“You can do one thing or you can do another, ... because sooner or later you're going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it.” - The Misfit
I've attached a study guide typically used to help me lecture and prepare the class for discussion. Please read through it, paying attention to literary elements like: symbolism, characterization, motifs, and themes. Again, the resources I'm attaching to these posts are not intended to be "more work," they are intended to help support you as you tackle difficult texts with no class time to learn these concepts with me. Think of these links as "cheat sheets" one of your classmates hijacked from my desk. Once you have read through the support materials, create a discussion post 2-3 paragraphs long to complete this unit of study.
Study Guide: http://csnhsanderson.weebly.com/uploads/5/7/9/1/57911473/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find.pdf
Discussion Post Prompt: Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" tackles the concept of goodness. Based on your reading of the text and the information presented in the study guide, what does O'Connor seem to say about the human condition and our capacity for good? Be specific and use the text to support your thoughts. Again, this is a personal reflection. I'm reading your posts to see how well you understood the story, the support materials, and what you personally learned from studying this short story as an example of Southern Gothic Fiction.
Do not copy and paste from outside sources. Please do use the text(s) provided to support your analysis and response.
A good man is hard to find, says the story published by Flannery O'Connor in 1955. The story dives into the question that is, what is the human condition called good, and what capacity do people have to express it. Starting in a typical family environment, A Good Man Is Hard To Find may get the audience to think of a positive ending for the story and the realization of who the good man is. None of this comes to fruition, with the family going down an alternate path, they rollover, dazed by the accident the family exits the vehicle and waits for help.
There is no good man in the story, no example of a strong intelligent father f…
I think that Flannery O’Connor conveyed two main messages about the human condition and goodness in A Good Man is Hard to Find. The first is that the term “good” is highly ambiguous and is individually defined/perceived. Although there may seem to be a definition of “good” that is generally accepted within a certain region or culture, it isn’t a word that can be narrowly or universally defined, which results in apparent irony and hypocrisy. This is illustrated in the scene at Red Sammy Butt’s restaraunt. Sam says that “a good man is hard to find” and the grandmother says that “people certainly aren’t as nice as they used to be”; they both long for past times when p…
“ A good man is hard to find” by Flannery O’Connell shows that everyone has a bad side, and a good one too. The grandmother didn’t turn to her good side until she knew she needed it to survive. throughout this story the grandmother had plenty of racist remarks and judgmental thoughts against every obstacle. Proving that she was selfish and a terrible person until she needed to be good. Whitch was something she was still doing for herself.
The grandmother was constantly comparing everything back to the good ol days, back when people were good, and things were simple. Yet she didn’t even care about her own family not even when she knew their lives were in danger. Unlike…
In Flannery O'Conner's story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" there are questions raised about what the meaning of good is. None of the characters in this story are made out to be good, yet the only one to accept he is bad is the misfit. The only character i see that's not completely self absorbed is the mother, who's made out to take care of the children. During this time period that's one of the sole purposes of a mother.
I think Flannery uses the misfit to show even though he is bad that there could still be good found in him. He reflects on his actions and thinks about them, he even goes as far as apologizing…
I think O'Conner wrote this story to make us question our own meaning of "good". The grandmother calls Red Sammy good because he let himself get robbed. She thinks that goodness is in appearance like being a so-called lady and having morals that align with her own. I think the authors whole point is that have morals of good and bad based on nothing but social standards we've never thought about ourselves. The grandmother is nothing but selfish but sees herself as a good woman because she doesn't value what goodness is to the rest of the world.
Something that interested me was how the Study Guide mentions that the parrots on Bailey's shirt may mean that he only listens…