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The Selfish Grandmother In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

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Flannery O'Connor sets up the story in a way that characterizes the grandmother as socially awkward, causing her to stand out from everyone else. In the beginning, the grandmother attempts to convince her son, Bailey, to take the family to Tennessee to visit some of her "connections" for vacation instead of Florida solely because she did not want to go. Attempting to scare Bailey into changing his mind, she brings to his attention an article about the Misfit, an escaped criminal heading in the direction of Florida. Shortly after leaving Atlanta, the family passes Stone Mountain and the grandmother strategically writes down the mileage of the car in excitement for the upcoming arrival. This is a bizarre action to take as many passengers enjoy …show more content…
Ironically, the grandmother has a conversation with the children telling them that they should be morally good people by listening and showing respect. In the article "The Selfish Grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find," the critic writes, “The grandmother has just been lecturing her grandchildren concerning ‘respect’, respect for ‘native states’, for ‘parents’, and for ‘everything else’, then she immediately reveals her essential self by calling the boy a ‘cute little pick ninny’” (Maing-Alston). Her attempt at demanding and teaching the grandchildren to be morally good people when she is not even one herself, is an epic failure. Children tend to pick up and adapt behaviors based on what the older figures in their life act out so as a grandmother, she does not do a good job at leading by example. When June Star observes a child with no pants on, the grandmother explains that "little niggers in the country don't have the things we do" (O'Connor). She believes everything back in her time was morally right, unlike the time and age in this

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