A Good Man Is Hard To Find

2 Pages 484 Words

From the very beginning, the grandmother in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is foreshadowing, in her words and actions, what will become of the family. Hints of the family’s tragic finale exist throughout the plot until the time of the first murder. In the very beginning before the story begins, O’Connor provides the reader with an epigraph. It quotes,
“The Dragon is by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware
lest he devour you. We go to the farther of souls, but it is necessary to
pass by the dragon.” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem). (117)
These very first few sentences provide the reader with an overview of the story’s events.
The grandmother goes on to further ruin with this trip with just simple her words. In the beginning of the story, the Grandmother tries to change her son’s mind about going to Florida because she wants to go to Tennessee, and that gives us a sign of how persuasive she can be.
“The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit
some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing
at every chance to change Bailey’s mind……Now look here, Bailey,”
she said, “see here, read this,” ……..”Here this fellow that calls
himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed
toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to the people… “(117)
These are a few very good clues on what will happen throughout the story.
She compares herself to her daughter-in-law, insinuating that the daughter-in-law is not a lady like her. She judges “the children’s mother’s” clothes and judges many others who are socially challenged or less fortunate than she is. Note that when she mentions the Misfit criminal who escaped from prison, the “pickaninny,” and when she mentions the two cents in Red Sammy’s cash register with a tone of irony on her voice. Her attitude changes completely when the family’s car ...