How does the author of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" describe the cultural and physical landscape of the south?

The cultural landscape is presented primarily
through the eyes of the grandmother. Outwardly, she is concerned with her appearance, as noted
by the details in her traveling attire:

The old lady
settled herself comfortably, removing her white cotton gloves and putting them up with her purse
on the shelf in front of the back window. [She] had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch
of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her
collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a
purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet.

All of
these efforts in presenting herself well are to ensure that in the case of an accident, people
will know at once that she is a "lady." Of course, thehere is that by behavior and
thought, she doesn't present herself as a lady at all.

Her inner character
doesn't reflect the same efforts at ladylike behavior. When she catches a glimpse of a little
African American boy while driving, she exclaims,

"Oh
look at the cute little pickaninny!" she said and pointed to a Negro child standing in the
door of a shack. "Wouldn't that make a picture, now?" she asked.

Thus, the cultural landscape is presented as a superficial effort
at outer civilities while masking a dark and racist inner reality.

The
physical landscape mirrors the grandmother's journey: moments of beautiful calm followed by
sharp turns toward ominous danger.

The grandmother
recalled the times when there were no paved roads and thirty miles was a day's journey. The dirt
road was hilly and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous embankments. All
at once they would be on a hill, looking down over the blue tops of trees for miles around, then
the next minute, they would be in a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on
them.

The landscape can change quickly in the South,
providing a clear view one moment and swallowing one up the next. The grandmother finds herself
in much the same predicament, enjoying a peaceful journey one moment and meeting her death the
next. The physical landscape thus mirrors a diverse cultural landscape in the South.

The cultural and physical landscapes provide the needed backdrop for the Misfit and the
conflict which ultimately forces the grandmother to face her superficial beliefs in the final
scene with the Misfit.