"A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor Presentation
In a Good Man is Hard to Find
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Transcript of In a Good Man is Hard to Find
Wesley ViolaExpository Writing
Dec. 13, 2013Final Paper
In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, one of the two central characters, The Misfit, is
at once a villain and not a villain. Though his actions are unequivocally violent and
criminal, the character himself does not seem to have an evil or brutish disposition;
his manners are polite and he has a certain sophistication. O’Connor reflects the
strangeness of this character with certain details in the story’s setting, creating an
appropriately eerie atmosphere that emphasizes the meaningful, dual quality of The
Misfit.
The Misfit is a character with seemingly incompatible traits: he is genuinely
both a gentlemen and a cold-hearted murderer. Judging from his appearance,
speech, and gestures, he is distinctively civilized; the reader first sees him stepping
out of a car wearing “scholarly” glasses and greeting the unfortunate family with a
pleasant “good afternoon”(954). He never fails to address the grandmother either
as “lady” or “ma’am” (955). Yet as The Misfit is polite, he is also malicious: as he
holds a black hat in one hand (a respectful gesture upon meeting someone), he also
holds a gun in the other. He apologizes to those – “I’m sorry I don’t have on a shirt
before you ladies”– he shortly thereafter murders (956). The Misfit’s good manners
are also not pretended as if he was mocking his victims for fun. Real concern for
offending the ladies is seen in his body language as he “hunches his shoulders
slightly” and “looks up suddenly and then away deep in the woods as if he were
embarrassed” (956). The Misfit is at once genuinely well mannered and extremely
malicious.
O’Connor reflects the unique, frighteningly strange quality of the Misfit’s
character in the story’s setting. Several times the characters remark about the
bizarre, almost impossible condition of the sky: “Ain’t a cloud in the sky,” [The
Misfit] remarked, looking up at it. “Don’t see no sun but don’t see no cloud neither”
(955). This eerie intermediate between a beautiful, sunny day and a dark, cloudy
one closely parallels the seemingly impossible duality of The Misfit’s character.
The image of the cloudless, sunless sky also emphasizes an important point
of the story: it is possible, as in The Misfit’s case, to have good manners yet not be a
good person just as it is possible for the sky to have no clouds yet no sun. This idea
contrasts with the grandmother’s understanding of what makes for a good person.
For her, these necessary qualities are learned manners and outward appearance.
Seeing no clouds in the sky, she considers it a beautiful day just as she can look at
The Misfit and decide that he is good: “Yes, it’s a beautiful day,” said the
grandmother. “Listen,” she said, “you shouldn’t call yourself The Misfit because I
know you’re a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell” (955).
Flannery O’Connor’s story shows very strikingly with The Misfit that good
manners, upbringing, and outward appearance do not necessarily make a person
good. These are superficial qualities to take into consideration when judging a
person. Ironically, the grandmother can only see these qualities when confronted
with The Misfit, yet The Misfit, on far lower moral ground, can see past them to the
true moral character of himself and the grandmother.