A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man Is Flannery O'Connor

Hard to Find" first appeared in the author's short
story collection by the same name, which was
published in 1955. Since then, it has become one of 1955
O'Connor's most highly regarded works of short
fiction because it exhibits all the characteristics for
which she is best known: a contrast of violent action
with humorously and carefully drawn characters
and a philosophy that underscores her devout Ro-
man Catholic faith. Critics have admired the prose
and the way O'Connor infuses the story with her
Catholic belief about the role God's grace plays in
the lives of ordinary people. The story is disturbing
and humorous at the same timea quality shared
by many of O'Connor's other works, including her
novels Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away.

Though the story begins innocently enough,

O'Connor introduces the character of the Misfit, an
escaped murderer who kills the entire family at the
end of the story. Through this character, O'Connor
explores the Christian concept of "grace"that a
divine pardon from God is available simply for the
asking. In the story, it is the Grandmothera petty,
cantankerous, and overbearing individualwho
attains grace at the moment of her death, when she
reaches out to the Misfit and recognizes him as one
of her own children. For O'Connor, God's grace is a
force outside the character, something undeserved,
an insight or moment of epiphany. Often, however,
O'Connor's characters miss moments of opportuni-

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 A Good Man Is Hard to F i n d

ty to make some connection; their spiritual blind- then moved back to Milledgeville, where she lived
ness keeps them from seeing truth. the remainder of her life with her mother.
' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' is the title story O'Connor wrote steadily through the 1950s.
of O'Connor's first short story collection, and, Her novel Wise Blood was published in 1952, and A
therefore, often serves as an introduction to the rest Good Man Is Hard to Find, a short story collection
of her fiction. The story is enjoyable for its humor- containing the well-known story by the same name,
ous portrayal of a family embarking on a vacation; in 1955. A second novel, The Violent Bear It Away
O'Connor has been unforgiving in her portrayal of came out in 1960. The year of her death, 1964, saw
these charactersthey are not likable. However, in the publication of Three by Flannery O 'Connor and
creating characters that elicit little sympathy from another short story collection, Everything That Ris-
readers, O'Connor has carefully set the premise for es Must Converge. Most of her stories were origi-
her main argument: that grace is for everyone, even nally published in periodicals such as Accent, Ma-
those who seem loathesome. demoiselle, Esquire, and Critic. She won three O.
Henry Memorial Awards for her short stories, a
Ford Foundation grant, a National Institute of Arts
and Letters grant in literature, and two honorary
Author Biography doctor's degrees during her lifetime. After her death,
her fiction won a National Book Award, and her
Although she produced relatively few works in her collection of letters The Habit of Being won an
short lifetime of 39 years, Mary Flannery O'Connor award from the Library Journal.
is considered one of the most important short story O'Connor's health prevented her from travel-
writers of the twentieth century because of her ing much, so she spent much of her time writing
strange but interesting characters, her violent plot hundreds of letters to friends, family, and strangers.
elements, and her religious world view. O'Connor The collection of letters The Habit of Being reveals
was a Roman Catholic writer who knew that most of a great deal about O'Connor's compassionate, but
her audience did not share her strict moral view of often critical, personality. Besides her friendships
the world. She sought, however, to present a mes- and her correspondence, O'Connor helped her mother
sage of God's grace and presence in everyday life. on their Georgia dairy farm Andalusia, painted with
Born in the ' 'Bible Belt'' Southern city of Savan- oils, and raised peacocks, birds that figure promi-
nah, Georgia, on March 25, 1925, O'Connor's nently and often symbolically in her fiction. She
region and upbringing influenced her fiction in her traveled when she could and presented lectures and
depiction of character, of conflict, and in her choice speeches. She died on August 3, 1964, at the age of
of themes. 39, from the effects of her disease and abdominal
O'Connor was the only child of wealthy par- surgery associated with it; however, her fiction lives
ents and attended high school in Milledgeville, on, appearing in anthologies, garnering critical at-
Georgia. Her father, Edward Francis O'Connor, tention, and continuing to astound readers with its
died when she was sixteen from degenerative lupus, depiction of the human condition.
the same disease that later took her life. At the
Georgia College for Women, O'Connor majored in
social sciences and edited and wrote for school
publications. She later received a master's degree in Plot Summary
writing from Iowa State University in 1947, using
six of her stories as her master's thesis. After O'Connor's story is told by a third person narrator,
completing graduate school, O'Connor attended the but the focus is on the Grandmother's perspective of
prestigious Yaddo writers' colony in upstate New events. Even though she complains that she would
York in 1947-48 where she worked on her first rather go to Tennessee than Florida for vacation, she
novel Wise Blood. Moving to New York and then to packs herself (and secretly her cat, Pitty Sing) in the
Connecticut to live with good friends Sally and car with her son Bailey, his wife, and their children
Robert Fitzgerald, O'Connor continued to work on June Star, John Wesley, and the baby. In a comical
her novel until she suffered her first attack of lupus, instance of foreshadowing, she takes pains to dress
a chronic, autoimmune disease which causes in- properly in a dress and hat, so that if she were found
flammation of various parts of the body, such as the dead on the highway everyone would recognize her
skin, joints, blood and internal organs. O'Connor as a lady.

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 A Good Man Is Hard t o F i n d

When the family stops for lunch at Red Sammy

Butts' barbecue place, the proprietor, a husky man,
is insulted by June Star. Nevertheless, he and the
Grandmother discuss the escaped murderer known
as the Misfit. Noting that the world is increasingly a
more dangerous and unfriendly place, Red Sammy
tells the Grandmother that these days ' 'A good man
is hard to find." Back on the road, the Grandmother
convinces her hen-pecked son to go out of their way
so they can visit an old plantation she recalls from
her childhood. The children second her suggestion
when she mentions that the house contains secret
passageways. Soon after Bailey turns down a dirt
road' 'in a swirl of pink dust'' with ' 'his jaw as rigid
as a horseshoe," the Grandmother realizes that the
plantation is not in Georgia, where they are, but in
Tennessee. This sudden realization causes her to
upset Pitty Sing's basket. The cat leaps out onto
Bailey's shoulder, and the surprise causes him to
lose control of the car and roll it into a ditch.

No one is seriously hurt, and the children are

inclined to view the accident as an adventure. Soon
a car happens along the desolate stretch of road and Flannery O'Connor
the family believes the driver will stop and help
them. As the driver makes his way down the em-
bankment, the Grandmother thinks ' 'his face was as
familiar to her as if she had known him all her life chest." The Misfit explains that "Jesus thown
but she could not recall who he was." As soon as he everything off balance.'' In her final moment, the
starts to speak, however, she recognizes him as the Grandmother reaches out and touches the Misfit,
infamous Misfit. He is accompanied by two other whispering "You're one of my own children!."
men; they are all carrying guns and are dressed in The Misfit's final commentary on the Grandmother
clothes that are clearly not their own. The first thing is that "she would of been a good woman . . . if it
he wants to know is if the car will still run. had been somebody there to shoot her every minute
of her life."
While the Misfit talks with the grandmother,
his two accomplices, Hiram and Bobby Lee, take
each member of the family off to the woods and
shoot them. Soon the Misfit obtains Bailey's bright
yellow shirt with blue parrots on it, and he and the
Characters
Grandmother are alone. She tries to convince him
that he is "not a bit common,'' in an effort to flatter Bailey
him and spare her life. When it becomes clear that Bailey is the son of the principal character in
her words are having little effect on him, she be- the story, the Grandmother, and is the father of June
comes speechless for the first time in the story. Star and John Wesley. He drives the car as the
"She opened and closed her mouth several times family embarks on their vacation. Bailey's major
before anything came out. Finally she found herself importance in the story is his relationship to other
saying, 'Jesus. Jesus,' meaning Jesus will help you, people, especially his mother. He allows her to boss
but the way she was saying it, it sounded as if she him around and to convince him to go out of the way
might be cursing." to visit an old house she remembers from her
childhood, where the family is killed. Bailey seems
The Misfit's explanation for his behavior pro- unresponsive to his wife and children, allowing
vides an opportunity for the self-centered Grand- them to take advantage of him. Overall, Bailey, who
mother to reflect on her beliefs in the moments wears a yellow shirt with blue parrots, perhaps
before he shoots her "three times through the symbolizing his cowardice, is a ' 'flat'' character.

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 A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Bailey Boy died ' 'with her legs crossed under her like a child's
See Bailey and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky."
Through her portrait of the Grandmother, O'Connor
demonstrates her strong belief in the salvation of
Red Sammy Butts religion. Everyone's soul deserves to be saved, she
Red Sammy Butts owns the barbecue restau- is saying, no matter how impious their actions in life.
rant 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 The Misfit
of meal swaying under his shirt." Signs along the The Misfit is an escaped murderer who kills the
highway advertise his barbecue: "Try Red Sam- family at the end of the story and shoots the Grand-
my's Famous Barbecue. None like Famous Red mother three times in the chest. Described as wearing
Sammy's! Red Sam! The Fat Boy with the Happy tan and white shoes, no socks, no shirt, he is an
Laugh. A Veteran! Red Sammy's Your Man!" He older man with glasses "that gave him a scholarly
orders his wife around and engages in empty chatter look." By his speech, readers can tell that he is
with the Grandmother. Red Sammy's statement, rather uneducated. However, he speaks to the grand-
"A good man is hard to find," in reference to the mother and the others with deliberate politeness. He
proliferation of crime and a nostalgia for the days remains calm throughout the scene as he instructs
when people did not have to lock their doors, his two companions, Bobby Lee and Hiram, to take
becomes the title of the story. the family to the woods. He says to the Grandmoth-
er, ' 'it would have been better for all of you, lady, if
you hadn't reckernized me."
The Grandmother
The Grandmother in "A Good Man Is Hard to In the Misfit's conversation with the Grand-
Find" is the story's principal character. Her relig- mother about Jesus throwing "everything off bal-
ious epiphany at the story's end provides the philo- ance,' ' O'Connor presents a view of a world out of
sophical thrust behind the narrative. By giving her balance. Just as the story's violence does not seem
no name other than Grandmother and crotchety to match its comedy, the Misfit's life of punishment
conversation that provides much of the story's has not fit his crimes. In a long section of dialogue,
humor, O'Connor paints her as a tragically comic the Misfit unburdens his soul to the Grandmother
caricature, one that a reader can easily, but wrongly, about his father's death, his own mistreatment, and
feel superior to. She is selfish and pushy; in fact, her his feelings about the world's injustices. He kills her
desire to see a house from her childhood results in when she calls him one of her "own babies."
the family's death at the end of the story. The story's Although critics have interpreted the actions and
primary action involves a family car trip on which words of the Misfit in many ways, one reading is
they encounter an escaped criminal and his gang. If that he brings the Grandmother to a moment of
the Grandmother had not insisted they detour to see grace in which she makes an unselfish, religious
the old house, which, she realized too late was in connection with another human being, something
Tennessee, not in the part of Georgia where they she had been incapable of before that time. In his
were, the family would have escaped the disaster. comment,' 'She would of been a good woman... if
The Grandmother is critical of the children's moth- it had been somebody there to shoot her every
er, who is never named, and she dotes on her son minute of her life," the Misfit seems to understand
Bailey although she treats him like a child. She that her grace required an extreme situation. The
demonstrates racist behavior by calling a poor Black Misfit, by helping the Grandmother understand
child "a pickaninny ... Wouldn't that make a her own mortality and connection with "all God's
picture, now?" and she reveals a superior moral children,'' may actually be an unlikelyand evil
attitude. In her conversation with the murderer, an messenger from God.
escaped convict called the Misfit, the Grandmother
says that she knows he is from "good people," as
she tries to flatter him in order to save her own life. Red Sam
Her last words to him as she reaches out to touch his See Red Sammy Butts
shoulder, "You're one of my own children," signi-
fy that she has experienced a final moment of grace.
The Misfit shoots her three times, but her transcen- Red Sammy
dence to grace is underscored by the fact that she See Red Sammy Butts

100 S h o r t S t o r i e s f o r S t u d e n t s
 A Good Man Is Hard to F i n d

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 Topics for
and seems disappointed when no one is killed in
their car accident. When Red Sammy's wife asks
Further
her if she would like to live with them, June Star
replies, "No I certainly wouldn't.... I wouldn't
Study
live in a broken-down place like this for a million
In the 1950s, automobiles became more accessi-
bucks!" She, like many of O'Connor's characters,
ble to many Americans, and people's mobility
serves as comic relief or as an example of realism.
and freedom reached new proportions. O'Connor
often used the automobile as a symbol in her
John Wesley writing. In addition to "A Good Man Is Hard to
John Wesley, the eight-year-old grandson of Find," read "The Life You Save May Be Your
the principal character of the story, is described as a Own" and "The Displaced Person" and dis-
"stocky child with glasses." He is portrayed as a cuss the importance of the automobile in those
kid with normal interests and actions. His enthusi- narratives.
asm to see the house his grandmother tells them
about, mainly to explore the secret panel she says it Read about the Civil Rights Movement and some
contains, influences his father Bailey to make the of the frustrations African Americans faced in
fateful detour. John Wesley's name is undoubtedly the South during the 1950s and 1960s. Read
an ironic reference to the English priest who was another story from O'Connor's collection A Good
one of the founders of the Methodist church. Man Is Hard to Find called "The Artificial
Nigger." How does a racist lawn statue become
a symbol for spiritual searching? What seems to
be O'Connor's position on racism?
Discuss how the tenets of Roman Catholicism
Themes are manifest in O'Connor's fiction. How does
she interpret her own Catholic faith, and what
In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" an escaped does she expect her readers to understand about it?
convict and his companions murder a family be- Compare O'Connor's use of humor to Mark
cause of a series of mishaps on the part of the Twain's, especially in The Adventures of Huck-
Grandmother. Thinking that an old house is in leberry Finn. How do both of the writers use
Georgia rather than Tennessee, she insists that her humor to present the harsh realities of the human
son Bailey take a detour that leads them to their condition?
deaths. Because she has secretly brought her cat
along, her son Bailey drives the car off the road
when the cat leaps to his shoulders. Finally, she
blurts out the identity of the murderer so that he has
no choice but to murder them all. Readers are exclaims, "Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!"
introduced to a quirky family and what appears to be She continues, "Wouldn't that make a picture,
a typical family car trip, but the story ends on a more now?" When her granddaughter comments on the
philosophical note when the Grandmother attains a child's lack of clothes, the Grandmother says, "He
state of grace at the moment she realizes that the probably didn't have any . . . . Little niggers in the
murderer is ' 'one of her children." country don't have things like we do." Believing
that she came from a good family and from a time
Prejudice vs. Tolerance when "People did right," the Grandmother possess-
The Grandmother demonstrates racial and class es a false sense of self-righteousness. She tells Red
prejudice through her words and actions. She is vain Sammy, a restaurant owner, that she believes that
and selfish, and she believes that good character is a the United States' problems can be blamed on
result of coming from ' 'good people,'' an important Europe. She says ' 'the way Europe acted you would
concept in O'Connor's fiction. When she sees an think we were made of money." In her ignorance of
African-American child without any clothes, she others' lifestyles and points of view, the Grand-

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 A Good Man Is Hard to Find

mother is one of O'Connor's numerous characters Violence and Cruelty

who flaunt their prejudice. Early in her encounter Much of O'Connor's fiction contains violence,
with the Misfit, she tries to flatter him, telling him which she claimed was necessary to get readers'
that he does not look "common," and therefore attention. Her violence has a purpose, therefore; she
could not be a ' 'bad'' person. A lifetime of prejudi- claimed that the world in general would not notice
cial attitudes is erased, however, at the end of the God's presence unless something monumental oc-
story when she realizes her helplessness and the fact curred. In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," the
that discriminatory views such as hers are related to Grandmother must be shocked out of her selfish and
monstrous behavior like the Mistfit's. This moment judgmental views by the barrel of a gun. Only when
is encapsulated in her epiphany: "Why you're one her entire family is murdered within earshot of her
of my babies. You're one of my own children!" and when she faces her own death does she make a
real connection with another human being. She says
to the Misfit, "You're one of my own children!"
and recognizes her own mortality, her own sinful-
God and Religion ness, and her relationship to other "children of
Most of O'Connor's fiction involves God and God." O'Connor believed that God's grace often
religion in some way. She created characters and came into people's lives precisely when they are not
put them in situations which convey her message looking for it. As she said in Mystery and Manners,
that human beings are trapped in their selfish, petty her "subject in fiction is the action of grace in
worlds and often overlook opportunities for under- territory held largely by the devil."
standing and connection; they miss out on love.
Central to O'Connor's theology is the idea of grace,
that God's love and forgiveness are available to
people in everyday life. Some have defined grace in
O'Connor's fiction as the moment in a human Style
being's life when a power from the outside inter-
venes in a situation. O'Connor's stories almost
Symbolism
always teach by negative example; her characters
Symbols, elements in a work of fiction that
are often too selfish or unobservant to see the acts of
stand for something more profound or meaningful,
grace in everyday experience. She used violence in allow writers to communicate complicated ideas to
her fiction to grab the characters' attention, because readers in a work that appears to be simple. O'Connor
she believed that people needed to be coerced into includes several symbols in ' 'A Good Man Is Hard
noticing God's presence in the modern world. She to Find." For example, skies and weather are al-
shocked readers into understanding that people can- ways symbolic to O'Connor, and she often uses
not survive alone in the world. As she said in such descriptions to reveal a character's state of
Mystery and Manners, a collection of her nonfiction mind. In another story ' The Life You Save May Be
writing published after her death, grace is "simply a Your Own," O'Connor ends the story with a man
concern with the human reaction to that which, being "chased" by an ominous thundercloud, be-
instant by instant, gives life to the soul. It is a cause the man is feeling guilty for abandoning his
concern with a realization that breeds charity and mentally and physically challenged wife at a road-
with the charity that breeds action." Charity, in this side diner. In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," the
context, is a synonym for love; certainly, readers sky at the end of the story is cloudless and clear,
have noticed the absence of love in O'Connor's indicating that the Grandmother has died with a
fiction. In ' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' all of the clear vision of her place in the world. Another
charactersmost obviously the Grandmother symbol in the story is the old house that the Grand-
are concerned only with their own wants and de- mother insists on visiting. It represents the woman's
sires. There is no real connection or love between habit of wanting to live in the past, in a time she
them until they encounter the Misfit and his gang of believes people were more decent and better than
murderers. When the Grandmother exclaims at the they are today. However, the house is not where she
end, "You're one of my children!," she makes the thought it wasit was in Tennessee, not Georgia
first statement of connection in the story. At this a realization that symbolizes that one's perception
point she receives grace as she understands her of the past is often distorted. This focus on a
place in humanity. All are sinners in O'Connor's distorted past leads the family directly to their ruin;
fiction, but all are capable of being saved. they have been sidetracked by a past that did not exist.

102 Short Stories for Students

 A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Point of View graves fenced in the middle of it," a hint of ap-

O'Connor was extremely interested in point of proaching death for the six occupants of the car.
view, and she was careful to keep her point of view Finally, as the Misfit and his gang approach, their
consistent.' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' is told in car is described as "a big battered hearse-like
third person, which means that it is not told directly automobile," a further indication that death will
by one of the characters involved in the action. The figure into the story.
first sentence of the story indicates an "objective"
narrator: "The grandmother didn't want to go to
Florida." However, the reader is privy to the Grand- Irony
mother's thoughts and no one else's. This point of Irony is one of the most difficult elements to
view is sometimes called ' 'third person limited,'' in identify in a story because it is related to tone and
which the author reveals only one character's emo- the author's attitude toward the work. Irony is a
tions and thoughts to the reader. Even the names of literary device that is used to impart that things are
characters illustrate the story's point of view; Bai- not what they seem; the simple meanings of the
ley's wifethe Grandmother's daughter-in-law story's words betray an idea that is actually contrary
is referred to generically as "the children's moth- to what has been stated.' 'Ironic'' is not the same as
er." This reveals that the Grandmother thinks of her "sarcastic" or "coincidental." Irony can occur in
only in terms of being her son's wife and her situations in which things happen which are unex-
grandchildren's mother. O'Connor is careful, how- pected given the circumstances; an example of this
ever, not to enter completely into the Grandmoth- is that a family embarks on a summer vacation and
er's thoughts; she keeps what is called "authorial winds up murdered. Or irony can occur through
distance." O'Connor is often praised for being dialogue when a character's words have a meaning
"detached" in her narration, allowing readers to other than that intended by the person who utters
come to their own conclusions about the characters. them. Finally, there is "dramatic irony," in which
Consistent with this idea of detachment is the fact the reader understands something that the charac-
that the Grandmother is never given a name in the ters do not. In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
story either, a technique that keeps readers from O'Connor uses several kinds of irony to communi-
identifying too closely with her, or recognizing her cate her message about the human condition. At the
as an individual. She is simply a "type" of person. beginning of the story, the Grandmother says "I
This tactic allowed O'Connor to present characters wouldn't take my children in any direction with a
who must be judged by their actions, rather than on criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn't answer to
some criteria that O'Connor would have deemed my conscience if I did." However, this is exactly
"less objective." what she does when she sidetracks the family to a
desolate roadside. Verbal irony occurs after the car
accident when June Star announces disappointedly,
Foreshadowing "But nobody's killed." The story's dramatic irony
Instances of foreshadowing, an indication of centers around the family's interaction with the
future events, occur several times in "A Good Man Misfit, when readers understand the gravity of the
Is Hard to Find." Many writers of short fiction situation yet the characters do not; Bailey states
include few superfluous details; every detail con- "we're in a terrible predicament! Nobody realizes
tributes to an overall effect that the story intends to what this is."
produce. Thus, certain descriptive phrases or dia-
logue in a story that first appear to have no special
significance often take on new meaning in retro- Structure
spect. In the first paragraph of the story, O'Connor The story is structured to fall into two sections,
introduces the Misfit, the murderer who eventually each with a distinctive tone. The first half of the
kills the family. Similarly, as the family prepares to story, up until the car accident, is humorous and
embark on their vacation, the Grandmother plans light. After the accident, however, readers under-
her outfit with an eye toward tragedy. Dressed in a stand that a tragedy will occur. The tone turns dark,
polka-dot dress trimmed with organdy and decorat- the subject matter becomes serious, and dialogue
ed by a spray of violets,' 'anyone seeing her dead on becomes more weighted with irony and symbolism.
the highway would know at once that she was a The conversation about religion between the Grand-
lady." Later, as the family drives through the coun- mother and the Misfit is deeply philosophical and in
tryside, they pass a cotton field "with five or six stark contrast to the story's prior petty exchanges

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 A Good Man Is Hard to Find

about old boyfriends or poor children. The story was expressing a sentiment many people in white
moves from being a portrait of an unremarkable society in 1955 held.
family to being a dialogue one the themes of death,
forgiveness and injustice.
The Era of the Automobile
The 1950s saw a significant increase in the
Tone number of cars on American roads, a result of post
In a work of fiction, tone can be discerned from World War II economic prosperity. In 1955 motor-
an author's choice of words and action. The tone of car sales passed the 7 million mark in the United
' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' combines humor, States, Chevrolet introduced the V-8 engine, and
detachment, irony, and seriousness. Throughout President Eisenhower submitted a 10-year, $101
O'Connor's stories, readers confront humorous de- billion proposal to build a national highway system
scriptions or situations, such as in this story when to Congress. Family vacations by car, like that in
the narrator describes the children's mother as hav- ' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' became common as
ing "a face as broad and innocent as a cabbage . . . Americans took to the highways and embraced the
tied around with a green head-kerchief that had two freedom and independence that automobiles pro-
points on the top like rabbit's ears." O'Connor vided. Although New York's Long Island Express-
approaches the characters in her story with detach- way opened in 1955, it was unable to handle the
ment; in other words, her narrative voice does not volume of traffic passing over it. As American
help readers to become sympathetic to her charac- society became more mobile and independent, the
ters. She presents them with all their faults and culture changed. Drive-in restaurants and movie
oddities so that readers may judge them honestly. theaters proliferated in the 1950s, as did roadside
Towards the end of the story, the tone turns more motels and suburban shopping malls. Cars are im-
serious and tragic as the Misfit happens upon the portant to O'Connor's fiction as both an element of
family. O'Connor presents a situation in which realism in her work and as a symbol for a shift in the
average people confront a force of pure evil. The way Americans think about themselves and their
dark tone is established when the characters are sense of place.
unable to reason with the evil Misfit and must
confront their own mortality.
The Silver Screen, the Small Screen,
and Rock'n'Roll
American popular culture shifted dramatically
during the 1950s. The new prosperity allowed in-
creasing numbers of families to buy television sets,
Historical Context and it became a central form of family entertain-
ment. Shows like Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It to
The Civil Rights Movement Beaver, and Father Knows Best presented an ideal-
Fueled with the speeches of Reverend Martin ized and skewed picture of American life. Western
Luther King, Jr. and with the deaths of several movies, stories of good guys and bad guys like The
African-American activists, the civil rights move- Lone Ranger, reinforced the country's moral belief
ment was at its peak in 1955. Just the year before, that crime does not pay. Many famous movies or
the Supreme Court of the United States had struck musicals also debuted in the 1950s: Oklahoma!,
down legal segregation in schools in a landmark Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Rebel
decision. In 1955, Rosa Parks of Montgomery, without a Cause, and Blackboard Jungle, many of
Alabama, made her heroic and famous decision not which hinted at problems festering just under the
to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. This surface of American life. Movies often showed a
single action engendered a widespread bus boycott darker side of American life, and many of the
which catapulted its organizer, Martin Luther King, movies of the 1950s dealt with the social unrest that
Jr., to national attention. Georgia, where O'Connor would break loose in the next decade. A new form
lived and set the story, was filled with racial tension. of music, rock'n'roll, debuted in the mid-1950s.
The Grandmother's attitudes toward African Ameri- Entertainers such as Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley,
cans typify the beliefs of many in the state at the and Bill Haley enjoyed tremendous popularity as
time. When she tells June Star that ' 'Little niggers they appealed to young people and often sang about
in the country don't have things like we do," she issues that concerned them. Such overwhelming

104 Short S t o r i e s for Students

 A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Compare

Contrast
1955: Racial tensions run high as the civil rights 1994: According to crime statistics, approxi-
movement makes real changes in American so- mately 23,305 murders were committed during
ciety. Rosa Parks refuses to go to the back of a the year. Of these, 15,456 involved firearms.
bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Two African-
American leaders, Lamar D. Smith and George 1955: The U.S. census bureau reveals that the
W. Lee, are killed. American population increased by 2.8 million,
1996: Dozens of African-American churches, the largest 1-year advance on record. The gen-
mostly in the South, burn down during the spring eration born in the years between 1945 and 1960
and summer months. Though the cause of some are dubbed "The Baby Boomers."
of the blazes is unknown, arson is suspected in
many cases. 1990s: The first Baby Boomers are turning 50,
1950: According to crime statistics, approxi- and the United States looks to ways to provide
mately 7,000 murders were committed in the for the health care and social security of such a
United States during the year. large number of aging individuals.

changes in many facets of American society prompt tive, which was unusual for a writer in a region that
the Grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find'' was predominantly Baptist. O'Connor thought of
to feel nostalgia for a lost past. herself as more of an outsider: not a Southern writer
because of her Catholicism, and not a Catholic
writer because of her Southern roots. Because her
point of view is often theological, and because she
fails to present a clear, straightforward moral, the
Critical Overview message in her stories has often been misinterpreted.
Initial reaction to "A Good Man Is Hard to
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find," the title selec- Find'' was positive. Caroline Gordon wrote in The
tion of O'Connor's 1955 collection, has received a New York Times Book Review that the story was
great deal of critical attention. The story serves as ' 'characterized by precision, density and an almost
an excellent introduction to O'Connor's fiction alarming circumscription." Louis D. Rubin, Jr., in
because it contains all the elements that typify an essay entitled ' Two Ladies of the South'' recog-
O'Connor's work: a combination of humor and nized that O'Connor "is in essence a religious
horror, grotesque characters, and an opportunity for writer. Knowledge of good and evil is at the heart of
characters to accept God's grace. Critics were ini- her stories." In an essay published in Mystery and
tially intrigued with O'Connor's use of violence in Manners, O'Connor wrote that the Grandmother
her stories, uncommon for a writernot to mention had been interpreted as being a witch and the Misfit
a womanin the 1950s and 1960s, yet they recog- a fallen prophet. She says that ' 'there are perhaps
nized her ability to draw characters with clarity and other ways than my own in which [' 'A Good Man Is
detachment. These traits caused critics to categorize Hard to Find"] could be read, but none other by
O'Connor as a Southern Grotesque writer, similar which it could have been written." More recently,
to William Faulkner, who also wrote critically of his Russell Kirk wrote in an essay for The World that
Southern heritage. However, these same critics were the Misfit is ' 'the most forlorn and terrifying des-
confused by her staunch Roman Catholic perspec- perado in all Flannery's tales."

Volume 2 1 0 5
 A Good Man Is

Miles Orvell's Flannery O'Connor: AnIntro- Today O'Connor'splace in theliterary worldis

duction, writtenin 1972,is anearly introductionand well established. She is appreciated for hercom-
commentary on her fiction. Josephine Hendin,in plexity and her contradictions. Anthony DiRenzo's
another work abouttheauthor, The
of
Flannery
World American Gargoyles: Flannery O'Connorand the
O'Connor, says that there are two O'Connors:"the Medieval Grotesque tries to explain some of those
perfect daughterwholivesin hermother's memory, contradictions. DiRenzo compares O'Connor's fic-
the uncompromising Catholic O'Connor...andthe tion to the medieval cathedrals that were adorned
more enigmatic writer of those strange andviolent with the grotesque figures of thegargoyle. Hesays
tales." Although some early reviewers were con- that if one wantstounderstand O'Connor,onemust
fused by O'Connor's fictionshe seemedto be understand her mixing of the seriousand sacred
making fun of religionthelarge bodyofcriticism with the comic and the common. The humorin
on her work in thepast three decadeshasconverged O'Connor keeps readersfrom crying. Many other
on an accepted interpretationof herwork.The New studies are available, and thethirty ormore years
Critics, writers like CleanthBrooksandJohn Crowe since O'Connor's death have given readerstime to
Ransom who dominated literary criticismin the appreciate herpowerful fiction.
1950s promoted O'Connor's fiction,admiring the
"intentionality" of herwords: every elementof the
story worked to promote her desired effect.After
O'Connor's death, the publication of hermany
letters inMystery and Manners gave readers added Criticism
insight throughthe author'sownexplanationsof her
work. In the book, O'Connor emphasizes theform Elisabeth Piedmont-Morton
of her stories: writes that the"form of astory gives Elisabeth Piedmont-Marlon is an educator
it a meaning whichany other form would change, and the coordinatorof the undergraduate writing
and unless the student is able, insome degree,to center at theUniversity of TexasatAustin.In the
apprehend the form,he will never apprehend any- following essay,she discusses O'Connor's storyas
thing else about the work." a good exampleof the author'sfiction.

106 Short Stories for

 A Good Man Is Hard to F i n d

What
Do I Read
Next?
O'Connor's novel Wise Blood, published in 1952, A Curtain of Green, a collection of stories by
deals with religious themes, as does much of her Southern writer Eudora Welty. Also character-
work. The plot revolves around the character of ized as a "Southern Gothic" writer, Welty's
Hazel Motes, a man obsessed with Jesus in ways
fiction often deals with brutal themes as well.
that the Misfit is. Hazel becomes a preacher for
the Church Without Christ. Like "A Good Man
Is Hard to Find," Wise Blood demonstrates
O'Connor's vision of what happens to people
who try to live their lives without any kind of Carson McCullers has helped to define Southern
spiritual presence. fiction. A Member of the Wedding, The Ballad of
No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger, by Mark Twain the Sad Cafe, and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
deals with religion in a humorous way. are three of her most highly regarded novels.

' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' is one of the most said, because ' 'we have gone into the modern world
widely discussed of all Flannery O'Connor's sto- with an inburnt knowledge of human limitations
ries. It also provides an excellent introduction to her and with a sense of mystery which could not have
work because it contains all the major ingredients developed in our first state of innocenceas it has
not sufficiently developed in the rest of our country."
characteristic of the remarkable literary legacy left
by a woman who only lived to be thirty-nine years
old and who was too ill to write in her last years. By the references to the fall and loss of inno-
Readers who encounter O'Connor for the first time cence in Mystery and Manners, O'Connor meant
should be aware that she always identified herself as the Civil War and the crisis of identity, guilt, and
a Southern writer and as a Catholic writer and that shame that accompanied it. Such an experience
her stories are always informed by these identities gave Southerners a richer, more complex sense of
and beliefs. who they were and how they were connected to
the land than their Northern counterparts had.
As a Southerner, O'Connor draws on a rich O'Connor's characters tend to express some degree
tradition of humor and regional specific detail in her of confusion and ambivalence toward the South.
fiction. Beyond the comedic characters and precise The Grandmother in "A Good Man Is Hard to
rendering of their dialects, however, O'Connor's Find" is a good example. As James Grimshaw
South is a place rich with myth and history. In two points out, she is a southern stereotype in that she is
influential essays, "The Fiction Writer and His cautious, devious, indirect, and afraid of the unfa-
Country," and "The Regional Writer," now col- miliar. She is also vain and obsessed with the
lected in Mystery and Manners, O'Connor argued trappings of class. In O'Connor's own words in a
that the best literature is always regional literature letter to writer John Hawkes, the Grandmother and
because good writing is always rooted in a sense of other "old ladies exactly reflect the banalities of the
place, in ' 'a shared past, a sense of alikeness, and society and the effect is comical rather than serious-
the possibility of reading a small history in a univer- ly evil."
sal light." She further claimed that among the
regions in the United States, the South has produced As an unapologetically religious writer,
the best writing because it has already "had its O'Connor wrote stories informed by the particulars
fall." Southern writers possess special insight, she of her Catholic faith. Readers need not share her

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 A Good Man Is Hard to F i n d

faith in order to appreciate her fiction, but it helps to pray "Jesus would help" him. The Misfit, by con-
be aware of the basic tenets of Catholicism that trast, devises his own challenging and rational way
appear in ' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' and her of looking at the world based on his belief that
other stories. O'Connor's religious vision was sac- "Jesus thown everything off balance." The source
ramental; that is, she believed that Christ provides of his stubborn non-belief is his insistence that
outward signs that confer grace on members of the everything be explained rationally. Because the
church. In this view, an individual may not earn Misfit did not see Christ performing any miracles,
opportunities for grace by good works, but he or she he cannot believe they ever happened. "The pres-
may turn away, like the Misfit does, from grace ence of a divine force operating outside the bounds
when it is offered. In O'Connor's fiction the out- of reason," in the words of Robert Brinkmeyer in an
ward sign of grace often appears as an act of essay published in The Art and Vision ofFlannery
violence. In a letter about' 'A Good Man Is Hard to O 'Connor, is what upset the balance of the universe.
Find," O'Connor explained that her use of grace In other words, the Misfit cannot place his faith in
' 'can be violent or would have to compete with the something he cannot be rationally certain of, while
kind of evil I can make concrete." O'Connor's the Grandmother continues to cling to a faith with-
fiction was always shaped by her beliefs in mystery, out an intellectual foundation or certainty of belief.
grace, redemption, and the devil. In an essay titled The Misfit is incapable of wrapping himself around
' 'Catholic Novelists," O'Connor explained that the the paradox as O'Connor phrased it,' 'that you must
Catholic writer's beliefs make him or her entirely believe in order to understand, not understand in
free to observe and that' 'open and free observation order to believe."
is founded on our ultimate faith that the universe is
meaningful, as the Church teaches." As the paths of these two characters converge
in the final moment of the story, they are both given
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" pits the banal opportunities for grace. When the Grandmother
and superficial Grandmother against the malevolent finally runs out of words and is left to mutter
Misfit. Although the story starts off as a satire of a ' 'Jesus'' over and over, O'Connor is suggesting that
typical family vacation, it becomes a tale of cold- she is moving toward a deeper awareness of her
blooded murder as the focus narrows to the Mis- faith. Similarly, when the Misfit angrily pounds his
fit and the Grandmother. The story becomes, in fist into the ground and complains,' 'I wisht I had of
O'Connor's words, "a duel of sorts between the been there. It ain't right I wasn't there because if I
Grandmother and her superficial beliefs and the had been there I would of known," we recognize his
Misfit's more profoundly felt involvement with frustrated longing for faith. When he confesses,' 'If I
Christ's action which set the world off balance for had of been there I would of known and I wouldn't
him." She also cautions readers that they "should be like I am now," the Grandmother has a moment
be on the lookout for such things as the action of of clarity and recognizes his twisted humanity as
grace in the Grandmother's soul, and not for the part of her own by calling him one of her children.
dead bodies." The struggle between the Misfit and In O'Connor's words,' "The Misfit is touched by the
the Grandmother is not confined to her efforts to Grace that comes through the old lady when she
save her own life but also takes the form of an recognizes him as her child, as she has been touched
argument about faith and belief. The Grandmother, by the Grace that comes through him in his particu-
who has chattered nonstop since the family left lar suffering." The Grandmother realizes, O'Connor
home, is gradually rendered mute in the face of the explained in a later essay, ' 'that she is responsible
Misfit's assertions about Christ, and when she makes for the man before her and joined to him by ties of
her only sincere gesture of the story, reaching out to kinship which have their roots deep in the mystery
touch him, the Misfit is threatened and horrified and she has been merely prattling about so far."
shoots her three times through the chest. Before he
shoots her, however, the Misfit offers a lengthy The Misfit has an opportunity to accept grace
explanation for how he ended up where he is and but recoils in horror at the Grandmother's gesture.
why he believes what he does. In his parting words, however, he acknowledges
how grace had worked through him to strengthen
O'Connor uses the Misfit's deeply held and the woman's faith: "She would of been a good
passionate convictions as a foil, or contrast, to the woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her
Grandmother's easy platitudes and cliches. The every minute of her life." Brinkmeyer points out
author is critical of the woman's empty reassurances that "the Misfit's 'preaching' to the Grandmother
that he is "a good man at heart" and if he would 'converts' her to Christ." The Misfit himself seems

/ os S h o r t S t o r i e s f o r S t u d e n t s
 A Good Man Is Hard to F i n d

lost, as his dismissive words to Bobby Lee, "It's no

real pleasure in life," indicate. O'Connor, however,
had the last word on the Misfit and his future: ' 'I , O'Connor's fiction was
don't want to equate the Misfit with the devil. I
prefer to think, however unlikely this may seem, the always shaped by her beliefs
old lady's gesture, like the mustard-seed, will grow in mystery, grace, redemption,
to be a great crow-filled tree in the Misfit's heart,
and will be enough of a pain to him there to turn him and the devil."
into the prophet he was meant to become. But that's
another story."
Source: Elisabeth Piedmont-Marlon, for Short Stories for
Students, Gale Research, 1997.
whose "revelation, though limited, is adequate."
And most recently, Kathleen Ochshorn has entered
Michael Clark the fray in a most unequivocal manner, insisting that
In the following short essay, Clark discusses in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" "a world of
the moment of grace in O'Connor's story, when the propriety and illusion is laid low by wrath, not
grandmother reaches out to touch the Misfit. Though redeemed by grace." Rather than seeing the Grand-
O'Connor has repeatedly explained the ending to mother's final act as an embodiment of spirituality,
her story, many critics remain confused about her Ochshorn asserts that the touch expresses the grand-
intentions, particularly those who do not agree with mother's ' 'final hope that her noblesse can alter her
or understand her strict approach to religion. fate,'' an interpretation that renders the grandmoth-
er's final gesture as mundane, selfish, and in every
' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' is one of Flannery sense unredeeming. These critical responseses-
O'Connor's most discussed and most problematic pecially Ochshorn'sare symptomatic of the re-
short stories. The major difficulty involves the luctance to read the story in light of O'Connor's
story's climax. Should the Grandmother's final religious beliefs.
acther touching of the Misfitbe taken as a
token of true, divine grace and spiritual insight? Or Should O'Connor's interpretation of the story
should the story be interpreted strictly as a naturalis- be judged as wrong? Critics have an excellent
tic document? Perhaps the Grandmother achieves authority for a subversive reading in D.H. Law-
no spiritual insight. One can find critics on both rence's well-known dictum: trust the tale, not the
sides of the argument. Since the issue is central to teller of the tale. Unless the tale itself can guide us in
O'Connor's work at large, it is worth further exami- our interpretation, we are threatened with being like
nation. While this question may ultimately be im- the people in Plato's cave, very inadequate inter-
possible to resolve with certainty, further light can preters of shadows on the wall. But there is another
be shed upon this critical gesture. piece of evidence in the story which has been
overlooked and which strengthens O'Connor's claim
In Mystery and Manners, O'Connor asserts that that the tale should be read in a theological context.
the Grandmother's final act is a "moment of grace."
Critics, though, have not been convinced. While In an indispensable article several years ago,
acknowledging Flannery O'Connor's reading, Madi- Hallman Bryant noted that there is no Timothy,
son Jones prefers to stress the "realistic explana- Georgia, the setting for the encounter with Red
tion" of gracea "naturalistic" grace which may Sammy. He argues persuasively that O'Connor is
be "spelled in lower case letters." Stanley Renner alluding to "the book in the New Testament which
is also uncomfortable with the ' 'religious'' explana- bears the same name"that is, Paul's Epistle to
tion and describes "the vague touch" on the Mis- Timothy. The evidence that Bryant presents leaves
fit's shoulder as "a parental blessing" or "the no doubt that O' Connor did indeed have the Bible in
ceremonial dubbing of knighthood." Thus the Grand- mind. As Bryant notes, several of Paul's teachings
mother's response not so much reflects divine grace are especially germane to the story: the role of
as it "touches her almost instinctive springs of the husband (a negative judgment of Bailey, the
sympathy and human kinship." Leon Driskell and Grandmother's son), for example, and strictures
Joan Brittain seem to see the Grandmother's final against hypocrisy and false religion (which are
act, not as a transcendent spiritual experience, but as useful correctives to the family's, especially the
a "gesture of kinship," which comes from one Grandmother's, attitudes). However, Bryant glosses

Volume 2 109
 A Good Man Is Hard to Find

O'Connor's story only with reference to a single shatters the Grandmother's complaisance and makes
book of the Bible, Timothy I. But Timothy II can her look at the essential: "violence is strangely
help explain the crux of the story, the touching of capable of returning my characters to reality and
the Misfit; it provides a subtext for the central and preparing them to accept their moment of grace."
problematic episode of O'Connor's story, the grand- Life is full of such momentsthough perhaps
mother's moment of grace. rarely on the crucial life-and-death plane of the
Grandmother's experience. O'Connor believed that
In his Second Epistle, Paul stresses to Timothy
such moments come from God. Theology and art
that true grace is associated with the charismatic are not mutually exclusive. As O'Connor wrote in
tradition of the "laying on of hands":
Mystery and Manners, ' 'In the greatest fiction, the
I keep the memory of thy tears, and long to see thee writer's moral sense coincides with his dramat-
again, so as to have my fill of joy when I receive fresh ic sense."
proof of thy sincere faith. That faith dwelt in thy
grandmother Lois, and in thy mother, Eunice, before Source: Michael Clark, "Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good
thee; I am fully persuaded that it dwells in thee too. Man Is Hard to Find': The Moment of Grace," in English
That is why I would remind thee to fan the flame of Language Notes, Volume XXIX, No. 2, December, 1991,
that special grace which God kindled in thee, when pp. 66-9.
my hands were laid upon thee.
True faith dwelt in Timothy's mother and grand- Kathleen G. Ochshorn
mother and in Timothy too after Paul's hands were In the following essay, Ochshorn attempts to
laid upon him. When the Grandmother of the story dispel some common misinterpretations of "A Good
touches the Misfit, she replicates Paul's laying on of Man Is Hard to Find' '-mainly that the grandmoth-
hands at the very moment she loses her artificiality er was evil and the Misfit was misunderstood.
and realizes that she and the Misfit are spiritual kin. Nevertheless, Ochshorn concedes that the grand-
Both events emphasize the grace which accompa- mother's act of reaching out towards the Misfit was
nies charismatic physical contact. Those critics who a last-ditch effort to save her own life.
argue for a "realistic" interpretation of the story
must ultimately acknowledge and account for Flannery O'Connor was often shocked to find how
O'Connor's biblical allusions. The details of the people interpreted her stories. Some readers of ' 'A
story, particularly the allusion to Timothy, empha- Good Man is Hard to Find" believed the grand-
size that the Grandmother has undergone a personal mother was evil, even a witch. Soon O'Connor set
experience that is significantly different from her out, quite explicitly, in letters and lectures to detail
normally artificial and spiritually dead self. Aside the theology of the story and the importance of the
from whether God exists, such moments are real, grandmother as an agent of grace. In a letter to John
and they have de facto been defined through history Hawkes, she explained how violence and grace
as "religious." come together:
In a newly discovered and just recently pub- More than in the Devil I am interested in the indica-
lished letter, O'Connor (in referring to The Violent tion of Grace, the moment when you know that Grace
Bear It Away) states the issue clearly and definitive- has been offered and acceptedsuch as the moment
when the Grandmother realizes the Misfit is one of her
ly: The novel "can only be understood in religious
own children. These moments are prepared for (by me
terms." The same is true of ''A Good Man Is Hard anyway) by the intensity of the evil circumstances.
to Find." God's grace is not limited by one's
religious orientation. Even the most tough-minded When O'Connor speaks of her Catholicism and its
critic will acknowledge that all human beings expression in her fiction, she is clear-headed,
even the self-satisfied grandmotherhave the eloquent, and convincing. In Mystery and Manners,
potential to experience epiphanies, moments of the posthumous collection of her occasional prose,
psychological clarity, that could save them from the she claims the assumptions that underlie ' 'A Good
sour and life-denying restrictions that human be- Man is Hard to Find'' ' 'are those of the central
ings may labor under. These are moments (from the Christian mysteries. These are the assumptions to
clarifying moment of the ordinary life to the trance which a large part of the modern audience takes
of the mystic) that historically we have come to exception." O'Connor was upset with critics who
define as religious. were determined to count the dead bodies: ' 'And in
this story you should be on the lookout for such
In Mystery and Manners, O'Connor tells us things as the action of grace in the Grandmother's
quite directly that the inescapable threat of death soul, and not for the dead bodies." For O'Connor,

i i o Short S t o r i e s f o r S t u d e n t s
 A Good Man Is Hard to Find

grace is ' 'simply a concern with the human reaction

to that which, instant by instant, gives life to the
soul. It is a concern with a realization that breeds , O'Connor tells us quite
charity and with the charity that breeds action."
directly that the inescapable
Flannery O'Connor was most sincere in her
Catholicism and her view of its expression in her threat of death shatters the
fiction. She was troubled that her readers often
Grandmother's complaisance
identified with the wrong characters or with the
right characters for the wrong reasons. She felt and makes her look at the
readers ' 'had a really sentimental attachment to The
essential."
Misfit. But then a prophet gone wrong is almost
always more interesting than your grandmother,
and you have to let people take their pleasures
where they find them." When she learned readers
were identifying with Hazel Motes' rejection of akin to Dostoevsky. Yet Dostoevsky presented holy
Christ, O'Connor added a preface to the second innocence in characters like Sonia and Alyosha as
edition of Wise Blood claiming Motes' integrity lay well as evil in Smerdyakov and Raskolnikov.
in his inability to shake the ragged figure of Christ O'Connor focuses her story on what is sinister in
from his mind. Generally O'Connor chalked up all The Misfit and satirical in the grandmother and her
the misreadings and confusion to the spiritual short-
family. O'Connor is dark and negative in the mod-
comings of the modern reader: "Today's audience
ernist tradition, albeit with religious preoccupa-
is one in which religious feeling has become, if not
tions. She depicts pure evil in The Misfit as he
atrophied, at least vaporous and sentimental."
obliterates the whining grandmother and her clan.
But the discrepancies between how O'Connor This fine story, one of O'Connor's best, derives
is often read and how she claimed she should be much of its power from the anger and vengeance it
read cannot simply be explained by her theology of expresses. And that pile of dead bodies cannot
grace or by the lack of religious feeling among be canceled out when the grandmother touches
readers. Critical opinion over the years has tended The Misfit.
to line up behind O'Connor's own explanations;
however, O'Connor's analysis of "A Good Man Is Yet O'Connor is not diminished by the contra-
Hard to Find'' still seems baffling and occasionally dictions between her work and her explanation of
a critic has questioned the theology of the fiction. her work; she is made richer. The fury that lights up
Andre Bleikasten, focusing on O'Connor's nov- her art keeps ' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' from
els, claimed that being reduced to a theological exercise. The com-
plexity of this story in part explains its broad appeal
the truth of O'Connor's work is the truth of her art, not
that of her church. Her fiction does refer to an implicit
to audiences who do not see the story as a parable of
theology, but if we rely, as we should, on its testimony grace. Grace is the uneasy cloak O'Connor de-
rather than on the author's comments, we shall have to signed to cover and justify the violence in the story.
admit that the Catholic orthodoxy of her work is at The grace is a guise, a rationale that is not brought
least debatable. off. O'Connor's naive and deluded mothers and
And Frederick Asals recalls D. H. Lawrence's ad- grandmothers are often brought low by a violent
vice that a reader should trust the tale and not encounter that shakes them out of their petty
the teller. Of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," superiorities and their would-be aristocratic and
Asals claims: genteel trappings. They are forced to realize their
One can easily pass over her [O'Connor's] hope that vulnerability, their ridiculous condition.
the grandmother's final gesture to The Misfit might
have begun a process which would ' 'turn him into the The character of the grandmother in ' 'A Good
prophet he was meant to become"; that, as she firmly Man Is Hard to Find," for several reasons, contra-
says, is another story, and it would be a reckless piety dicts any reading of her as an agent of grace. First,
indeed which would see it even suggested by the one the grandmother's judgments of others are totally
we have.
twisted. She pronounces Red Sammy Butts "a good
Finally, any work of art must speak for itself, and man" despite the evidence he is a lazy slob who
' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' speaks much louder treats his wife like a slave. Throughout the story the
than O'Connor's claims. It depicts evil with a power grandmother is a full-blown agent of disaster, a

V o l u m e 2 i i i
 A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Geiger counter for catastrophe. Her fuzzy fantasies hard won and shaky grace indeed, dependent, as
about a southern mansion combined with some The Misfit says most precisely, on "somebody
assistance from the smuggled cat manage to cause there to shoot her every minute of her life." And in
the car wreck. Then her pronouncement "You're death the grandmother smiles up with a child's face,
The Misfit'' seals their fate. The few pleasures in still without comprehension.
the story involve the grandmother's false sense of
Despite their obvious differences, The Misfit
superiority. She chuckles over how a "nigger boy"
and the grandmother are bound by their concern
ate the watermelon Mr. Teagarden (E.A.T.) had left
with appearances and superficial respectability. The
for her when they were courting, and she wishes to
Misfit reddens when Bailey curses at the grand-
paint a picture of the "cute little pickaninny" she
mother and adds ' 'I don't reckon he meant to talk to
sees standing, without pants, in the doorway of a
you thataway." He admits he would prefer not to
shack. Her pleasure and self-esteem increases di-
shoot a lady. He appears embarrassed when the
rectly in relation to the degree of superiority she
family huddles in front of him. He apologizes:' 'I'm
manages to feel. Her limitations are so extreme that
sorry I don't have on a shirt before you ladies." The
it seems impossible to imagine her thinking about
grandmother dresses for accidents; The Misfit, for
anyone but herself, even for a moment.
murders. He gets Bailey's shirt from Bobby Lee.
Then the grandmother deals with The Misfit by The power The Misfit has in the story resides
appealing to his gentility. She keeps insisting he is a not only in his gun and his violent sidekicks. He is
good man, from good people:' 'You don't look a bit energized by his keenness, his experience, his knowl-
like you have common blood. I know you must edge of evil. Though he claims to be confused about
come from nice people!" She waves her handker- the extent of his own guilt, his view of human nature
chief and adjusts the broken brim on her hat, insist- is certainly more direct than the view of the grand-
ing she is a lady and should not be shot. In one of the mother and her family. He is the opposite of the
more bizarre moments in the story, she suggests children's mother, "whose face was as broad and
suburban propriety for what ails The Misfit:' "Think innocent as a cabbage ...." He has been many
how wonderful it would be to settle down and live a different things, including a gospel singer and an
comfortable life and not have to think about some- undertaker. He has been in a tornado and even says
body chasing you all the time." Later, when she he has seen a woman flogged. He has the same ' 'all
asks him to pray, she again appeals to the fact that or nothing" mentality of Flannery O'Connor her-
she is a lady, and she adds, "I'll give you all the self, who said "I write from the standpoint of
money I' ve got!" The contents of her purse seem an Christian orthodoxy." The Misfit says of Christ:
unlikely ransom when the rest of her family has
''If He did what He said, then it's nothing for you to
already been shot. do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if
He didn't, then it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the
O'Connor does say that the grandmother's head few minutes you got left the best way you canby
clears before she tells The Misfit "why you're one killing somebody or burning down his house or do-
of my babies. You're one of my own children!'' and ing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but
reaches out to touch him. But by that time he is meanness."
wearing Bailey's shirt, the yellow one with the blue While O'Connor clearly feels Christ is all, The
parrots. And more than extending grace, the grand- Misfit thinks he is managing fine without Him.
mother appears to be insisting on what is not real or When The Misfit shoots the grandmother he is
true, as she has throughout the story. The touch recoiling from whatever grace she offers. He is
expresses her final hope that her noblesse can alter rejecting not just any warmth conveyed in the touch,
her fate. But when she wishes upon a Misfit, she is but also the revolting world she represents and the
likely to be murdered. repulsive notion that he is her child. With good
reason, The Misfit is unwilling to be adopted by this
In a sense, O'Connor admitted that the grace
grandmother.
she saw in the grandmother's touch could not have
run deep. In a letter to John Hawkes, she restated Essentially, the story is a stronger indictment of
and edited The Misfit's remarks: "She would have the grandmother and her pathetic view of life than of
been a good woman if he had been there every The Misfit. It is no accident that the grandmother
moment of her life. True enough." Though O'Connor and her entire crew are killed off in the story: this
claims the grandmother's limitations do not prevent family vacation was doomed from the outset. And it
her from being an agent of Catholic grace, it seems a is with no small degree of pleasure that O'Connor

1 1 2 S h o r t S t o r i e s for S t u d e n t s
 A Good Man Is Hard to Find

finishes off this family. Her fictional world is basi-

cally satirical, not theological. She casts a plain and
cold eye on a sorry sight, a real world, and renders it L Despite their obvious
mercilessly. A mean pleasure sustains the satire and
nourishes the reader. Though The Misfit finally differences, The Misfit and
decides "it's no real pleasure in life," there is the grandmother are bound by
pleasure in this story.
their concern with
A personal wrath oozes from "A Good Man Is
Hard to Find" and from most of O'Connor's fic- appearances and superficial
tion. The wrath is O'Connor's strength and her respectability."
idealism, her refusal to believe the world around her
was all. But apparently her anger left her with guilt
enough to cause her to insist on an impossible
reading of her own story. In her version a moment of
kindness mixed with a plea for mercy would carry Hendin, Josephine. The World of Flannery O'Connor, Indi-
the day and push the massacred clan into the back- ana University Press, 1970.
ground, minimizing the survival of The Misfit. Kirk, Russell. "Flannery O'Connor and the Grotesque Face
of God," in The World and I, Vol. 2, No. 1, January, 1987,
The story reveals the hidden Flannery O'Connor pp. 429-33.
glimpsed by Katherine Anne Porter. Porter was
struck by the discrepancy between O'Connor's ap- O'Connor, Flannery. Flannery O'Connor: Mystery and Man-
ners, edited by Robert Fitzgerald and Sally Fitzgerald, Farrar,
pearance and her fiction and suggested that the
Straus and Giroux, 1957.
famous self-portrait with the peacock revealed an
inner Flannery: Orvell, Miles. An Introduction to Flannery O'Connor, Uni-
versity Press of Mississippi, 1991.
Something you might not see on first or even second
glance in that tenderly fresh-colored, young, smiling Rubin, Louis D., Jr. "Two Ladies of the South," in Critical
face; something she saw in herself, knew about her- Essays on Flannery O 'Connor, edited by Melvin J. Friedman
self, that she was trying to tell us in a way less and Beverly Lyon Clark, G. K. Hall & Co., 1985, pp. 25-8.
personal, yet more vivid than words.
That portrait, I'm trying to say, looked like the girl
who wrote those blood-curdling stories about human
evilNOT the living Flannery, whistling to her
peacocks, showing off her delightfully freakish breed
of chickens.
Further Reading
The force of' 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' speaks
Asal, Frederick. Flannery O'Connor: The Imagination of
for an angry outsider, a person without illusions or
Extremity, University of Georgia Press, 1982.
sentimentality. The grandmother does not go to Although the book discusses all her fiction, he de-
Florida, and O'Connor has her way. A world of votes a section to "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," a
propriety and illusion is laid low by wrath, not story that "dramatizes a world radically off balance."
redeemed by grace. Posits that the story is a good example of O'Connor's
comic treatment to violent material.
Source: Kathleen G. Ochshorn,' 'A Cloak of Grace: Contra-
Asal, Frederick, editor. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find":
dictions in 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'," in Studies in
Women Writers, Texts and Contexts, Rutgers University
American Fiction, Vol. 18, No. 1, Spring, 1990, pp. 113-17.
Press, 1993.
A useful book for those studying "A Good Man Is
Hard to Find." Similar to Norton Critical Editions,
this books contains an introduction to the story, the
text itself, and many critical essays that explore the
story's possible meanings.
Sources
Baumgaertner, Jill P. Flannery O'Connor: A Proper Scar-
ing, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1988.
Brinkmeyer, Jr., Robert H. The Art and Vision of Flannery Discusses primarily Flannery O'Connor's use of tra-
O'Connor, Louisiana State University Press, 1989. ditional Roman Catholic emblems in her fiction.
Gordon, Caroline.' 'With a Glitter of Evil," in The New York Coles, Robert. Flannery O'Connor's South, Louisiana State
Times Book Review, June 12, 1955, p. 5. University Press, 1980.

V o l u m e 2 113
 A Good Man Is Hard to Find

This is a readable introduction to the author and her A diverse collection of essays about many aspects of
fiction, and as the title indicates, it focuses on her ties Flannery O'Connor's fiction, from many well-known
to her region. critics.
Friedman, Melvin J., and Lewis A. Lawson, editors. The
Grimshaw, Jr., James A. The Flannery O'Connor Compan-
Added Dimension: The Art and Mind ofFlannery O 'Connor,
ion, Greenwood Press, 1981.
Fordham University Press, 1977.
Basic guide to O'Connor's works.
This volume contains a number of landmark essays by
critics and fellow writers about O'Connor's work, as O'Connor, Flannery. The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery
well as an interview, and provides a good summary of O'Connor, edited by Sally and Robert Fitzgerald, Farrar,
the early criticism on O'Connor.
Straus, and Giroux, 1979.
Friedman, Melvin J., and Beverly Lyon Clark, editors. Criti- Award-winning collection of Flannery O'Connor's
cal Essays on Flannery O 'Connor. G.K. Hall Publishing, 1985. letters to family, friends, and strangers.

I 1 4 S h o r t S t o r i e s f o r S t u d e n t s