A Good Man is Hard to Find

5 Pages 1208 Words

Last Rites
“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.” - Jimi Hendrix. The late rock n roll artist summed up one of the most challenging fears to overcome for all humans, preparation for death. Flannery O’Connor uses this concept to show how it can affect people’s behaviors and attitudes. The story begins with the typical family being challenged by the grandmother who doesn't want to take the vacation to Florida. She has read about a crazed killer by the name of the Misfit who is on the run heading for Florida. Unfortunately, she is ignored by every member of the family except for the little girl, June Star, who can read the grandmother like an open book. The fact that she admonishes Bailey, her son, of this Misfit and "what it says he did to those people”(1277) foreshadows what will happen to them. As readers, we know that O’Connor will not mention such an interesting fact without having it affect the characters later on in the story. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard To Find,” one is struck by the unexpected violence at the end of the story. However, if you re-read the story a second time, you will see various allusions, imagery and language that foreshadow the grotesque ending. Furthermore the author touches upon her belief that most humans are not prepared to die, and reflects that through the character of the grandmother.
Kordosky 2
The morning of the trip the grandmother is the first one in the car ready to travel as June Star predicted she would be, "She wouldn’t stay at home for a million bucks. She has to go everywhere we go"(1278). This can be read as a direct foreshadowing of the grandmother’s death. As one reads the story, one wonders why every time Bobby Lee and Hiram take someone into the forest, they never come back. Eventually, the whole family is taken to die. June Star’s comment that the grandmother goes everywhere the family goes can be read...