Flannery O'Connor wrote a short story named "A Good Man is Hard to Find", which seems to center itself in the perspective of the grandma and the dialog of the grandma and the Misfit. A family heads to Florida on a trip from Atlanta, Georgia. Passing through the state of Georgia that takes a short detour which costs them an accident. The children yell, "We've had an accident!", but one of them sadly states that, "nobody's killed".
What a statement to come from a kid. But the statement will be proven false in a few minutes when they meet three strangers.
The grandma tries to find a good man in the Misfit through their conversation, but there isn't one to be found, therefore, "A Good Man is Hard to find".
They are all murdered a the story ends proving the title.
Lots of ironies here--ironies in the fact that the Misfit is the only one in the story who actually "represents" what the GM seems to mean by a "good man," which also suggests something about the value of the GMs worldview, of which this concept is a key part....
ReplyDeleteThe character of the Misfit is the only one who lives up to who he really is...an inhumane killer who gets no joy out of life. Although the grandmother insisted h was a good man, he plainly admitted "I ain't a good man." The grandmother had a vision of herself as a "lady" of pious virtues mixed with an uppity southern belle reminiscent of "Gone with The Wind." Her actions were totally opposite from being this type of upper crust woman. She told the misfit he was not common. She fancied herself uncommon as well, but even her peanut butter and olive sandwich was a contradiction to her delusional vision of herself. She was totally out of touch with reality.
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