Flannery O'Connor was born in Georgia, the same state that she wrote about some twenty years later in A Good Man is Hard to Find, as she describes with thoughtful imagery the grandmother's fierce objections to her family traveling to Florida. Having lived through the fifties, O'Connor was exposed to a view of life that today might be considered profoundly racist. Before the sixties arrived, and along with them the Civil Rights Movement, the nation—especially the South—was a breeding ground for ignorant standpoints and racist points of view.
The character of the grandmother echoes these small-minded sentiments. The author makes the grandmother's view of life obvious from the start. It is obvious that the grandmother feels separated from the rest of the family. She presents herself as regal, confident, the matriarch of the family. It appears as though she is disappointed with the laidback attitude with which her son conducts his life. Her view of life is very old-fashioned, which becomes more evident as the story progresses and the family makes their way out of Georgia and into Florida.
[...] His last line, also the story's last line, illustrates his view of life, when he responds to Bobby Lee's giddiness at the thought of shooting the grandmother by saying, “Shut up, Bobby Lee It's no real pleasure in life.” The Misfit seems to act out of sheer necessity, rather than Bobby Lee who obviously takes a joy in killing people. The Misfit operates based on the only way of life that he knows, “clinging desperately” to his “outworn beliefs” of how he should run his life—in this regard he is similar to the grandmother, possibly more so than any other character. [...]
[...] The Different Views of Life in A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor Flannery O'Connor was born in Georgia, the same state that she wrote about some twenty years later in A Good Man is Hard to Find, as she describes with thoughtful imagery the grandmother's fierce objections to her family traveling to Florida. Having lived through the fifties, O'Connor was exposed to a view of life that today might be considered profoundly racist. Before the sixties arrived, and along with them the Civil Rights Movement, the nation—especially the South—was a breeding ground for ignorant standpoints and racist points of view. [...]
[...] This and the fact that the grandmother says, “Wouldn't that make a picture,” rather than, “Wouldn't he make a picture,” show that she has already begun to dehumanize him, possibly as a way to separate herself from his The children in the story, John Wesley and June Star, provide a pleasant outlook through the eyes of children: argumentative, and always in constant wonder of their surroundings. Their view of life is insightful and the author paints a wonderfully accurate picture of how children interact with one another as well as with their families. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
