Short Story Research

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a narration written through Flannery O’Connor which contains strange but captivating characters, ferocious plots, and spiritual views of the world. The narration is populated by fanatics and misfits from the American South settings that problematic challenges like faith, and violence.

The Grandmother’s Antics and Motives

The classic story begins with a vacation in Florida deliberate by a family. Focus is given to the grandmother and her antics and motives. She brings to picture a Misfit who is an escapee and a murderer. The journey is stuffed with humor and puzzles which unfolds as conversation goes on. The writer instrumentally combines humor with the themes in the story to define her purpose. The reader is not only overwhelmed but gets the meaning in the story as characterized by how grace works in mysterious ways.

The Use of Characters

Characters have been used by the writer to highlight the different themes and character traits in the story. The title the author used was from the short story collection that served the purpose of introducing the rest of the fiction to the whole narration. The point of view in this description is about a family that embarks on a vacation. However, these characters elicit little sympathy from readers and set the main argument from the premise of her grace to everyone especially those who are despicable. For instance, the beginning of the story makes her be selfish, contemptible, and unpleasant old lady who feels morally superior compared to other characters, claiming that her conscience guides her choices in life. However, at the end of the story, she offers love and compassion to the Misfit, believing that they share some traits amidst the fact that they were from different worlds. (O’Connor 348).

Themes in the Story

Several themes have been highlighted in the story in a way of fiction much relevance being given to the elegance of the world. O’Connor’s work is strange by the way he uses humor to highlight his intended purpose. For instance, the uses of themes elaborate the diverse ways people portray in the manner of character they operate. Two ideas are used from the play where the grandmother and Misfit do a lot of nasty things, like lies to her grandchildren and manipulate her son that does not qualify them to receive grace (O’Connor 346).

Expressing Realities through Fiction

O’Connor creates awareness of the powerful reality to her modern non-spiritual viewers as well as the monarchy of a supreme mystery. The author was also interested in using fiction to express the everyday realities seen around a clear view to the underlying levels of the eternal and obsolete characters. In this story, O’Connor reveals an outstanding demonstration of the dynamics between her art and the reader as she thought since she spent more time in explaining this story than any other. It was as if she was indulging herself in elucidating a single story as a model for the interpretation of others. Those who misunderstood the story O’Connor used numerous styles and critics to readers to enable them to understand better.

Language and Tone in the Story

Language and tone have been used widely in the story to create not only humor but also create relevance of the story. The narration was also meant to college the audience the meaning when she correctly pointed out “moment of grace’’ in the story and the comment about her intentions. She believed that literature should stand out on its own despite the fact that it may be misunderstood frequently. It was, therefore, her duty to make sure that she goaded her speaking to the purposes she is meant to do by embodying the meaning thought the article. The author also uses different tones such as figures of speech, slang expressions, and trivia to bring out the theme and mode of the story. It’s clear that the definition of a good man according to the story is biased, gullible and includes poor judgment. For instance, words such as ‘oncets’ were considerably inflected with the Southern dialect. Moreover, other phrases such as figures of speech, the mention of prayer and Jesus were used to portray satire and irony of the Southern beliefs (O’Connor 5).

The Use of Symbols

Lastly as analyzed, the author uses different symbols to describe the meanings of characters. For instance, she describes grandmother’s dressing to represent efforts made by women who are concerned about their appearance more than morality and decency. This meant that the grandmother dressed in a funny way by mixing colors. The other characters she uses to symbolize the battle between good and evil where the grandmother signifies good things while the misfit denote.

The Contest Between the Grandmother and the Misfit

As the story concludes the writer systematically brings to an end the contest between the grandmother and the Misfit. From the beginning the author tries to make the main characters develop their faith and get to be transformed. For instance, the clues are there for readers who have eyes to see them—a gesture, a childlike smile on the face of a dead old woman. However, there is more elaboration about the clues because they are equally subjected to a true-to-life understanding. For instance, the accident, the mistaken identity, and the random fate may look ironic, but their ultimate purpose is to assist the readers to see the working of grace in her stories where she provides using faith. Also, O’Connor intended to make readers understand about the action of grace and how it is recognized in the fiction that makes the story.

Work Cited

Kennedy, X.J and Gioia, Dana. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing fifth edition. Pearson. 2016.