1. “A GOOD MAN IS HARD
TO FIND”
Final exam essay subject
2. O’CONNOR, FROM “THE FICTION
WRITER AND HIS COUNTRY”:
• “Writers who see by the light of their Christian faith will have, in these times,
the sharpest eye for the grotesque. . . The novelist with Christian concerns will
find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem
will be to make these appear as distortions to an audience which is used to
seeing them as natural. . . You have to make your vision apparent by shock –
to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large
and startling figures.” – written in 1957
• O’Connor opens our eyes to the horror in ordinary people and events.
3. TYPICAL SOUTHERN AMERICAN
FAMILY
• In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O’Connor presents us with a typical family
about to go on vacation.
• What do we learn about each member of the family as we’re introduced to
them in the story’s first half? How might we describe them?
• They’re scary.
• Warmth and love seem conspicuous by their absence from this family
dynamic. This adds to the disturbing tone of their interactions.
4. POV CHARACTER: THE
GRANDMOTHER
• Freewrite over the first paragraph on p. 470. Take apart the dialogue and
description. What do we learn?
• A few key points:
• 1) She has no name. Her only identity and purpose come from her position in
the family. She’s defined by it.
• 2) Her only power comes from her ability to persuade and/or manipulate.
“She was seizing at every chance to change Bailey’s mind” (470) about
where the family goes on vacation. We learn quickly that she has failed.
5. ALSO IN PARAGRAPH 1
• We get our first look at the Misfit, as the grandmother uses him to convince
Bailey Florida isn’t the place to go.
• He “calls himself” the Misfit (470), assuming control over his identity.
• He is “aloose from the Federal Pen” (470). Literally, “Pen” is short for
penitentiary, but a “pen” is also a place where animals are confined. Thus
the Misfit is linked to the animal side of human nature.
• The grandmother does not name his crimes, which makes readers feel more
ill at ease than we would if she’d provided a description.
6. NAMES HAVE POWER
• “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would
know at once that she was a lady” (471).
• Not only is this a splendid quote, but it also indicates a major theme in the
story: naming/labeling.
• When we give something or someone a name, we’ve assumed some control
over that thing or person’s identity (or so we imagine). The grandmother
seeks to identify herself as a “lady” to cast herself as valuable in her own and
the world’s eyes.
