The fictional short story, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” was published from author Flannery O’Connor in 1955. This cynical tale is about a family deciding to take a trip to Florida but the Grandmother is opposed on where exactly she’d rather be, and suggests that the family go to east Tennessee so she can visit some of her old friends. She aims to convince the family to agree to change direction by using reasoning to that is would be dangerous traveling to the same location that a bandit had just escaped from prison from. Throughout the story, the narrative uses several rhetorical techniques such as: Imagery, foreshadowing, comparison and contradictions to produce a mentally intriguing story following the tragic ending of this family vacation. The family to set off early on morning on their scheduled trip. There is Bailey, the Grandmother and her cat, Pitty Sing, The Mother and infant child and the two younger siblings, June Star and John Wesley. Although the family had already planned to take the trip to Florida, the Grandmother frequently tries to impose her ideas of rerouting to east Tennessee to visit some of her old friends. She used the reasoning of “Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida.” O’Connor moves along to use a bit of imagery when she goes to describe the funeral-like attire that the Grandmother dressed in, “White-cotton gloves, a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim…a navy blue dress…” as she goes to explain “Anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady”. Subtle details such as the paintings of the momentary beautiful surroundings, “Stone Mountain; The blue granite in some places..Brilliant red clay banks slightly streaked with purple….Rows of green lacework on the ground” were mentioned although they will soon darken with the furthering mood of the awaiting tragedy. As they begin to gain mileage on their road trip, the family just so happened to pass by graveyard, which the Grandmother described to be an old family burying ground for a plantation. So ironically there was seen to be “five or six graves fenced in the middle”. Not to mention there were six people in the car. In a major way, these vague descriptions foreshadow preparation of death that lies soon ahead of the members of the family. Later on in the story, they stop at The Towers to eat. At the station, there is a monkey chained to a chinaberry tree that scurries into the nearest tree as it sees the children coming towards it. This can be seen as a comparison to The Misfit because for an unknown reason it is realized that he does not like children and would prefer that they kept their distance. After the short break, they get back on the road. The Grandmother begins to reminisce about an old plantation she felt that they were close to and wanted to visit. Knowing that Bailey would not want to make any more unnecessary stops, she kept talking about it and attempts to get the kids involved. Her logic was if they nagged him hard enough to go visit a place with the imaginary “secret panels” she mislead the children about to capture their attention that he would give in. And he did. Bailey begins to travel the directions given by his mother. The narrator begins to describe that rapid change of surrounding lead upon the dirt road that look as if “no one had traveled on it in months”. She mentions “The dirt road was hilly and had sharp curves on dangerous embankments” and finding themselves in a “red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them.” Using this device of imagery, the reader can infer that the family has separated themselves from any recent civilization and this setting makes way from one to think that something is bound to go wrong. Especially after finding out that soon, after giving Bailey seemingly-familiar directions, she realized “the house she had so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee”. Due to her shocking reaction, it causes the cat to latch onto the back of Bailey’s neck out of frightened instinct and causes him to violently swerve and flip the vehicle into a ditch. As they exited the turned vehicle and examined themselves for any damage, they stayed near the crash site and hopefully waited for a car to come by and help. Moments later they noticed that there had been a “batter hearse-like automobile” with three men inside approaching them slowly and watched the accident take place from a distance. The men exited the car and begin to walk towards the family with guns. As they closed in on the family, the older gentleman of the three asked the Mother “Would you mind calling them children to sit down by you” because “Children make me nervous”. From the clues made earlier, regarding that the bandit not being too fond of children, the reader can infer that this is indeed The Misfit, yet it has not been confirmed. Not until The Grandmother, once again, has one of her eerie feelings “As if she had known him all of her life but could not recall who he was.” But seconds later, her memory clears and she goes to shout, “You’re the MISFIT! ….”, which might not have been the brightest of ideas. Unfortunately, she was right and He agreed respectfully with “ Yes’m” but ends with the unpleasant addition, “..it would have been better for all of you, if you hadn’t reckernized me.” At this point, a reader can start to believe that this will not end well for the family at all. There is soon another reference to that weather that was once noted as pleasant, is now “No sun but don’t see no clouds either” Leaving the image that the day is kind of dull. Not the darkest, however, not the most pleasant to look at. As the tragic end to the family vacation approaches, the Grandmother starts to converse with The Misfit, she tries to reason with his brutal reasoning by reassuring to him that he’s a “Good man” and “Must come from nice people!”. He assures her that, once again, she was correct and that he had come from, “ the finest people in the world.” At this point, the reader can see a contradiction in the words of the Misfit versus his action. If one comes from such good people, why are you going to hurt such an innocent family? Have you no morals? Have you no conscience? He stops the conversation briefly to ask Bailey and John Wesley to step into the woods where they are shot and killed by the Misfit’s accomplices, Hiram and Bobby Lee. As the two are walked into the forest, Bailey looks back and yells, “I’ll be back in a minute, Mamma, wait on me!” That was the most Bailey had ever said to his mother throughout the entire story. This contraction goes to show the reader that even though he rarely showed any emotion other than that of irritation and annoyance towards his mother, in the midst of the ending of his life, he showed a broad sense of child-like responsiveness and vulnerability, even though it was believable that Bailey knew he would probably not live to be able to come back to his mother. Soon, the Grandmother knew that her son and grandson had been killed. As is said that “She could hear the wind move through the tree tops like a long satisfied insuck of breath.” Bailey and John Wesley have been ‘consumed’ in the woods. Even after the shootings, Grandmother and Misfit continue to converse. Once again, she pleads that he does not have to continue on this deadly killing spree because he is indeed a good man! Except this time, he reveals another answer to her statement. “ Nome, I ain’t a good man….but I ain’t the worst in the world either.’’ This statement goes to contradict his previous agreeing that we was a good man. However, it wanted to let it be known that he wasn’t the worst. He couldn’t even remember what he;s ever been in jail for and he figured that there was “No real pleasure in life except meanness” In the meantime, he offers the Mother, infant and June Star to ‘join’ there father and brother in the woods and they so willingly agree to go along. There three more shots are heard from the outside and it is sure to say that they have been killed as well. Soon, the last one living in the family is the person who literally directed the family into their own death. She begins to ask the Misfit does he prays and insists that if he did, he would get help with all of him problems. Instead of agreeing as he’s been doing, he states, “I don’t want no help…. I’m doing alright by myself.” He goes to state that “Jesus thrown everything off balance.” He figured that He paved the way for other to be punished without reasonable cause. Because, no one ever had papers on the crime that Jesus was said that he committed yet, he was punished anyways. The Misfit believes that this is exactly his case. Punishment without reason. This goes to allow the reader that the Misfit is indeed alone but, it is by choice. The Grandmother still in shambles over the lost of her family, but stays to see if not one last try of talking could get Misfit to reconsider taking her life as well. The entire time, Grandmother has been very strong in her faith in God but suddenly questions a vital part of God’s story. As The Misfit goes to say that If God didn’t raise the dead, there would be nothing else constructive to do with your life but ruin someone else’s. “Maybe He didn’t raise the dead” Grandmother mumbles. The Misfit goes to explain that he wasn’t there to know whether he actually did or not, but he feels like if he did get to witness such a miracle, he wouldn’t be who he was today. And it was narrated that his voice cracked as he said so. Almost as if the thought touched him emotionally. “Why you’re one of my own!” The Grandmother exclaims. It can be inferred for that one split second sensed a slight sign of vulnerability in a man who had been so cold and heartless to murder her entire family in front of her. She reached out to touch him, and the Misfit reacted as if he had been struck by lightning and jumped up and shot her three times through her chest. She smiled to the clouds as she drifted away. The Misfit once again contradicted himself by telling his fellow comrades that “It’s not real pleasure in life.” The reader can conclude that the Misfit had not reason to kill the family, nor did he receive any pleasure from it. He simply decided to allow another to feel what he felt he had been through. Punishment without reason.

Cited Works: https://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~surette/goodman.html “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by Flannery O’Connor, 1955