In Flannery O 'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find'

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Throughout Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the perpetual “good man” seems to be elusive to the grandmother. The grandmother meets two men in this story who she refers to as a “good man.” Even though these men are complete strangers to her she counts herself a good judge of character. Would the grandmother then consider herself a good woman? In truth the grandmother does consider herself a good woman but she has many flaws of her own and isn’t the best person to be judging others let alone herself.
The grandmother sees herself as a lady and tries to portray this to the rest of the world. She is meticulous in how she dresses even though the rest of the family is dressed casually. She had “on a navy blue straw sailor hat with …show more content…
When the grandmother is talking to Bailey at the beginning of the story he “didn’t look up from his reading”. She then turns to the children’s mother to speak to her but “The children’s mother didn’t seem to hear her”. John Wesley is disrespectful in how he talks to his grandmother and in how he treats his sister. June Star is also disrespectful to her grandmother. She talks back to her and is disrespectful in the car ride. Both children sit on either side of the grandmother but continue to fight and slap at each other even with her in the middle. She does lecture the children on being good and respectful. She says “In my time, children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else. “ She then immediately contradicts herself by exclaiming, “Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!” She then goes further and says “Little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do.” This is an offensive word to call someone by. It is a derogatory word that reveals the grandmother’s view point on race. She lectures the children about respect but has no respect for the less …show more content…
In the first sentence of the story “she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind.” The grandmother doesn’t want to go to Florida and instead wants to visit friends in Tennessee. She tries to change Bailey’s mind by showing him the newspaper about “The Misfit”. She says “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did.” This is also ironic as she does go with her whole family to Florida and meets up with “The Misfit”. It was her selfishness that eventually leads the family to their death. She was the one who decided she just couldn’t leave the cat behind so she hides the cat in the basket. It was her who made up the story about a secret panel to get the children to change Bailey’s mind about going to see the plantation. She is the one who knocks over the basket which causes the cat to jump on Bailey and gets them in an accident. Up until this point she is focused on her own agenda not caring about the others and their wishes. It isn’t until she meets “The Misfit” and faces death that she learns the truth about
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