A Good Man is Hard to Find

The perspective of the narrator?

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is told from a limited third-person from the grandmother's POV.

When was she diagnosed with Lupus?

1950 (about 25)

What year did she publish "a good man is hard to find"?

1955

What did the grandmother flag down?

A black battered hearse like car with three men in it

Foreshadowing? Misfit

As they prepare for the trip, the grandmother warns Bailey, "This fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose ... and headed toward Florida." At the Tower restaurant Red Sammy Butts, his wife, and the grandmother discuss The Misfit, wondering whether he will drop in at the restaurant.

From what city were they leaving?

Atlanta

Flannery O'Conner died?

August 3, 1964 in Milledgeville, Georgia

What is the name of the grandmother's only son?

Bailey

Allusions? John Wesley

Bailey's son seemingly is named for the 18th-century John Wesley, an Anglican (Church of England) minister who cofounded Methodism. As a young man Wesley emigrated from England to Savannah, Georgia, to lead a congregation of colonists.

What did Bobby Lee bring back from the woods?

Bailey's yellow shirt with blue parrots on it

Describe Bailey?

Bailey, the grandmother's son, is frustrated. He says little to the other characters including his children. He is not interested in what they want and only gives in to visit the plantation because he can't stand their whining. He is a follower and shows no original thought. Bailey tries to talk to The Misfit and his gang but is unsuccessful. He shows interest in his mother only when he is being taken away, and then seems to hope that she will somehow make things better. When disaster strikes he is in over his head and does nothing to save his family.

What did the grandmother take in the car with her?

Big black valise and a basket with Pitty Sing, the cat.

What made Mr. Teagarden wealthy?

Bought Coca-Cola stock when it first came out

What did the monkey do as the children watched?

Caught fleas on himself and bit them

Themes?

Chance Grace Spiritual Blindness

Where did the grandmother want to go instead of Florida?

East Tennessee

Flannery O'Connor parents?

Edward Francis O'Connor, Jr., and Regina Cline O'Connor

Who did the grandmother blame for people not being nice and trustworthy anymore?

Europe

What caused the accident?

Grandmother upset her valise causing the newspaper over the basket to let Pitty Sing out. She jumped on Bailey's shoulder

Allusion? Pitty Sing

Grandmother's cat appears to be named for Pitti-Sing, an excitable character in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado, first performed in 1885. A further allusion may be to the Mikado character himself, whose preoccupation is to "let the punishment fit the crime."

The "Tower" owner was lying on the ground working on a truck with a ________ chained to a chinaberry tree nearby.

Gray Monkey

What did Pitty Sing look like?

Gray-striped with white face and orange nose

What did the mother seem to always wear on her head?

Green Head Kerchief

What was strange about the appearance of the little black boy standing in the door of a shack?

He didn't have any britches on

Why did grandmother say that the "Misfit" must be a good man?

He didn't look like he had common blood but came from good people

Why was the grandmother dressed up?

If they had an accident people seeing her on the side of the road would know she was a lady

Why did the grandmother write down the mileage?

Interesting to see how far they traveled

What did John Wesley say about the state of Tennessee?

It was a hillbilly dumping ground

Name the two children other than the baby?

John Wesley (son, age 8) and June Star (daughter with yellow hair)

Describe John Wesley?

John Wesley is a precocious young boy who is interested in adventure. He feels bored and is excited when the grandmother suggests visiting the plantation because of the secret panel that hides riches. He is neither intimidated by nor particularly interested in adults. He can be obnoxious and violent: he fights with his sister and ferociously kicks Bailey's car seat.

Describe June Star?

June Star is a rude little girl and is ready to say anything to anybody. Her rudeness is on full display in exchanges with her grandmother, Red Sammy Butts's wife, and The Misfit. When The Misfit orders the family around, she speaks up. She does not respect her elders or recognize the severity of the situation. Like her brother she longs for adventure and cheers the accident, but she is disappointed when no one dies.

What disease was Flannery O'Connor's father diagnosed with when she was twelve?

Lupus (an incurable metabolic disease)

Flannery O'Connor born?

March 25, 1925

Who wrote a good man is hard to find?

Mary Flannery O'Connor

What town did she spend most of her life in?

Milledgeville

Where did she attend school?

Peabody High School and Georgia College (Georgia State College for Women)

Who first said the "a good man is hard to find?"

Red Sam

Who owned "The Tower," a barbecue place they stopped for lunch?

Red Sammy Butts (fat man)

Flannery O'Connor birthplace?

Savannah, Georgia

What type of story is "a good man is hard to find"?

Southern Gothic

What did June Star do to music in the restaurant?

Tap dance routine

What lie did the grandmother tell to try and get Bailey to turn off to go see an old plantation house?

That it had a secret panel with silver hidden in it

What argument did the grandmother use to convince the mother?

That the children had been to Florida before and should go to Tennessee to broaden their life

What had the grandmother remembered before letting the cat out?

That the house she had remembered was not in Georgia but Tennessee

Foreshadowing? Automobile

The "big black battered hearse-like automobile" the killers arrive in may be an omen predicting the vehicle is soon to be needed for the grandmother and her family.

Describe the Misfit?

The Misfit is a violent, escaped convict. He is a man of contradictions. Despite his background, he blushes from embarrassment when Bailey uses foul language. While instructing Hiram and Bobby Lee to take family members away to be killed, he apologizes for not wearing a shirt. He compliments his parents, yet he killed his father. He acknowledges killing his father, but he does not take complete responsibility for his actions. He compares himself to Jesus, but says he does not believe. He gets into a soul-searching philosophical discussion with the grandmother, but after shooting her he says she could have been a good woman if she were threatened with death every minute of her life.

What did the mother play with her dime on the nickelodeon?

The Tennessee Waltz

Describe the children's mother?

The children's mother hardly speaks in the story. She is not given a name, to signify that her only purpose is to look after the children. In contrast to the grandmother and Bailey, she is selfless. Her life revolves around her children. She is particularly concerned about the baby and is always holding him. When she realizes her husband and older son have been killed, she chooses death.

Describe the Grandmother?

The grandmother is judgmental and selfish. She longs for a time when she thinks things were better. This sentiment is expressed when she speaks with Red Sammy Butts. She lives with her son, Bailey, and his family and is often critical of them. While she makes some attempts to engage with the family, they show little interest and little respect for her. Her judgments of them leave them uninterested in her and her opinions. When the family is approached by The Misfit, the grandmother is concerned about her own safety and shows little care for Bailey and his family. The grandmother performs one genuine act of concern in the story, and it is her last action.

Foreshadowing? Graveyard

The graveyard the family passes contains "five or six" graves, a number that equals the population of the grandmother's family.

Which man was familiar to the grandmother?

The older skinny one with glasses and no shirt

What article in the newspaper did she use to try and convince him?

The one about "The Misfit" escaping from the Federal Pen and heading to Florida

What was her son reading when she tried to convince him not to go to Florida?

The orange sports section of the "Journal"

About the Title?

The title "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" comes from a song composed by Eddie Green in 1918: "A good man is hard to find/You always get the other kind." One theme in the story hinges on defining a good man.

After shooting grandmother, what did the "Misfit" do

Took his glasses off to clean them

A Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden courted the grandmother before she married. What did he bring her and what did he carve on it?

Watermelon/EAT (initials)

Where did the grandmother say the plantation, now a graveyard, had gone?

With the Wind

What did grandmother do once she recognized the man?

Yelled that he was the misfit

What animal was she obsessed with?

a peacock

What did grandmother offer him not to shoot her?

all her money

What religion were Flannery O'Connor's parents?

catholic

What did the children read in the car?

comic books

What were the three men carrying?

guns

What did the "Misfit" find pleasure in?

meanness and sin

What was the sky like while grandmother talked with the "Misfit"?

not a cloud in the sky but it wasn't sunny

What injury did the mother have?

only a cut on the face and a broken shoulder

What did grandmother keep telling the "Misfit" he should do?

pray

What convinced Bailey to turn off?

screaming children

The "Misfit" said grandmother would have been a good woman if there had been someone to ________ her every minute of her life?

shoot

Since the "Misfit" can't make all that he did wrong fit all the punishment he has received he has started _________ a written copy of what he has done wrong?

signing

What did the "Misfit" do when grandmother reached out and touched him after saying that he was one of her own children?

sprang back and shot her three times

What did the grandmother say she would do to keep the children from fighting over the cloud game?

tell them a story

Who did the "Misfit" leave alive?

the cat (the cause of the accident)

Where did the "Misfit" order Bobby Lee and Hiram to take Bailey and John Wesley?

the woods

How did the children affect the "Misfit"?

they made him nervous