Literary analysis of “A Good Man is Hard To Find” Essay

In the short-circuit-change story A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery OConner, the reader is taken on a journey and tags on with a self-centered family as they explore the sights of the rural south succession en route to their destination, a family vacation in Florida.As they break down the dusty road, OConnor (2012) takes them from heaven, all at one time, they would be on a hill, looking down over the blue tops of trees for miles around, (p. 139) and spirals them down to snake pit so the next minute, they would be in a red take uping off with the dust coated trees looking down on them, (p. 139) where they meet their emergent and unexpected demise. Through it all, OConnor spins a violent, dark and dismal tale, utilizing symbolism, allusions, ridicule and psychological aspects to effectively convey her theme of wide versus evil, and re judgments us that good does not al ways win.OConnor (2012) starts us in an unnamed city, with a family of six as they discuss their u pcoming vacation to Florida. The husband, Bailey, is succinct and short with his words. His wife and mother, both remain unnamed in the story nevertheless have quite contrasting personalities. Baileys mother, the nanna, is self-centered and often partipulative. His wife, the childrens mother, is quiet and meek as she c ars for her juvenilityest child, the baby.His 2 older children, tail Wesley and June Star, are outspoken and disrespectful, and their rude behavior goes unpunished. They travel the back roads of atomic deem 31 to incurher as the granny tells tales of the past and points out uninteresting sights, which fall on the deaf ears of her family. The family stops for lunch at a wayside diner, and the reader gets a raise glimpse into their everyday interaction, and for a moment, things rattling seem promiseful for the dysfunctional family.After their meal, the family continues on to their destination, and the grandmother and children fake Baily into taking a detour t o visit an old, mysterious estate that the grandmother once visited in her younger years. A sudden andembarrassing conceit of the grandmother leads to a car accident where miraculously, nobody sustains any honest injury. A moment of hope in rescue turns dismal as their rescuer turns out to an escaped killer, the Misfit, who eventually kills the family. The grandmother, who in more ways than one is responsible for the familys untimely kibosh, has a moment of compassion in her last moment and dies with a smile on her baptistery (p. 134-146).OConnors story is filled with symbolism and allusion, in nightspot to further convey her dark theme of destruction and suppositions surrounding it. An workout of such symbolism is when the family is passing the town of Toombsboro. OConnor (2012) writes outside of Toombsboro she woke up and recalled an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady (p. 138).The name of the town, Toombsboro plays on t he word tomb, which represents last. This alludes to the reader that death whitethorn be in the familys future. OConnor continues with the symbolism after the family has crashed, and their hope for rescue comes in the form of a hearse. The family sees a car easily driving towards them, lumbering along the twists and turns of the road they had just traveled. As it appears in front of them, OConnor (2012) writes it was a big black battered hearse-like travel (p.140). Again, the image of a hearse, which is used to transport the dead, brings the idea of death to the mind of the reader, and further alludes to the death that the family is intimately to encounter.OConnor (2012) furthers her death allusions and symbolism when she writes the Misfit pointed the walk of his shoe into the ground and made a little mint and then covered it up again (p. 142). The Misfit in this case, is digging a hole and then covering it back up, symbolizing the digging of a grave, and then filling the grav e back in. OConnors use of symbols of death advance her theme and add to the dark tone of the story.OConnor alike uses a number of psychological aspects to further relate her characters to her readers. As OConnor starts the story, all members of the family appear in one way or other to be self-centered, which relates to the psychoanalysis term of the Id, which are the unconscious desires of the character and the contentment of those desires. In one passage, the grandmother speaks to the children of an old southern gentleman she onceknew, Mr. Teagarden. OConnor (2012) writes she would have done well to marry Mr. Teagarden because he had bought Coca-Cola line of descent when it first came out and that he had died a very wealthy man (p.137).This comment by the grandmother hints on her unconscious free-lance(a) desires more or less money, and is even shameful enough to impart this negative personal timbre onto her grandchildren. Moreover, this quality is seen in the children when OConnor writes about June Star as she speaks about the roadside diner where they have stopped. June Star says I wouldnt live(a) in a broken-down place like this for a trillion bucks (OConnor, 2012, p. 137). June Star is showing her materialistic desires when she states that she has no care to live in anything but luxury, even for a large sum of money.Further in the story, the children throw a tantrum, even resorting to violent tactics, in order to get their way and visit the old estate where hidden valuables are rumored to be stashed. OConner (2012) writes The children began to yell and scream that they wanted to see the house with the confidential panel. John Wesley kicked the back of the front seat and June Star hung over her mothers shoulder and whined desperately into her earThe baby began to scream and John Wesley kicked the back of the seat so hard that his father could purport the blows in his kidney (p.139). Again, OConnor illustrates the Id of the children as they seek gratification of their desires, which is to get the hidden valuables. This shows the materialistic values that the young children hold. OConnors use of psychoanalytic ideas helps further convey her theme and tone to the reader.OConnor also employs a number of examples of badinage in her story to better involve the reader. The grandmother states I wouldnt take my children in any direction with a woeful like that aloose in it. I couldnt serve well to my conscious if I did (OConnor, 2012, p. 134). This statement, while foreshadowing to a certain degree, turns ironic at the end of the story, as it is the grandmother that detours the family down the dirt road, where they ultimately come into concussion with the Misfit, and are killed.It is also ironic in that the grandmother does have to answer to her conscious, and OConnor (2012) describes the grandmother, after being shot by the Misfit, as having her calculate smiling up at the cloudless sky (p. 145), showing that the grandmother died at peace. Again, this is ironic in that thegrandmother was directly responsible for her children and grandchildrens deaths, yet she died at peace with the world. OConnors use of irony throughout the story is an excellent way to further her overall tone, and tie the reader deeper into the story.OConnors story brings the reader into the realm of death by her use of symbolism, irony, and psychoanalysis. Her use of symbols and allusions of death, seeking gratification for personal desires, and the idea that the characters meet an ironic death, all build a solid motif in which to convey her theme that living a good, pure and sound life may spare you from evil. The characters may feel on top of the world as they travel down the dusty, thread road of life, but ultimately die, due to their selfish ways, in a reddened, deep ditch, at the edge of a dark woods.ReferencesOConnor, F. (2012). A Good Man Is Hard to Find. In P. Schakel, & J. Ridl, Approaching literature Reading, thinking, write (3rd ed., pp. 134-146). Boston Bedford/St. Martins.