This story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” in its interior is about suspense and karma. The suspense is all in how he keeps the old woman on her toes wondering if she will live or die. He is toying with her the whole time as if attempting to show a false sense of a moral dilemma about whether he would kill her or not, knowing full well the whole time she was dead from the start as soon as she crossed his path. The karma is in how the old lady’s manipulative words finally didn’t get her what she wanted and actually ended with her family dying because of her letting it slip that she recognized him as the misfit. It was also a lesson to show the old lady not to be so judgemental and in the end that judgement bites her in the butt and at the last moment she finally sees that judging people like she has was wrong and sees him as someone as her own child just gone down the wrong path.
Daily Archives: March 18, 2022
In his book Poetics, Aristotle makes a distinction between poetry and history. There is a strong contrast between the past and present tense in this passage. For these reasons, Aristotle believes that poetry is preferable to history. To begin, he argues that poetry is superior to history and philosophy since it is the earliest form of writing. To that end, he writes, “While history informs us about what has occurred, poetry informs us about what might occur in the future.” He continues by asserting that poetry is universal, whereas history is particular. Within its own confines, poetry can reveal a great deal about history and philosophy. Poetry encompasses the abstract and the essence of enlightenment, whereas history merely imparts information through historical events. As a result, poetry consistently excels and surpasses history. The historian asserts that he is more persuasive because he uses historical examples to teach practical ideals. Poets, by virtue of their dual roles, are both philosophers and historians (Carli, 304). He employs both perception and illustration. This means that poetry can entice readers by illustrating what should occur rather than what has occurred or will occur. For instance, a poetry can assist readers in learning about values and ethics. Aristotle asserted that poetry is universal. Aristotle defined poetry as significant because it deals with universal experiences shared by people of various races, sexes, faiths, locations, and languages. Poetry has the potential to touch the hearts and minds of people of all ages. This was not the case throughout history, when just a small number of people belonging to a certain race and geographical location were directly touched by the events depicted. Unlike history, which is primarily concerned with the events themselves, poetry is concerned with the people who lived through them, their sentiments, hopes and fears, joys […]
The story is gothic in nature and centers on The Misfit and his grandma. The Misfit is unique among the characters in that he is passionate, whilst the rest are passive (O’Connor 07). At the conclusion of the story, the reader is given the opportunity to read the discussion between The Misfit and his grandma. One thing is certain: the grandma was a hypocrite who believed in the virtues. The grandma believed that whatever she did was right and that she was teaching her children the Lord’s ways. However, with closer examination of her jabber, it becomes clear that she was a hypocrite, superficial, and flawed woman. By contrast, the Misfit lacked faith and was overwhelmed by his own pain and the suffering of others as a result of secular and divine laws’ injustices (O’Connor 09). When The Misfit is labeled as the lone person who understands the hardship of finding a good man, the story’s gothic element is revealed. Notably, despite their disparate personalities, both the grandmother and The Misfit are products of grace. There is a blurring of what is good caused by the grandmother’s constant belief that everything is wonderful, which makes it difficult to discern what is not good. Both the grandmother and the Misfit have several flaws, have fallen into sin, and are fundamentally defective; nonetheless, they are both recipients of redemption, since all individuals are rescued by grace. The story demonstrates that only God determines who will enter heaven, which indicates that even people who commit sin can enter paradise as a result of God’s rescuing love. The grandma and the Misfit do not deserve grace for their awful characteristics, yet God chooses them both, conveying the readers that even bad people have a chance to enter heaven via God’s grace.
In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the depth or interior of the story is centralized around the grandmother and her ways of life. She preaches the whole time of how people were better back in the day but fails realize she is apart of the problem. She sees people in a different light than of herself and until the end she tries to portray this holy woman of god persona. She believes that appearances should be the entire basis of what or how someone should be perceived inside. She tells the misfit that he looks like a good man and thus should deep down be one. She is also certain that he would never kill a lady and tries to use this as protection for herself and never once tries to do the same for the others. Outside of the struggles the family is going through the main one purpose of the story is to shine light on the ugliness inside of the grandmother.
In its “interior”, I feel that “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is about how the absence of “bad” or “evil” doesn’t necessarily make a person “good”. O’Connor introduces us to several characters, all of whom are very unlikeable. Bailey seems always annoyed, his wife doesn’t have much personality and both of their children are bratty and rude. The grandmother, however, is the one that stands out as having the attributes that are commonly considered as belonging to someone who is “good”. She dresses well, she believes in Jesus, she’s old, and she pretends to care for her grandchildren’s well-being. While none of these characters is actually too awful, none has any qualities that would indicate they were a good human being. I think O’Connor intentionally created these characters to be relatable to the reader, not necessarily that we personally identify with them, but in the sense that we all know people like each of these characters. We don’t consider them to be bad people, we might even subconsciously consider them to be good people if they are wealthy, religious, or take care of themselves physically. We especially don’t consider them to be bad when there is always the bad guy, or “Misfit”, to whom we can compare them.
The story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by O’Connor may seem like a unusual tragedy storytelling at its first glance — a story about a cruel serial killer that in a pitiless acts decided to take away the lives of a family of six members, without any apparent motivation besides disregard for their existence. However, when diving deep into the narrative and analyzing not only the prior events before the tragedy but also every character — from the grandmother to the children — we realize that the short novel is much more about the duality of the human kind more than anything else. The reason for that observation is based mostly, but not only, on the grandmother’s character. Throughout the whole story she shows herself as a racist, selfish, shallow and manipulative person that still believes that being christian makes her inherently good individual. On the other side, Misfits — the serial killer — can be seen as a calm, rational and self aware figure, despite his lack of empathy for human life. One may argue that in a different occasion, he could be a good person. The “interior” on this novel is to show that despite the antagonist’s brutal acts towards that family, being “good” or “bad” is a condition that goes beyond that, in places that we are yet to discover inside the human mind.
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor, to my interpretation, the meaning of the story on an interior level, is to enhance the beauty and the madness within the world we live in, in a way deemed cruel and unfortunate to the perception of the average reader. Beneath the surface, this literature represents the depth behind how perspective is relative. Obviously, an entire family being murdered does not represent the beauty of life to many; however, to The Misfit, the madness that he participates in throughout his life is part of the “beauty” of being a human who has never chosen to embrace the light of life. On the contrary, to the family, things such as the beautiful white house with “hidden silver” the grandmother and children wanted to see, and the land on the drive there, the nice traveling weather, are representations of beauty in life. Perspective is relative as you can see, relative to your past, upbringing, your environment, your surroundings, morals, etc. Similarly, the perspective of the grandmother initially, shifts by the end of the story. Originally, she seems selfish and hypocritical, naive to the broadness of what makes the world what is was at that point. Toward the end, you begin to feel empathy for her, as she is trying to reassure The Misfit he is a good person. Why? Her life is in danger and her family’s been killed. The beauty in the madness of that situation is you see how life, during good and bad, evokes various parts of your being, as this did for her, showing how perspective is relative to sources only available through the lens of the interpreter at the very moment. Good and evil are purely human concepts developed as a way for us to compare one another, “A Good […]
In the story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” O’Connor shows the elements of suspense in it will be transferred from its surface to its interior, for example, the Grandmother at first you might think she’s a regular woman (grandmother) but later as the story goes on, things start to show up, that she’s very selfish, she will manipulating the family to get what she wants. At first, she forces Bailey(her son) to change the trip from Florida to Tennessee with news of “Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit… did to these people” and cries about it that she wouldn’t let her children go there. Later on the trip, she knows Bailey hate traveling with a cat but she still brought with it on, also the dress she dressed very fancy, it ironic for me because it just trips why do you dress up like this, and later she explained that if she ends up dead on the road, people would find her will know she was a lady, which brings an idea for me to think, she probably means even if she is dead on the road if people find her they will know she was a lady(in a pure way, let people think she’s kind, innocent, and friendly). Baily her son, didn’t talk much in the story probably just sick and tired of his mother, just like a doll to her.
O’Connor states that in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, readers “should know what is going to happen in this story so that the element of suspense in it will be transferred from its surface to its interior”. If you know what happens in the story, then upon reading it you can see clear signs of foreshadowing that hints at how the story will end. The first sign of foreshadowing has to do with how the grandmother was dressed. She was described as being elegantly dressed and even mentions how if she were to die she would still keep her “ladylike” appearances. The grandmother unintentionally prepares herself for the exact incident she mentions. Another sign of foreshadowing is when they notice a graveyard fenced in on a hill where a plantation used to be. The grandmother refers to it as a “family graveyard” and has “five or six graves”, one for each family member. The graveyard represents the family and their impending death.
I believe that “A Good Man is Hard to Find” interior is about the way people change their ways when put in a dangerous situations. From the beginning of the story, we notice that the grandma is a very selfish and manipulating lady. She tries to convince her family to go to Tennessee instead of Florida by telling them that there is a Misfit on the loose and it would be very dangerous to go to Florida because of it. And that Tennessee could be a great learning experience for the kids. On the trip, they encounter the Misfit and his guys and the family is slowly killed one by one. The grandmother is the last to be killed but before she is, she tried to convince the misfit to not kill her by telling him he is a good man. The misfit states “she would have been a good women..if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” This quotes implies that the grandmother only change her ways from a selfish, hypocritical, and manipulating woman to a Christian faith and “kind” woman when she is put in a violent situation. Which ties to the title that “a good man is hard to find”.
In the story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor the “interior” the author speaks of means that the character in her story, the grandmother whos a religious person but also very much racist who constantly passes judgment on others and an annoying character overall, and also the Misfit who’s a criminal and an ignorant man who believed the world punished him from doing what they (society) thought was wrong because he didn’t believe there was a right or wrong thing to do. Although these characters are described differently they’re both similar in a way because both of these characters at the end try to find mercy and not for one other but for themselves, The grandmother before dying had a self-reflection of her evil actions and so did the Misfit after killing the grandmother, he also came to a self-reflection that the grandmother was actually a good person and not everyone was unkind, The “interior” meaning was that anyone can change and these two characters in the story were a good example of two horrible characters have a self-reflection toward the end of the story.
In the essay about suspense in her story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” O’Connor writes that readers, like the ancient Greek viewers of tragedy, “should know what is going to happen in this story so that the element of suspense in it will be transferred from its surface to its interior.” We know what the story is about on the surface. What do you feel the story is about in its “interior?” I believe that the author, in saying that allowing the reader to know what’s going to happen in the story enables them to take the story from the surface to the interior is alluding to dramatic device in writing. The use of this device, I believe, allows the reader to not just become consumed with the one element of suspense. Rather, the reader, in already knowing the outcome, can shift their focus to other themes the author is trying to convey in their work- such as family dynamics, the Grandmother’s manipulative behavior, and the Misfits perception of life. The Grandmother, being the main character of the story, uses her words wisely in order to gain what she wants from others, acting as a puppeteer so to speak. Her manipulative behavior ends up being her demise. As the Misfit enters the story, it is difficult to get much of a read on him. As the Grandmother tries to penetrate the emotional wall he puts up using statements about religious beliefs and questions about his past, ultimately trying to tie it into relating to him which gets her killed. The Misfit saw past that. The quote “Daddy was a card himself,” The Misfit said. “You couldn’t put anything over on him. He never got in trouble with the Authorities though. Just had the knack of handling them.” [103-106], […]
The grandmother and Misfit in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” live by moral rules that influence their decisions, behaviors, and perceptions. The grandmother’s moral code is based on the qualities she feels define as “good” individuals. At the same time, she deceives her family on a regular basis and has only a rudimentary understanding of the world around her. The Misfit, on the other hand, follows a strict and consistent moral code. He also has real skepticism about religion. Unlike the grandma, who accepts faith without inquiry and without thought, the Misfit questions religious beliefs and considers how he should follow or not follow them. We know what the story is about on the surface. What do you feel the story is about in its “interior? The “interior” of the narrative, in my opinion, is about differences. Because each character in the novel has unique qualities, attitudes, and beliefs, I say differences. Every character in the novel, I believe, has a unique way of acting and thinking about things.
In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O Conner the interior of this story is karma in a way because of how the grandmother was selfish and did anything to get what she wanted. When she didn’t get what she wanted she would be difficult to the people around her. She was self centered and didn’t care about anyone else other but her self, She got her karma when her family was killed due to her being difficult . In the end the grandmother saw that being this way and being selfish got her to this point with no one in her family. This led to the point of her and the misfit, where she tries to convince the misfit that he is a good person and should spare her life. This is an example of her manipulation to get her to live more longer. Death is a test of good faith but it seems the grandmother doesn’t have it.
In the story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by O’Connor. The interior is about suspense and humor. The suspense is built around the old lady’s survival from the killing of the misfit. The misfit scares the old lady causing her to lose faith in believing she will survive. She begins to persuade him to let her live but the opposite of what she expected happened. The old lady has this self-righteous and manipulating humor. She decides to manipulate her son into not traveling to Florida by trying to act like it’s for the safety of the family. When in reality she just wanted to travel to visit family in Tennessee. She uses logic when using fear and guilt to try and convince her son to do what she wants. The old lady selfish manipulated ways caused her family to go on a detour that led them to death and her in the hands of the misfit. The old lady tries to manipulate everyone around her to get what she wants but in the end, it does not work with the misfit.
In the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’ Connor, the interior story is the conflict between the grandmother and The Misfit. The grandmother is narrow-minded, superficial, manipulative, and thinks of nobody else’s desires besides her own. Therefore, she spends most of the story manipulating the family to concede to her desires. Things such as going to Tenessee instead of Florida for the family vacation and visiting an old house she remembered growing up are examples of this behavior. The Misfit is a character mentioned throughout the text as an evil criminal that, on the surface, should be a classic good vs. evil story. Instead, what happens is he brings a momentary instance of redemption for the grandmother as she nears the final moments of her life. She attempts to comfort The Misfit with a touch on the shoulder during a moment of vulnerability and says, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” (O’Connor par. 135). The Misfit immediately shoots her when he is touched, and afterward, he says, “She would of been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” (par. 139) Therefore, the tragedy in the interior is that it took a very violent and tragic event to force her into showing some compassion for someone other than herself.
