write a comparison/contrast essay of 1000-1200 words

Analyze two short stories, “Love in L.A.” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” in terms of their similarities and differences.

I have already analyzed “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Have not analyzed “Love in LA”.

Have not did the comparisons/differences

Assignment:

Please write a comparison/contrast essay of 1000-1200 words discussing the questions below. Remember to begin your paper with an engaging introduction and clear thesis statement, develop each point in the body of your paper using examples and quotes from the stories, and conclude your paper with a restatement of your thesis and closing remarks. Also, be sure to maintain your credibility by including in-text citations and a reference list correctly formatted in APA style.

1. Setting: In many ways, the two short stories are set in radically different times and places. There is, however, at least one commonality that both settings share. Discuss the differences and at least similarity.

2. Characters:

◦“Love in L.A.:” Describe Jake, the main character. What kind of man is he? Is he the story’s protagonist or antagonist? Explain your answer. Describe Mariana. How does she perceive her interactions with Jake? In what ways are his intentions different from hers?

◦“A Good Man is Hard to Find:” Discuss the personalities and motives (i.e., what does each seem to want?) of the following characters: the grandmother, Bailey, the children’s mother, the children, Red Sammy Butts, The Misfit, and the other two escaped criminals.

3. Symbolism:

◦“Love in L.A.:” Both the car and freeway are symbolic in this story. What is the deeper meaning of each?

◦“A Good Man is Hard to Find:” What do each of these symbolize: the grandmother’s hat, the town of Toomsboro (hint: “Toom” sounds strikingly similar to another word) and The Misfit’s car?

4. Themes: What are the main themes/messages of each piece? What, in other words, do you think the authors, Dagoberto Gilb and Flannery O’Connor, are trying to communicate about life and human nature in their respective stories?

5. Tone: What does Gilb’s tone seem to reveal about his attitude toward the characters and plot in “Love in L.A.?” Likewise, what does O’Connor’s tone seem to tell us about her attitude toward the characters and plot in “A Good Man is Hard to Find?”

6. Irony: In what ways do the titles of both stories contain irony?

7. Moral Codes: (A moral code is an individual’s internal set of beliefs and principles that guides their conduct toward others. Everyone has a moral code, although not everyone’s behavior is necessarily “moral” or law-abiding.)

◦“Love in L.A.:” What is Jakes’ moral code? Elaborate on your answer, using at least two examples from the story to support your opinion.

◦“A Good Man is Hard to Find:” By what moral codes do the grandmother and The Misfit live by? What external influences (upbringing, faith, experiences, etc.) have shaped their codes? Discuss the “goodness” (or lack thereof) of both characters. Do they or anyone else in the story qualify as a “good man?” Why or why not?

8. Final Thoughts: Literature intersects with many areas of our lives, often providing commentary on cultural norms, and—in the case of the O’Connor story—the influence of religion on individuals and societies. In what ways has reading “Love in L.A.” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” impacted your own views on love, “goodness” and religious faith?

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Analyze two short stories, “Love in L.A.” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” in terms of their similarities and differences.

I need the answers to the following so I can put it together in essay form.

Assignment:

2. Characters:

3. Symbolism:

◦“Love in L.A.:” Both the car and freeway are symbolic in this story. What is the deeper meaning of each?

4. Themes: What are the main themes/messages of each piece? What, in other words, do you think the authors, Dagoberto Gilb and Flannery O’Connor, are trying to communicate about life and human nature in their respective stories?

5. Tone: What does Gilb’s tone seem to reveal about his attitude toward the characters and plot in “Love in L.A.?” Likewise, what does O’Connor’s tone seem to tell us about her attitude toward the characters and plot in “A Good Man is Hard to Find?”

6. Irony: In what ways do the titles of both stories contain irony?

7. Moral Codes: (A moral code is an individual’s internal set of beliefs and principles that guides their conduct toward others. Everyone has a moral code, although not everyone’s behavior is necessarily “moral” or law-abiding.)

◦“Love in L.A.:” What is Jakes’ moral code? Elaborate on your answer, using at least two examples from the story to support your opinion.

8. Final Thoughts: Literature intersects with many areas of our lives, often providing commentary on cultural norms, and—in the case of the O’Connor story—the influence of religion on individuals and societies. In what ways has reading “Love in L.A.” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” impacted your own views on love, “goodness” and religious faith?

File I

Born in Los Angeles, Dagoberto Gilb put himself through college with a variety of part time jobs, earning a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy and religion from the University of’ California at Santa Barbara. He then spent sixteen years as a construction worker and Carpenter, taking time off every few months to write.

Love in L. A.

Jake slouched in a clot of near motionless traffic, in the peculiar gray of concrete,

smog, and early morning beneath the overpass of the Hollywood Freeway

on Alvarado Street. He didn’t really mind because he knew how much worse it

could be trying to make a left onto the onramp. He certainly didn’t do that every

day of his life, and he’d assure anyone who’d ask that he never would either.

A steady occupation had its advantages and he couldn’t deny thinking about that

too. He needed an FM radio in something better than this ’58 Buick he drove.

It would have crushed velvet interior with electric controls for the L. A. summer,

a nice warm heater and defroster for the winter drives at the beach, a cruise control

for those longer trips, mellow speakers front and rear of course, windows that

hum closed, snuffing out that nasty exterior noise of freeways. The fact was that

he’d probably have to change his whole style. Exotic colognes, plush, dark nightclubs,

mai tais and daiquiris, necklaced ladies in satin gowns, misty and sexy like

in a tequila ad. Jake could imagine lots of possibilities when he let himself, but

none that ended up with him pressed onto a stalled freeway.

Jake was thinking about this freedom of his so much that when he glimpsed

its green light he just went ahead and stared bye-bye to the steadily employed.

When he turned his head the same direction his windshield faced, it was maybe

one second too late. He pounced the brake pedal and steered the front wheels

away from the tiny brake lights but the smack was unavoidable. Just one second

sooner and it would only have been close. One second more and he’d be crawling

up the Toyota’s trunk. As it was, it seemed like only a harmless smack, much

less solid than the one against his back bumper.

Jake considered driving past the Toyota but was afraid the traffic ahead

would make it too difficult. As he pulled up against the curb a few car lengths

ahead, it occurred to him that the traffic might have helped him get away

too. He slammed the car door twice to make sure it was closed fully and

to give himself another second more, then toured front and rear of his Buick

for damage on or near the bumpers. Not an impressionable scratch even in

the chrome. He perked up. Though the car’s beauty was secondary to its ability

to start and move, the body and paint were clean except for a few minor

This stood (of his few clearcut accomplishments over the

Bcfore he spoke to the driver of the Toyota, whose looks he could see might

(‘scnthim with an added complication, he signaled to the driver of the car that

him, still in his car and stopped behind the Toyota, and waved his hands and

ho()khis head to let the man know there was no problem as far as he was con-

the driver waved back and started his engine.

“It didn’t even scratch my paint,” Jake told her in that way of his. “So how

Any damage to the car? I’m kinda hoping so, just so it takes a little

time and we can talk some. Or else you can give me your phone number

and I won’t have to lay my regular b. s. on you to get it later.”

I le took her smile as a good sign and relaxed. He inhaled her scent like it was

air and straightened out his less than new but not unhip clothes.

“You’ve got Florida plates. You look like you must be Cuban.”

“My parents are from Venezuela.”

“My name’s Jake.” He held out his hand.

“Mariana.”

They shook hands like she’d never done it before in her life.

“I really am sorry about hitting you like that.” He sounded genuine. He fondled

the wide dimple near the cracked taillight. “It’s amazing how easy it is to

put a dent in these new cars. They’re so soft they might replace waterbeds

soon.” Jake was confused about how to proceed with this. So much seemed so

unlikely, but there was always possibility. “So maybe we should go out to breakfast

somewhere and talk it over.”

“I don’t eat breakfast.”

“Some coffee then.”

“Thanks, but I really can’t.”

“You’re not married, are you? Not that that would matter that much to me.

I’m an open-minded kind a guy.”

She was smiling. “I have to get to work.”

“That sounds boring.”

“I better get your driver’s license,” she said.

Jake nodded, disappointed. “One little problem,” he said. “I didn’t bring it. 20

I just forgot it this morning. I’m a musician,” he exaggerated greatly, “and, well,

I dunno, I left my wallet in the pants I was wearing last night. If you have some

paper and a pen I’ll give you my address and all that.”

He followed her to the glove compartment side of her car.

“What if we don’t report it to the insurance companies? I’ll just get it fixed

for you.”

“I don’t think my dad would let me do that.”

“Your dad? It’s not your car?”

“He bought it for me. And I live at home.”

“Right.” She was slipping away from him. He went back around to the back

of her new Toyota and looked over the damage again. There was the trunk lid,

the bumper, a rear panel, a taillight.

“You do have insurance?” she asked, suspicious, as she came around the back

of the car.

“Oh yeah,” he lied.

“I guess you better write the name of that down too.”

He made up a last name and address and wrote down ance company an old girlfriend once belonged to considered giving a n’al

phone number but went against that idea and made one up.

“I act too,” he lied to enhance the effect more. “Been in a couple of movies.”

She smiled like a fan.

“So how about your phone number?” He was rebounding maturely.

She gave it to him.

“Mariana, you are beautiful,” he said in his most sincere voice.

“Call me,” she said timidly.

Jake beamed. “We’ll see you, Mariana,” he said holding out his hand. Her

hand felt so warm and soft he felt like he’d been kissed.

Back in his car he took a moment or two to feel both proud and sad about

his performance. Then he watched the rear view mirror as Mariana pulled up

behind him. She was writing down the license plate numbers on his Buick,

ones that he’d taken off a junk because the ones that belonged to his had

expired so long ago. He turned the ignition key and revved the big engine and

clicked into drive. His sense of freedom swelled as he drove into the now moving

street traffic, though he couldn’t stop the thought about that FM stereo

radio and crushed velvet interior and the new car smell that would even make

it better.

(1993)

File

How to quote these:

In text citation (SparkNotes Editors, 2007).

SparkNotes Editors. (2007). SparkNote on A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Retrieved January 12,

2013, from

http://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find/

“a Good Man is Hard to Find” Plot Overview –

The grandmother tries to convince her son, Bailey, and his wife to take the family to east Tennessee for vacation instead of Florida. She points out an article about the Misfit, an escaped convict heading toward Florida, and adds that the children have already been there. John Wesley, eight years old, suggests that the grandmother stay home, and his sister, June Star, says nastily that his grandmother would never do that.

On the day of the trip, the grandmother hides her cat, Pitty Sing, in a basket in the car. She wears a dress and hat with flowers on it so that people will know she is “a lady” if there’s an accident. In the car, John Wesley says he doesn’t like Georgia, and the grandmother chastises him for not respecting his home state. When they pass a cotton field, she says there are graves in the middle of it that belonged to the plantation and jokes that the plantation has “Gone with the Wind.” Later, she tells a story about an old suitor, Edgar Atkins Teagarden. Edgar brought her a watermelon every week, into which he carved his initials, E. A. T. Once he left it on the porch and a black child ate it because he thought it said eat.

The family stops at a restaurant called the Tower, owned by Red Sammy Butts. Red Sammy complains that people are untrustworthy, explaining that he recently let two men buy gasoline on credit. The grandmother tells him he’s a good man for doing it. Red Sam’s wife says she doesn’t trust anyone, including Red Sam. The grandmother asks her if she’s heard about the Misfit, and the woman worries that he’ll rob them. Red Sam says, “A good man is hard to find.” He and the grandmother lament the state of the world.
Back in the car, the grandmother wakes from a nap and realizes that a plantation she once visited is nearby. She says that the house had six white columns and was at the end of an oak tree–lined driveway. She lies that the house had a secret panel to make the house seem more interesting. Excited, the children beg to go to the house until Bailey angrily gives in. The grandmother points him to a dirt road.

The family drives deep into the woods. The grandmother suddenly remembers that the house was in Tennessee, not in Georgia. Horrified at her mistake, she jerks her feet. Pitty Sing escapes from the basket and startles Bailey, who wrecks the car. The children’s mother breaks her shoulder, but no one else is hurt. The grandmother decides not to tell Bailey about her mistake.

A passing car stops, and three men get out, carrying guns. The grandmother thinks she recognizes one of them. One of the men, wearing glasses and no shirt, descends into the ditch. He tells the children’s mother to make the children sit down because they make him nervous. The grandmother suddenly screams because she realizes that he’s the Misfit. The man says it’s not good that she recognized him. Bailey curses violently, upsetting the grandmother. The grandmother asks the Misfit whether he’d shoot a lady, and the Misfit says he wouldn’t like to. The grandmother claims that she can tell he’s a good man and that he comes from “nice people.” The Misfit agrees and praises his parents. The grandmother continues telling him he’s a good man. The Misfit tells the other two men, Hiram and Bobby Lee, to take Bailey and John Wesley into the woods. The grandmother adjusts her hat, but the brim breaks off. The Misfit says he knows he isn’t good but that he isn’t the worst man either. He apologizes to the grandmother and the children’s mother for not wearing a shirt and says that he and the other men had to bury their clothes after they escaped. He says they borrowed the clothes they’re wearing from some people they met.

The grandmother asks the Misfit whether he ever prays. Just as he says no, she hears two gunshots. The Misfit says he used to be a gospel singer, and the grandmother chants, “pray, pray.” He says he wasn’t a bad child but that at one point he went to prison for a crime he can’t remember committing. He says a psychiatrist told him he’d killed his father. The grandmother tells the Misfit to pray so that Jesus will help him. The Misfit says he’s fine on his own.

Bobby Lee and Hiram come back from the woods, and Bobby Lee gives the Misfit the shirt Bailey had been wearing, but the grandmother doesn’t realize it’s Bailey’s. The Misfit tells the children’s mother to take the baby and June Star and go with Bobby Lee and Hiram into the woods. Bobby Lee tries to hold June Star’s hand, but she says he looks like a pig.

The grandmother starts chanting, “Jesus, Jesus.” The Misfit says he’s like Jesus, except Jesus hadn’t committed a crime. He says he gave himself this name because his punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime people said he committed. A gunshot comes from the woods. The grandmother begs the Misfit not to shoot a lady. Two more gunshots come from the woods, and the grandmother cries out for Bailey.

The Misfit says that Jesus confused everything by raising the dead. He says that if what Jesus did is true, then everyone must follow him. But if he didn’t actually raise the dead, then all anyone can do is enjoy their time on earth by indulging in “meanness.” The grandmother agrees that perhaps Jesus didn’t raise the dead. The Misfit says he wishes he had been there so he could know for sure. The grandmother calls the Misfit “one of my own children,” and the Misfit shoots her in the chest three times.

Bobby Lee and Hiram return, and they all look at the grandmother. The Misfit observes that the grandmother could have been a good woman if someone had been around “to shoot her every minute of her life.” The Misfit says life has no true pleasure.

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Character List

The Grandmother

– An irksome woman who lives with Bailey and his family. During the family’s journey to Florida, the grandmother suggests that they visit an old house she remembers, an idea that leads to a car accident and the murder of everyone in the group. Before she is killed, the grandmother remembers that the house is actually in Tennessee, nowhere near where she said it was. She tries to reason with the Misfit but only enrages him. She experiences a moment of grace right before the Misfit shoots her.

Read an in-depth analysis of The Grandmother.

The Misfit – A wanted criminal who stumbles upon the family when they crash their car in the woods. The Misfit lives by a moral code that involves murder and remorselessness, but he also spends time wondering about Jesus. Because he doesn’t know for sure whether Jesus really raised the dead, he has opted for “meanness” as a way of giving his life meaning. He doesn’t see himself as a terrible person. His two henchmen kill the entire family, and the Misfit shoots the grandmother himself.

Read an in-depth analysis of The Misfit.

Bailey – The frazzled head of the family. Bailey seems to love his mother, but her needling behavior sometimes gets the best of him. He gives in to the grandmother’s request to visit the old plantation house that she remembers only because the children are driving him crazy. When the grandmother’s cat jumps onto his shoulder, he wrecks the car. He tries to quiet the grandmother and stop her from provoking the three criminals, but he is ineffective. He and John Wesley are the first to be killed by the Misfit.

John Wesley – A loud, obnoxious, eight-year-old boy. John Wesley wants to visit the house the grandmother talks about because she says it has a secret panel.

June Star – An obnoxious young girl. June Star loudly speaks her mind and makes cutting observations about those around her.

The Mother – Bailey’s wife and the mother of John Wesley, June Star, and a baby. The mother breaks her shoulder in the car crash and is eventually killed by the Misfit’s henchmen.

Red Sammy Butts – The owner of the Tower restaurant. Red Sammy is a good man according to the grandmother, trusting and even gullible to a fault.

Bobby Lee – One of the escaped criminals. Bobby Lee is fat and, according to June Star, looks like a pig.

Hiram – One of the escaped criminals. Hiram wears a gray hat and inspects the family’s car.

Moral Codes

In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the grandmother and Misfit live by moral codes that affect their decisions, actions, and perceptions. A moral code is a set of beliefs and behaviors that people abide by to live what they consider to be a reasonable, fulfilling life. The term moral doesn’t necessarily mean “good”; it’s simply a code of conduct, while the righteousness of a person’s morals is entirely subjective. Although at first glance the Misfit’s code seems to be misguided, it is actually the grandmother’s code that proves to be flimsy and inconsistent. The grandmother has built her moral code on the characteristics that she believes make people “good.” She places great stock in being a lady, for example, which emphasizes appearance over substance. At the same time, she repeatedly deceives her family and lacks even a rudimentary awareness of the world around her. Despite her professed love for Christian piety, she herself is unable to pray when she finds herself in a crisis and even begins to question the power and divinity of Jesus.

The Misfit, however, adheres to a moral code that remains consistent and strong. From his experiences as a convicted criminal, he believes that the punishment is always disproportionate to the crime and that the crime, in the end, doesn’t even really matter. He also harbors a genuine bafflement about religion. Whereas the grandmother accepts faith unquestioningly and weakly, the Misfit challenges religious beliefs and thinks deeply about how he should follow them or not follow them. He has chosen to live under the assumption that religion is pointless and adheres to his own kind of religion: “No pleasure but meanness.” His moral code is violent and never wavers, and in the end, his is the one that triumphs.

Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Themes

The Elusive Definition of a “Good Man”

The grandmother applies the label “good” indiscriminately, blurring the definition of a “good man” until the label loses its meaning entirely. She first applies it to Red Sammy after he angrily complains of the general untrustworthiness of people. He asks her why he let two strangers charge their gasoline—he’s obviously been swindled—and the grandmother says he did it because he’s “a good man.” In this case, her definition of “good” seems to include gullibility, poor judgment, and blind faith, none of which are inherently “good.” She next applies the label “good” to the Misfit. After she recognizes him, she asks him whether he’d shoot a lady, although he never says that he wouldn’t. Because being a lady is such a significant part of what the grandmother considers moral, the Misfit’s answer proves that he doesn’t adhere to the same moral code as she does. The grandmother desperately calls him a good man, as though appealing to some kind of underlying value that the Misfit wouldn’t want to deny. Her definition of “good,” however, is skewed, resting almost entirely on her claim that he doesn’t have “common blood.”

The grandmother’s wanton application of the label “good man” reveals that “good” doesn’t imply “moral” or “kind.” For the grandmother, a man is a “good man” if his values are aligned with her own. Red Sammy is “good” because he trusts people blindly and waxes nostalgic about more innocent times—both of which the grandmother can relate to. The Misfit is “good” because, she reasons, he won’t shoot a lady—a refusal that would be in keeping with her own moral code. Her assumption, of course, proves to be false. The only thing “good” about the Misfit is his consistency in living out his moral code of “no pleasure but meanness.”

The Unlikely Recipients of Grace

In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the grandmother and the Misfit are both recipients of grace, despite their many flaws, sins, and weaknesses. According to Christian theology, human beings are granted salvation through God’s grace, or favor, which God freely bestows on even the least likely recipients. In other words, God has the power to allow even bad people to go to heaven, which he does by granting them grace. The grandmother is an unlikely candidate for receiving grace. She lies to her grandchildren, manipulates her son, and harps constantly about the inadequacy of the present and superiority of the past. She has no self-awareness and seems oblivious to the world around her. Certain of her own moral superiority, the grandmother believes that she is the right person to judge the goodness of others as well as the right person to instruct other people on how to live their lives. However, she herself has an inherent moral weakness. She instructs the Misfit to pray, for example, even though she herself is unable to formulate a coherent prayer. She changes her mind about Jesus’ rising from the dead, as she grows more afraid of what will happen to her. The Misfit, for his part, is an unrepentant murderer. Both “bad” people in their own way, they are each unlikely—even undeserving—recipients of grace.

Grace, however, settles on them both, suggesting that even people like the grandmother and Misfit have the potential to be saved by God. The grandmother, moved by the Misfit’s wish to know for sure what Jesus did and didn’t do, experiences a moment of grace when her head momentarily clears and she exclaims, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” The Misfit isn’t literally the grandmother’s child; rather, this points to the fact that she realizes they are both human beings. Her comment seems inappropriate—even insane—given the circumstances, but this is actually the grandmother’s most lucid moment in the story. She has clarity and, more important, compassion. God has granted her grace just before she dies. The Misfit, too, is open to grace at this moment. Although he had claimed earlier that there was “no pleasure but meanness” in life, he now denies that there is any pleasure in life at all. Killing has ceased to bring him happiness, suggesting that he, too, may harbor the possibility to change.

Motifs

Nostalgia

The grandmother, Red Sammy, and the Misfit’s nostalgia for the past suggests that they all believe that a “good man” was easier to come by long ago and that pursuing goodness in the present day is difficult and even pointless. During the car trip, the grandmother reminisces about an old suitor, Edgar Adkins Teagarden, who brought her a watermelon every weekend. She suspects she should have married him because he was a gentleman—and therefore a “good man” as well—and became wealthy. Red Sammy and the grandmother reminisce about the past, when people could be trusted. Red Sammy says outright “a good man is hard to find,” considering himself—gullible and foolish—to be one of this dying breed. Even the Misfit remembers things his father said and did as well as the unfairness of his punishment for crimes that he can’t remember committing. According to these characters, the present

is rife with ambiguity and unhappiness, and things were much different long ago. In a way, this belief allows them to stop short of deeply exploring their own potential for goodness because they’ve convinced themselves that the world is not conducive to it.

Symbols

The Grandmother’s Hat

The grandmother’s hat, which she wears for the sole purpose of showing that she is a lady, represents her misguided moral code. When the grandmother prepares for the car trip with the family, she dresses up to be prepared for a car accident so that anyone seeing her dead body would know that she’d been a lady. The grandmother seems to be entirely unconcerned with the fact that she’s dead in this scenario and oblivious to the fact that other people—including her three grandchildren—would have probably died as well. For the grandmother, the only thing that matters is her standing as a lady, a ridiculous concern that reveals her selfishness and flimsy moral conviction. When the grandmother does become involved in a car accident, the hat—like her moral convictions—falls apart. After she is thrown from the car and the family is facing the Misfit, the brim of the hat falls off. She drops the broken hat as her self-conception as a lady dissolves.

Analysis of Major Characters

Moral Codes
In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the grandmother and Misfit live by moral codes that affect their decisions, actions, and perceptions. A moral code is a set of beliefs and behaviors that people abide by to live what they consider to be a reasonable, fulfilling life. The term moral doesn’t necessarily mean “good”; it’s simply a code of conduct, while the righteousness of a person’s morals is entirely subjective. Although at first glance the Misfit’s code seems to be misguided, it is actually the grandmother’s code that proves to be flimsy and inconsistent. The grandmother has built her moral code on the characteristics that she believes make people “good.” She places great stock in being a lady, for example, which emphasizes appearance over substance. At the same time, she repeatedly deceives her family and lacks even a rudimentary awareness of the world around her. Despite her professed love for Christian piety, she herself is unable to pray when she finds herself in a crisis and even begins to question the power and divinity of Jesus.
The Misfit, however, adheres to a moral code that remains consistent and strong. From his experiences as a convicted criminal, he believes that the punishment is always disproportionate to the crime and that the crime, in the end, doesn’t even really matter. He also harbors a genuine bafflement about religion. Whereas the grandmother accepts faith unquestioningly and weakly, the Misfit challenges religious beliefs and thinks deeply about how he should follow them or not follow them. He has chosen to live under the assumption that religion is pointless and adheres to his own kind of religion: “No pleasure but meanness.” His moral code is violent and never wavers, and in the end, his is the one that triumphs.

Analysis of Major Characters

The Grandmother

The unnamed grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” considers herself morally superior to others by virtue of her being a “lady,” and she freely and frequently passes judgment on others. She claims that her conscience is a guiding force in her life, such as when she tells Bailey that her conscience wouldn’t allow her to take the children in the same direction as the Misfit. She criticizes the children’s mother for not traveling to a place that would allow the children to “be broad,” and she compares the mother’s face to a cabbage. She chastises John Wesley for not having more respect for Georgia, his home state. She also takes any opportunity to judge the lack of goodness in people in the world today. During all this, she proudly wears her carefully selected dress and hat, certain that being a lady is the most important virtue of all, one that she alone harbors.

The grandmother never turns her critical eye on herself to inspect her own hypocrisy, dishonesty, and selfishness. For example, the conscience the grandmother invokes at the beginning of the story is conveniently silent when she sneaks Pitty Sing into the car, lies to the children about the secret panel, and opts not to reveal that she made a mistake about the location of the house. When the Misfit systematically murders the family, the grandmother never once begs him to spare her children or grandchildren. She does, however, plead for her own life because she can’t imagine the Misfit wanting to kill a lady. She seems certain that he’ll recognize and respect her moral code, as though it will mean something to him despite his criminal ways. She tries to draw him into her world by assuring him that he’s a good man, but even though he agrees with her assessment of him, he doesn’t see this as a reason to spare her. Only when the grandmother is facing death, in her final moments alone with the Misfit, does she understand where she has gone wrong in her life. Instead of being superior, she realizes, she is flawed like everyone else. When she tells the Misfit that he is “one of [her] own children,” she is showing that she has found the ability to see others with compassion and understanding. This is a moment of realization, one that is immediately followed by her death.

The Misfit

With his violent, wanton killing, the Misfit seems an unlikely source to look to for spiritual or moral guidance, but he demonstrates a deep conviction that the other characters lack. Unlike the grandmother, who simply assumes that she is morally superior to everyone else, the Misfit seriously questions the meaning of life and his role in it. He has carefully considered his actions in life and examined his experiences to find lessons within them. He has even renamed himself because of one of these lessons, believing that his punishment didn’t fit his crime. Because the Misfit has questioned himself and his life so closely, he reveals a self-awareness that the grandmother lacks. He knows he isn’t a great man, but he also knows that there are others worse than him. He forms rudimentary philosophies, such as “no pleasure but meanness” and “the crime don’t matter.”

The Misfit’s philosophies may be depraved, but they are consistent. Unlike the grandmother, whose moral code falls apart the moment it’s challenged, the Misfit has a steady view of life and acts according to what he believes is right. His beliefs and actions are not moral in the conventional sense, but they are strong and consistent and therefore give him a strength of conviction that the grandmother lacks. Twisted as it might be, he can rely on his moral code to guide his actions. The grandmother cannot, and in the last moments of her life, she recognizes his strength and her weaknesses. O’Connor called the Misfit a “prophet gone wrong,” and indeed, if he had applied his moral integrity to a less depraved lifestyle, he could have been considered a true preacher, pillar, or teacher.

1. “I found out the crime don’t matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you’re going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it.”

Explanation for Quotation 1 >> The Misfit speaks these words near the end of the story, just before sending the children’s mother, the baby, and June Star into the woods to be shot. The Misfit has told the grandmother that he had been punished for a crime that he can’t remember, and this is the lesson he has taken away from it. According to the Misfit’s theory, no matter what the crime, large or small, the punishment will be the same—even if one never remembers what one did. This idea of being punished for an unremembered crime alludes to the Christian belief in original sin. According to Christian theology, all human beings are born sinners for which they will be eternally punished. Only through God’s grace can these people be saved. In this sense, humans “forget” their crime, yet are punished nonetheless, just as the Misfit suggests. The grandmother has her moment of grace when she recognizes the Misfit as one of her “own children,” recognizing how similar she is to the Misfit for the first time. She isn’t morally superior, as she has always believed. Instead, both are struggling in their own ways to come to terms with the difficult, often ambiguous tenets of the Christian faith.

2. “She would have been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” This quotation, at the end of the story, reveals the Misfit’s understanding of what has occurred in the grandmother’s final moments, and he seems to recognize two things about her. First, he fully understands that despite her obvious belief in her moral superiority—which she conveys through her self-proclaimed identification as a “lady” and religious instruction—the grandmother is not, in fact, a good woman. She is flawed and weak, and her age grants her no particular rights for respect or reverence. Second, the Misfit recognizes that when facing death, the grandmother has the capacity to be a good woman. In her final moments, she foregoes the moral high ground she’d staunchly held and instead embraces her and the Misfit’s common humanity. The Misfit observes this shift and seems to realize what it means: if the grandmother could have lived her life at gunpoint, so to speak, she could have gained the self-awareness and compassion that she’d lacked.

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