A Good Man Is Hard to Find

3 Pages 711 Words

A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND The setting of the story, ”A Good Man is Hard to Find,” shows us how much tragedy can change a person. The Grandmother thinks of herself as a very upright lady, yet she is a racist and snotty woman who changes completely during the last minutes of her life. The reader can sense that transition at the end of the story. 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. 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 compl!
etely when the family’s car flips over on the way to the house with the six white columns. First, she is afraid to tell her son that she was mistaken because of her fear of his anger, and later, because they are under the mercy of the Misfit who finds them. The Grandmother’s soul fills with fear when she finds out who the Misfit really is, and that their situation is worsening by the minute. She is now worried about her family. All of the racist comments, all comparisons, and the idea of being better than the less fortunate become fear of death. I agree that any human being would do and say the same things she did to try and save her family, but in her case the change significant. As the Misfit orders his friend to kill her family, the Grandmother realizes how powerless and insignificant she is. but the most intresting part comes with the scens contaning just the misfit and the grand mother. the grand mother is tring ti use every card in ...