A+Good+Man+is+Hard+to+Find

= __A Good Man is Hard to Find__ =

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Summary Characters Setting



= __Summary__ := 

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 The short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" was written by Flannery O'Conner. This was an interesting short story for it started out normal and ended with a bang, literally. A family of five; husband, wife, little boy, a little girl, a new baby, and their grandmother who insists they should go to Tennessee instead of Florida for the family vacation. She secretly packs her pet cat in the car, which later on ends up causing the beginning to all the problems. The family stops for lunch at a near by diner and they are introduced to this Misfit character who is dangerous criminal on the loose. As the family is driving, the car hits a bump and the cat flies across the car into Bailey, the driver and the car ends up flipping over into a ditch. No one is hurt but as they get out the car two mysterious men walk over to help them and the Grandmother knew the one looked familiar but it didn't exactly hit her until a little later. She then realized he was the Misfit, which was a life threatening thing to realize. The Grandmother tried to talk her and her family out of the situation, but she just ended up making things worse. One by one the Misfit's helper took each family member into the forest. The husband and little boy were first. The wife with the baby and the Grandmother waited outside crying in terror as they hear two loud bangs awaiting their fate. The Misfit then sent the wife along with the baby back into the woods. Another two loud bangs were followed shortly after they went in. This left the grandmother alone with the Misfit trying to talk him out of his bad doing. After a while of pleading and assuring him a better life, the Misfit finally had it with her babbling and put an end to it. Everything went silent. The two men talked and laughed at what they have done, which was killing a whole family and walking away without any kind of bad conscious what so ever. ======



= __Character__ __s__ :=  ** Grandma**: She talks a lot, kind of gets on her family's nerves at times, and has a tendency to try an convince people to do things the way she wants them to happen. An old lady with old fashioned ideas and manners. The grandmother is directive, talkative, a bit silly, and full of herself. She also can be manipulative. She considers herself a good person, and a kind one, and she loves her family, but is also selfish-- though she wouldn't see herself this way.

** Bailey** : The grandmother's son, loved husband and father of two. He tries to be calm with his mother and tries to cooperate and make things easier by listening to his mother. He is impatient with the grandmother and angry a lot of the time. He wants to be in charge, but has a limited grip on things. __** Red Sammy Butts** __: Red Sammy Butts owns the barbecue restaurant called the Tower at which the family stops on their car trip. O’Connor describes him as fat with his stomach hanging over his khaki pants “like a sack of meal swaying under his shirt.”He orders his wife around and engages in empty chatter with the Grandmother. Red Sammy’s statement, “A good man is hard to find,” in reference to the proliferation of crime and a nostalgia for the days when people did not have to lock their doors, becomes the title of the story. The Misfit**:** The Misfit is an escaped murderer who kills the family at the end of the story and shoots the Grandmother three times in the chest. Described as wearing tan pants and white shoes, no socks, no shirt, he is an older man with glasses “that gave him a scholarly look.” He remains calm throughout the scene as he instructs his two companions, Bobby Lee and Hiram, to take the family to the woods. June Star: June Star, the granddaughter of the principal character in the story, is rude, self-centered, and annoying. She argues with her brother John Wesley and seems disappointed when no one is killed in their car accident. She, like many of O’Connor’s characters, serves as comic relief or as an example of realism. John Wesley: John Wesley, the eight-year-old grandson of the principal character of the story, is described as a “stocky child with glasses.” He is portrayed as a kid with normal interests and actions. His enthusiasm to see the house his grandmother tells them about, mainly to explore the secret panel she says it contains, influences his father Bailey to make the fateful detour.

__Pitty Sing__: Grandma's cat that basically gets the family killed because it jumped on Bailey and made him crash the car and eventually shot and killed by The Misfit and crew.

= __Setting__ := The story is firmly set in the rural American South. The characters, particularly the grandmother, are imbued with classic Southern characteristics, and they display an intimate understanding of the landscape of which they are a part. As the family drives south from Georgia to Florida, the grandmother points out all along the way various things about the southern landscape—the kudzu, the plantations that are no more.

 