Tuesday, 10 January 2012

In "A Good Man is Hard to Find," how does Flannery OConnor characterize the grandmother in her conversation with the Misfit?

In O'Conner's
"A Good Man is Hard to Find," the grandmother speaks to the Misfit about good
breeding, Jesus, and seeing good in a murderer during the final moments of her life and the
lives of her family. She is characterized through most of the story as
selfish
because she would rather go to Tennessee than Florida, but she also wants
her family to act as well-behaved as she believes herself to be.

As the
grandmother speaks with the Misfit in the final moments of her family members' lives, she brings
up the two good things in life that she knows about--her faith and her quality upbringing. It is
interesting that she doesn't ask the men to spare the lives of her family, but she does ask for
her own life because she's a "lady." It's as though the grandmother naively believes
that if the Misfit can see that she is a good Christian and a lady of good
breeding
, then he will magically change his mind and not hurt her.


Another way that the grandmother is characterized is as one who shows
faith in...

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