and by now it’s very eerie.
At this point, the woods that are behind the family are mentioned, and it says it is like an open hole. It may be a stretch but it might be good to conclude that this is a foreshadowing of what the end will be for the family. The story progresses very quickly as the Grandmother recognizes him and he says in response that it would have been better for everyone if he hadn’t been recognized. This unfortunately causes Bailey to say something and the Grandmother to start crying, and we see that for a split second the Misfit might actually care because he even goes as far as to comfort her and say that he didn’t think Bailey meant to talk to her that way.
The next exchange shows that there is a chance that everyone might be able to still get out of this alive as the Grandmother asks, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady would you?” and the Misfit responds to her, “I would hate to have to.” The next round of conversation shows that the Grandmother thinks that she knows things. “I know you’re a good man.” It shows that she is willing to start saying anything, including flattery, to try to save her life.
The next symbol that comes in is the sky, which is mentioned several times . At this point of the story, the Misfit says, “Ain’t a cloud in the sky” and “Don’t see no sun but don’t see no cloud either.” According to another article, the sky at this point symbolizes the fact that no one knows how things might turn out. But this quickly changes when the mother and June Star are taken and the sky is the same, “There is not a cloud nor any sun” but it has a different meaning now that the Grandmother can’t seem to get her bearings.
The story keeps going as the Grandmother and the Misfit exchangs words. They go on and on at length about religion and the idea of justice. The Grandmother insists that he pray to Jesus, and the Misfit says he can’t believe in Jesus because he didn’t see him. Then the conversation shifts to the logistics of why and how he was sent to prison. The Misfit had no idea what he’d supposedly done – only that everything was on paper but he was not allowed to see the paper.
The crucial moment, at least as I see it, comes when the Grandmother says, “Why, you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children,” and she goes to reach out to him. The Gale article suggests that she has attained Grace by this point. That’s when he recoils and shoots her three times in the chest. After her death, the sky has changed again the book says that the Grandmother was smiling up at the “cloudless sky” I’m not sure what this means; it might mean that it is now… finally… over. Also, the smile on her face, might signify as ,another article says, the Grandmother’s access to grace from a life that had been filled with “pettiness and materials. “ All three articles suggess that the ending reflects O’Conner’s thoughts on salvation and that anyone can be saved in the end no matter how bad her life seemed to have been.
In conclusion, I do believe that the idea of a “Good” man or a “Good” woman is blurred in this story as in so many other works of O’Conner’s. The analyses of the two main characters and especially the ending scene bring to light many themes and ideas. My conclusion is that the ending was inevitable but, one good thing came out of it which happens to be the salvation of the Grandmother. Also, it is my conclusion that the Misfit wasn’t a bad person and this conclusion comes from the conversation he had with the Grandmother. He’s forcing her to think, and ultimately, he becomes, as one article says, maybe an unwilling and unlikely messenger from God to deliver the Grandmother from the life of ignorance and self-righteousness she had been living.
My last observation of this story is that the accident has two fold effect. It became both a good thing and a bad thing. It was a good thing because the Grandmother got to have the epiphany that she did. Due to this accident she gained salvation even though she lost her life in the process. The bad thing was that this accident happened at all. Everyone died due to this incident and I think it’s tragic when things happen because of people’s own inabilities to admit their shortcomings. Perhaps if the Grandmother had voiced her thought instead of staying quiet, the tragedy might have been avoided. But had she done that, her salvation would not have happened, so it’s a bittersweet ending.
A Good Man is Hard to Find
The story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is about a family who goes on a road trip. The characters consist of the Grandmother, the parents, the two kids, the cat, and of course the Misfit, a murderer who had escaped from jail. The purpose of this analytical paper is to discuss the circumstances surrounding the death of the family, especially the Grandmother, and take apart the last section of the story so that it can be looked at in detail.
To begin to understand the ending of the story, it is important to look at the two main characters -- first the Misfit. According to a Gale article, “The Misfit wore tan and white shoes, no socks, no shirt. He had a pair of glasses which ‘gave him a scholarly look.’” Unfortunately, however, as he keeps speaking it is clear that he is not educated after all. He is a polite person even as he instructed his companions to carry off the family members one by one and he had a lengthy conversation with the Grandmother about two main things, himself and Jesus. The Misfit blames Jesus for throwing things off balance.
The second character to be analyzed is the Grandmother. According to that same Gale article, the Grandmother is described as “pushy” and having a “superior moral attitude.” From the way she treats her son like a child to the way she acts with the Misfit shows that this character is not really a good character to be around at all. In fact, it can be concluded from the story and this article that it was her own refusal to say that she was wrong about the location of an old house that eventually gets her and the rest of her family killed. Had she not detoured, the family might have avoided the unfortunate massacre.
Now that the background and the character have been discussed at some length, it’s time to look at the last scenes of the story and the last moments of the Grandmother’s life and present an analysis of the whole event.
The story does not seem to take a serious tone until the family car ends up in the ditch. In this section of the paper, I plan to take the last couple scenes apart and analyze them to the best of my abilities.
Things really start when the car accident happens; everyone is thrown out of the car or makes it out of the car themselves; the other car comes along;; and the men get out. The Misfit’s first words are “Good Afternoon” making this situation a bit weird, because normally when people come up on stranded people in the woods and they look like that, the last thing they would say is “Good Afternoon.” The next thing the Misfit does is to ask the mother to get the children to sit next to her, to have everyone sit down. This is the second weird thing about this scene because he’s not threatening and by now it’s very eerie.
At this point, the woods that are behind the family are mentioned, and it says it is like an open hole. It may be a stretch but it might be good to conclude that this is a foreshadowing of what the end will be for the family. The story progresses very quickly as the Grandmother recognizes him and he says in response that it would have been better for everyone if he hadn’t been recognized. This unfortunately causes Bailey to say something and the Grandmother to start crying, and we see that for a split second the Misfit might actually care because he even goes as far as to comfort her and say that he didn’t think Bailey meant to talk to her that way.
The next exchange shows that there is a chance that everyone might be able to still get out of this alive as the Grandmother asks, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady would you?” and the Misfit responds to her, “I would hate to have to.” The next round of conversation shows that the Grandmother thinks that she knows things. “I know you’re a good man.” It shows that she is willing to start saying anything, including flattery, to try to save her life.
The next symbol that comes in is the sky, which is mentioned several times . At this point of the story, the Misfit says, “Ain’t a cloud in the sky” and “Don’t see no sun but don’t see no cloud either.” According to another article, the sky at this point symbolizes the fact that no one knows how things might turn out. But this quickly changes when the mother and June Star are taken and the sky is the same, “There is not a cloud nor any sun” but it has a different meaning now that the Grandmother can’t seem to get her bearings.
The story keeps going as the Grandmother and the Misfit exchangs words. They go on and on at length about religion and the idea of justice. The Grandmother insists that he pray to Jesus, and the Misfit says he can’t believe in Jesus because he didn’t see him. Then the conversation shifts to the logistics of why and how he was sent to prison. The Misfit had no idea what he’d supposedly done – only that everything was on paper but he was not allowed to see the paper.
The crucial moment, at least as I see it, comes when the Grandmother says, “Why, you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children,” and she goes to reach out to him. The Gale article suggests that she has attained Grace by this point. That’s when he recoils and shoots her three times in the chest. After her death, the sky has changed again the book says that the Grandmother was smiling up at the “cloudless sky” I’m not sure what this means; it might mean that it is now… finally… over. Also, the smile on her face, might signify as ,another article says, the Grandmother’s access to grace from a life that had been filled with “pettiness and materials. “ All three articles suggess that the ending reflects O’Conner’s thoughts on salvation and that anyone can be saved in the end no matter how bad her life seemed to have been.
In conclusion, I do believe that the idea of a “Good” man or a “Good” woman is blurred in this story as in so many other works of O’Conner’s. The analyses of the two main characters and especially the ending scene bring to light many themes and ideas. My conclusion is that the ending was inevitable but, one good thing came out of it which happens to be the salvation of the Grandmother. Also, it is my conclusion that the Misfit wasn’t a bad person and this conclusion comes from the conversation he had with the Grandmother. He’s forcing her to think, and ultimately, he becomes, as one article says, maybe an unwilling and unlikely messenger from God to deliver the Grandmother from the life of ignorance and self-righteousness she had been living.
My last observation of this story is that the accident has two fold effect. It became both a good thing and a bad thing. It was a good thing because the Grandmother got to have the epiphany that she did. Due to this accident she gained salvation even though she lost her life in the process. The bad thing was that this accident happened at all. Everyone died due to this incident and I think it’s tragic when things happen because of people’s own inabilities to admit their shortcomings. Perhaps if the Grandmother had voiced her thought instead of staying quiet, the tragedy might have been avoided. But had she done that, her salvation would not have happened, so it’s a bittersweet ending.