Characterization of The Grandmother and the Misfit in A Good Man is Hard to Find
The Characterization of the Grandmother and the Misfit
In the first paragraph of Flannery O?Connor?s short story, ?A Good Man Is Hard to
Find?, the grandmother is introduced trying to change a planned family trip to Florida
with her son, Bailey and his family. It is the night before the trip, and grandmother is
?seizing at every chance to change Bailey?s mind.? (p.465). The grandmother is the
central character of the story, and the family is rather a bland, generic family. The
children are portrayed as disrespectful brats, but are a humorous aspect to the story. The
family is a typical nuclear family of the fifties, who appear to be disconnected not only to
each other, but also to any form of family values.
In the first paragraph, grandmother introduces us to the character, the Misfit, as she
reads from the newspaper, ?Here is this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose
from the Federal pen and headed toward Florida?. She is trying to manipulate the plans of
the trip by pointing this out to her son, Bailey. ?Bailey didn?t look up from his reading so
she wheeled around then and faced the children?s mother,?. This
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