Ambiguity In O'Connor

Ambiguity in 'A Good Man is Hard to Find'

In most short stories ambiguity is used to some extent. The level of ambiguity in each story varies, however the importance and value of that vagueness does not. Ambiguity often leads to elevating the thought put into reading the text, as well as numerous interpretations. In Flannery O'Connor's short story, 'A Good Man is Hard to Find', the ambiguous theme causes both deeper thought and different opinions about the text. Through the characters in the story, the reader can reflect on the recurring theme which poses the question of what makes a person good.

Ambiguity in short stories is common and can be used in many different ways by the author. Flannery O'Connor uses ambiguity in the theme of her story, 'A Good Man is Hard to Find'. Throughout the entire story the notion of 'a good man' continues to arise. While the characters in the story dwell on the idea of a good man, it is never clear what makes a man good. Adding to the vagueness of the theme is each characters interpretation of the term 'good man'. The grandmother seems to have an old-fashioned outlook, always speaking highly of the people in past times. At one point in the story she is preaching to her grandchildren, "In my time, children were more respectful..." implying that people are less considerate and polite presently than in the past. Later in the story she is conversing with a restaurant owner, Red Sammy, and states that "People are certainly not nice like they used to be," again implying that people of the past were better than the people of today. However the grandmother's view of a good man is not the standard used by others in the story. During the conversation at the restaurant, the grandmother explains that she believes Red Sammy is a good man. This perception evidently is not shared completely by Red Sammy's wife. Sammy's wife claims, "It isn't a soul in this green world of God's that you can trust. And I don't count nobody out of that, not nobody." She says this while looking directly at Red Sammy, implying she doesn't consider him trustworthy. Situations such as this cause ambiguity throughout the story. While the grandmother seems to believe Red Sammy is a good man, his wife does not. These types of hypocrisies illustrate the point of multiple outlooks on the topic of a good man; goodness is in the eye of the beholder.

Later in the story O'Connor illustrates conflicting views once again on the subject of goodness. Near the conclusion of the story the grandmother is pleading with the Misfit. During this scene the reader can explore the Misfit's criteria for goodness. He claims that he comes from good parents saying that, "...my daddy's heart was pure gold." Later in the same scene the Misfit implies that his dad may have gotten into his share of trouble stating, "Daddy was a card himself ... He never got in trouble with the authorities though. Just had the knack of handling them." This comment seems to contradict his early statement in which he believed his dad was a good man. The Misfit's statements leave the reader with yet another viewpoint on the definition of goodness. Even though the Misfit's dad was apparently in his share of trouble, the Misfit still considered him to be a good man.

Within the same scene the grandmother repeatedly calls the Misfit a good man. She says at one point, "I just know you're a good man. You're not a bit common." She says this about the Misfit knowing that he has killed innocent people before. This is another contradiction to the common perception of a good man, which leaves the reader in thought about what makes a man good. The grandmother suggests that the Misfit must be good simply because he came from a good household. This statement directly contradicts what she says earlier about her grandchildren being disrespectful and lacking some of the goodness which her generation had, because her grandchildren came from her household. All of these contradictions within the text leave it up to the reader to ultimately