The main storyline in the literary work
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" (1953) by Flannery O'Connor seems to
revolve around 'Grandmother', who is never actually given a name throughout the
story, but whose character is the one most developed throughout it. Through her
obtrusive bickering, her nostalgic flashbacks to "better times", her
need to know all, and the way in which she tries to control situations in an
almost-but-not-quite-subtle way, one can tell that though Grandmother's
character is complicated, it can still be summed up as tenacious and strong
willed, but at the same time willing to do what comes naturally, with an
appreciation for fineness and the ability to think ahead for herself. In other
words, she has a selfish desire to live the way she wants and thinks herself
superior enough to do so. With his use of speech and what seems to be some
random actions of grandmother, the author creates for us an old-fashioned and
proper 'lady' of a bygone era of America. He wants us to realize from this woman
character that selfishness will never lead to good. These types of women, or
maybe selfish people in general, are possessive, compulsive, and hypocritical,
and are also people who will inherently try to do what's best for themselves,
which inevitably has an outward appearance of doing what's best for the people
they surround themselves with. Grandmother represents all this and more in her
representation of change, which is shown in her final acts, as she appears to
change from a selfish old lady to one that'd risk her final breaths trying to
give some mercy to a confused and evil man, instead of begging him for mercy.
Because of this, her otherwise almost clichéd character transforms into
something with more depth, sincerity and maybe regret. The author, by using
grandmother's character in this way, shows us that maybe people can change even
in their later years; that selfishness can be overcome even after it has been
ingrained in a character for almost an entire lifetime.
Grandmother believes she knows what is best for
her children - in this case, her only son and his wife - and grandchildren,
just like many other grandmothers in the world. She also needs to know what
they're doing, where they're going, and then imposes on them what she thinks
should be done, whether they want her opinion or not. This can be seen all
throughout the narrative, and from the first sentence, where she has set in her
mind that she believed it would be best for herself and her son's family to
head to Tennessee instead of Florida. However, the reason she gives herself for
wanting to go to Tennessee is different from the one she tells her son. In her
mind, she wants to go to visit some "connections" she has there. To
her son, she tells him to read a newspaper article about a man called "The
Misfit" who'd broken out of jail and was on the run in Florida. Her other
argument is directed to the two children (that are old enough to talk); to them
she says that they've been to Florida before, and need to see "different
parts of the world". But no one in the family really listens to
grandmother, and she is often and easily dismissed, as shown when the family
heads to Florida despite grandmother's efforts. From this, one can surmise that
grandmother has some wishes she wants fulfilled for herself and will try her
best in order to get it, which is somewhat selfish since she is trying to drag
along an entire family with her. However, if she is unsuccessful in reaching
her goal, she will most certainly do the 'next best thing', and make the most of
it on her own terms. These two characteristics - the stalwart tenacity she
keeps until the end of her fight, and then the quick progression into humoring
the 'inevitable' next step in life in her own way - are shown early in the
story and seems to give a mild foreshadowing to her ultimate demise.
Another habit of grandmother's that helps form her
personality is her word choices, and the way in which she words her opinions
and thoughts on a matter. Again in the first line, she uses the word
"connections" instead of friends or acquaintances, and this gives the
effect that she is doing some sort of important business in Tennessee, rather
than visiting people she knew. In this way she can feel more superior and thus
her actions that would lead her to Tennessee will be justified, in that her
work is more important than whatever the rest of the family will be doing in
Florida. This process of justification shows that she might have a little bit
of conscience to begin with, even if she is overall, selfish, because people
without a conscience wouldn't need to justify their actions.
She also calls the African-America child they see
on the road a 'pickaninny' (and refers to another one in her story to the
children as a 'nigger'), which is often used in a degrading way. However, she
describes him as cute and believes that the child standing there looking
somewhat destitute would make a wonderful painting. This contributes to the
fact that she was probably raised as a young 'lady' who was proper and learnt
to paint and be kind hearted to all things, the way a proper woman should be.
And yet, because she believes it'd make a nice painting instead of thinking
about helping the poor child, the author shows that grandmother most likely
shared the same attitude towards African Americans as others in her era - that
is, they weren't in the same class as white people, or they weren't in
actuality, people at all. This shows how she is still nice only outwardly, and
underscores her selfishness as well, because by painting such a sad and
'humane' picture of a poor boy, she would receive the sympathy and praise of
others like herself. Her reference to "common blood" as she talks to
the Misfit also emphasize her acknowledgement of class systems and that she
ranks herself as upper class.
Also, when she is asked by her grandson where the
plantation was after passing the graveyard, she replied with "Gone with
the Wind" and a laugh. This leads the reader to believe she is either well
read, or in tune with the popular culture of her era, which underlines her
belief that she ranked high in society because she was a well-to-do woman with
a fine upbringing. Her laugh leads the reader to believe she doesn't expect the
children to know what she was referring to, thus enhancing her obvious superiority
over the younger generation. The author probably made the reference to the book
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell because the location of both the
stories are the same (Atlanta, Georgia) and also to refer to the way that the
old way of life had disappeared, which is what grandmother often thinks about.
Grandmother often digresses back to thoughts of
"her time" when everything was better. This proves that she believes
her time of youth and adventure is, in fact, over, which may be the reason why
she so clings to her only son's life. Grandmother also tells her grandchildren
a story of her 'maiden' days, when rich gentlemen would court her, and this
could be another reason why she feels superior to others.
Actions during the entirety of the story emphasize
more of her character. Wearing 'proper' clothing for a road trip so that if she
died, others would know she was a 'lady'. This showed her need to be recognized
in society as upper class. Taking the cat when she didn't need to, and when she
knew her son, Bailey, wouldn't want it, also showed her need for everything to
be her way. When the author shifts the story from a sour road trip to a bad
accident, she still thinks about herself instead of wondering whether the
others are okay, and this attitude continues to when the Misfit arrives and she
doesn't ask him to spare the lives of her family. However, another shift occurs
during her discourse with the Misfit, as they talk about Jesus raising the
dead. In this moment she goes from trying to plead and talk him out of shooting
her to saying: "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own
children!" which could have a biblical reference, and then she reaches out
to touch him before being shot. This sudden change in character could mean that
she had finally realized that it had been her own fault that they'd ended up in
this predicament and had then tried to be a good Christian lady at the end of
her life, to make up for her bad deeds. Or it could have been because she still
wanted to live her life and would do anything to achieve that goal. However,
the Misfit's words seem to agree with the latter, when he says: "She would
of been a good woman...if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute
of her life." meaning that she had only been a good woman in those last
few seconds of her life, just before she got shot. This could then mean that
the gesture she'd extended to the Misfit had been one of mercy and compassion,
which is what she probably thought Jesus would have done to help the criminal.
In conclusion, the character, Grandmother, is one
of egocentricity and one of a will to live and die on her own terms. The
author, by creating such a character, argues that although humanity is plagued
by evils at different levels -- from a child being rude, to a grandmother being
selfish, to three men murdering people -- there is still hope that at some
point in life, people can become better, even if it is at the bittersweet gates
of death.
