Taking A Good Look In Point Of View In "A Good Man Is Hard To Find"

Crystal Thomas

Professor Spurlock

EN 2203/03

February 23, 2006

Taking a Good Look in Point of View in "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

Flannery O'Connor uses all kind of things in the short story "A Good Man is

Hard to Find." In this story she portrays how the south was back in the 1950's. She uses point of view to tell the story of a family who goes out on vacation gone wrong. It involves a grandmother, her only son, wife, and her spoiled grandchildren.

On their way to Florida, the grandmother convinces the family to go to see an old house, and while going to see the old house the get into an accident. The Misfit, an murderer who escapes out of prison along with his buddies, Bobby Lee and Hiram stops and offers to help them out. After that the grandmother recognizes quickly and speaks out and says, "You're The Misfit!' she said. "I recognized you at once!'" (p. 436). The Misfits says that it would have been better for them that she did notice him and that's when the grandmother son said something harsh to the grandmother and she started to cry. The Misfit had Bobby Lee and Hiram take the husband and the son out to the woods first to be killed quickly.

Even though all the while the family members are getting killed, the grandmother is pleading with the Misfit and having conversations with him but it was useless, this story provides a unique point of view. The grandmother is a old style classic southern woman who is very odd and comes off as a racist person. However, she may not even be a racist but just and immature old lady and she too set on her ways to deal with the changing in time. As the grandmother said, "Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!... Wouldn't that make a picture now?" (p. 431). When O'Connor wrote this story she probably didn't or she probably did want to show the grandmother off as a racist.

The father Bailey, ignores his mother and as the way to putting it, sparing the rod with his children in respect and manners towards others. "The children began to yell and scream that they wanted to