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Good Vs Evil in Flannery O’Connor’s Short Story ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’: Essay
The short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find details a family on a car trip from Atlanta to Florida. I believe the story looks at what makes a good person versus a bad person, and how people often believe they are more virtuous than they are.
The grandmother in A Good Man Is Hard to Find is the protagonist and considers herself morally superior to the other characters in the story. She often and freely passes judgment on others. However, one could argue, she fails to ever turn her critical eye on herself and look at her own selfishness and hypocrisy. Throughout the book, she criticizes and puts her judgment on nearly everything. She tells her son Bailey that her conscience would not allow her to take her grandchildren to the same state the murderer the Misfit is headed to. I believe she often tries to show her conscience as some sort of thing everyone should obey. She looks for ways to criticize the goodness of the people in today’s world at any moment. She even criticizes her own grandchildren for things like not respecting their home state enough and not being kind enough to each other . I see these acts as hypocritical, as she fails to see the bad in herself, only looking for it in others.
When the Misfit and his partners brutally murder the family, the grandmother does not beg or even ask him to spare any of them. I believe this shows her selfishness and cold-heartedness as she does not even attempt to stop the murder of her own family. She does, however, attempt to plead for her own life. To me, she seems certain that the Misfit will recognize what she is saying, despite him being a serial killer and having murdered her family moments ago. She tries to convince him of sparing her by attempting to assure him that hes a good man. The Misfit sees this as no reason to not murder her. I think this shows the grandmothers selfish ways as she only tries to stop the Misfit from murdering her and shows no empathy towards her family as they are killed. I believe the effect of this is in the closing moments of the story, the grandmother finally comes to see herself for the person she is and not the one she likes to think she is. It is only when she is met with the purest of evil that she manages to see the evil inside herself.
Throughout the story, the grandmothers bad words and actions lead the family to ultimately be brutally murdered by the Misfit. I see it as her continually making small but harmful decisions that lead the family into more and more trouble. The grandmother is a deceiving and dishonest person, and I think this shows throughout the story. She sneaks the cat into the car and hides it from the others, even after her son, Bailey, says that he does not want the cat to come. Arguably, the cat starts the major problem in the story, as when the grandmother gets a shock and jolts in her seat, the cat flings out of the basket she hid it in and lands on the driver Baileys shoulder. This causes the family to crash into a ditch, which makes them then encounter the Misfit, which leads to their death. She also pretends to be injured when the car rolls and ends up in the ditch, hoping this will stop anyone from blaming her for the incident she caused. She also waves down the car containing the Misfit and then identifies him. One could argue this causes them to have to be murdered, as the Misfit could now not let the family go as they could report him to the police. The grandmother, whilst the family is driving, makes up a false story about how there is unfound silver in a house atop a dirt road off the main road the family is driving on. The kids beg their parents to go, and they eventually give in. Neither the house nor the silver exists. This venture on the dirt roads is the start of serious trouble for the family. I believe this is an example of how the grandmothers dishonest and deceiving ways drive and affect the story drastically and reflects her true character. The family going onto the dirt road results in the accident of the car flipping into the ditch, and then the Misfit and his partners killing the family. I believe this shows how the grandmothers actions affect those around her and herself.
I think a major theme in this story is the fact that failure to recognize evil from good, including in yourself, can lead to run-ins with much larger evil. This theme to me is explored in the story using the character of the grandmother and her actions and words. The author presents this theme using the grandmother and how she is unable to see the differences between good and evil in herself and those around her. I believe this is shown when she repeatedly calls Red Sammy a good and caring man when in reality he is a lazy restaurant owner who forces his wife to do most of the work. I think she also fails to see the evil in herself, thinking that she is a good person when actually she is hypocritical and deceiving. Whilst the Misfit systematically murders the grandmothers children and grandchildren, she repeatedly tells the Misfit that he is a good man, not an evil one. Instead of fleeing or simply begging the man to spare herself and her family, she instead attempts to convince the Misfit that he is a good person when in reality he is a serial killer. Arguably, this shows that the grandmother herself is evil, and is someone who is unable to see the evil versus good in others. I think the effect of her trying to tell the Misfit what a good man he is and not making any real attempt to save the family is that the family therefore all are murdered without any chance to escape. The grandmothers misjudgment of good versus evil led to the death of herself and her own family. I believe this portrays the theme very well, as it shows just how extreme circumstances can become when people fail to recognize the good versus the evil in themselves and others.
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