"A Good Man Is Hard To FInd" by Flannery O'Conner

My Reflections on “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by Flannery O’Conner

     In “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” the grandmother foreshadows the meeting with The Misfit. As she asks her son to go somewhere else like Tennessee, she seems nervous about the possibility of running into The Misfit. Ironically, this scenario happens which leads to the demise of the grandmother and her family.

     The family in the story is portrayed as a typical American extended family. There is a father, mother, three children, and a grandmother. The grandmother tries to tell her son what to do which is also typical. Even though children grow up, they are still children to their mothers. It is comical that the children fight in the car while on a road trip. The mother seems oblivious and the father appeases the children by trying to find the plantation house so they will be quiet. He seems rather irritated by the grandmother’s suggestion to find the plantation house. He wants to stay on the road to get to their destination. The grandmother is scared to run into the escaped inmate called The Misfit, yet her suggestion to find the plantation causes this to happen.

     The Misfit in the story seems insane. At one point while talking to the grandmother, he does seem normal, but troubled.  As he continues to talk, he appears insane by the things he says. He talks to the grandmother in a normal way as each of her family members are taken in the woods to be killed. The grandmother must have know what was coming by her references to Jesus Christ, telling The Misfit he is not bad, and praying. It doesn’t help her though, because she is killed in the end as well. None of the kindness shown to The Misfit affects him.