a good man is hard to find

complication

The Misfit arrives on the scene.

antagonist

The Misfit is definitely the bad guy: he's a murderer, after all. What's more, he's a criminal who seems to do bad things for the sake of doing bad things without remorse. He's the one who confronts, threatens, and kills the family of the protagonist, and ultimately the protagonist herself. There's an antagonist for you

protagonist

The grandmother is the central character in the story. She's the focus of the narrative, the character whose reactions we hear the most about, as well as the only character who's head we get inside (although not too deeply).

society and class

The grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" gives great importance to being "a lady," and her ideas about what that means reflect an old-fashioned, somewhat upper-crust Southern mindset. She uses the n-word and longs for the good old days when kids were polite, people were trustworthy, and there were pretty plantations to visit. All of this leads her to associate being "good" with coming from a respectable family and behaving like a member of her social class; those who don't are outsiders. Her sensibilities are in for quite a shock when she meets The Misfit.

family

Besides its more serious themes, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" contains some mercilessly funny comedy about a dysfunctional family, and the ways they get on each other's nerves. You know, the kind of family that could be in a National Lampoon movie? There's the two troublesome and annoying kids, the hot-headed dad who tries to maintain control of a situation and fails, the wife busy attending to the baby, and the grandmother, who's a case all to herself (and also the main character). Though the story starts out seeming like a comedy, it takes a serious turn when the family encounters a criminal, who kills them one by one. Whether this family members attract any genuine sympathy from the reader, or from each other, or whether they death presents little more than a black comedy is an issue up for debate.

setting

georgia, post- war midcentury

characters

the grandmother, the misfit, bailey, june star, john wesley, the mother, bobby lee, hiram, red sammy, pitty sing

narrator

third person- limited omniscient

symbolism

toombsboro, black hearselike mobile, dark forest, cloudless sunless sky

good vs evil

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a confrontation of between a grandmother with a rather superficial sense of goodness, and a criminal who embodies real evil. The grandmother seems to treat goodness mostly as a function of being decent, having good manners, and coming from a family of "the right people." What a contrast, then, when the grandmother encounters The Misfit, who seems straightforwardly evil, with little to no sense of guilt, and a genuine desire to do cruel or destructive things for their own sake. Understanding the motivations of The Misfit, and what "goodness" means by contrast, is one of the central puzzles of the story.

conclusion

"It's no real pleasure in life."

climax

"One of my babies!"...

deouement

"Take her off and throw her where you thrown the others"

manipulation

Flannery O'Connor understood her story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" as a tale of good, evil, and divine grace. Other critics, however, have seen in it something more cynical. Many see it as the story of a selfish woman who uses manipulation to get what she wants, but is ultimately unable to save herself by her acts. There are several moments in the story when the grandmother manipulates others, including her family members and the criminal. An interesting question is whether she ever stops manipulating, and if so, when.

religion

The central confrontation between the grandmother and The Misfit in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" revolves around Jesus. The grandmother brings up praying to Jesus in the hope that she can induce The Misfit to spare her life by appealing to his religious sense. It turns out, however, that The Misfit has probably thought about Jesus more seriously than she has. The Misfit's doubt in Jesus leads him to think that there is no real right or wrong, and no ultimate point to life. At the story's climax, the grandmother appears to receive a moment of divine grace, which might transform her and The Misfit. How this ending is understood is the major question of the story.

conflict

There's a car accident...but nobody is killed. Yet.

exposition

There's a criminal on the loose. But let's go on a road trip anyway.

tone

cynical

themes

good vs evil, religion, manipulation, family, society and class