A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Where is a Good Man?

         Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is almost entirely ironic. The story in my analysis of the structural elements is built around the irony in the theme and the characters. In the story line, the author depicts vivid contrasts of good and evil. The theme is open to interpretation of how goodness is valued for each individual and what their actions depict rather than the words they speak. The characters in the story have skewed perceptions of what makes a person good. The warped theme of what defines a “good man” in Flannery O’ Connor’s story, is presented through the literary elements of irony, symbolism, foreshadowing, and denouement creating a twisted and thought provoking ending.

        O’Connor represented dramatic irony by her portrayal of the intense characters in the story. One of the main characters is the grandmother. ^[a]It is a common perspective that a grandmother is generally good.  The grandmother with in the story is self-absorbed and morally ignorant. Before heading off on the family road trip, the grandmother puts on her best clothes stating that if they were to get into a car accident, “anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (O’Connor, pg. 471).   She associates being a good person with nice clothing and being wealthy. She claims that she would have, “done well to marry Mr. Teagarden because he was a gentleman who had bought Coca Cola stock when it first came out.  He died a wealthy man” (O’Connor, pg. 473).   Even when the family is faced with the possibility of death, the grandmother is only concerned with her own life. She uses the bribe of money and lastly her faith as a last resort to try and save herself. The Misfit is the second main character in the story.  He is an escaped criminal. He is by general standards an evil and morally corrupt individual. The Misfit knows he is not a good person. The grandmother tells the Misfit that he is a good man, “I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood” (O’Connor, pg. 477).   The Misfit states that he is not a good man. He does not deviate from his views. He stands by them. He doesn’t pretend to be righteous. "I call myself The Misfit […] because I can't make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment" (O’Connor, pg. 480). The Misfit was being honest when he spoke of his lack of faith, righteousness, and Jesus. ^[b]

         O’Connor used irony in the foreshadowing scenarios ^[c]to promote the traumatic ending. There are hints of a possible tragedy up and coming. In the beginning of the story, Misfit is brought up by the grandmother even before the family goes on their road trip. The grandmother asks the kids, “what would you do if this fellow, the Misfit, caught you” (O’Connor, pg. 470)?  Another example of foreshadowing is while the family is driving and they pass a field that has five or six graves in it.  This appears to be dark omen since the family is made up of six people. Another symbol of foreshadowing used in the story was the "big, black hearse-like automobile" that belonged to Misfit.^[d] (O’Connor, pg. 476).  All the examples of foreshadowing point to potential death being imminent.