Thursday, January 6, 2011

How does Flannery O'Connor portray the family in "A Good Man is Hard to Find?"

The family,
specifically the grandmother, are alazons (those who think they are better than they really
are); they are essentialists (those who believe in a perfectible human nature); they are lost on
the road (spiritually and physically); they are "once saved, always saved" hypocrites
("wingless chickens" who think they are going to heaven and, therefore, do not take
responsibility for themselves or others).

"A Good Man is Hard to
Find" (1955) tells the story of a family en route from Tennessee to Florida for vacation.
Through a series of the mishaps by the grandmother and her cat, the family car wrecks near some
woods in Florida. Two witnesses from a following car stop to aid the family, all of whom are
relatively unscathed. The grandmother identifies one of the witnesses as The Misfit, a mass
murderer on the loose.

Her admission is a death sentence for the family. The
Misfit's accomplice takes the family into the woods and shoots them. The grandmother tries to
save herself by pleading...

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