Author Question: When we first meet the grandmother, what kind of person is she? Whatdo her various remarks reveal ... (Read 162 times)

mikaylakyoung · **on:** Jul 20, 2018

When we first meet the grandmother, what kind of person is she? Whatdo her various remarks reveal about her? Does she remain a static character, or does she in any way change as the story goes on?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

How early in the story does OConnor foreshadow what will happen in theend? What further hints does she give us along the way? How does the scene at Red Sammys Barbecue advance the story toward its conclusion?

What will be an ideal response?

juwms · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

OConnor loves to pick unlikely, ordinary people and show how, by the sudden and unexpected operation of Gods grace, they are granted the possibility of sanctity. In A Good Man Is Hard to Find the nitwit grandmother dies loving (and presumably forgiving) The Misfit. In the course of the story, the grandmother grows and changes; she does not remain flat or static. At first, she seems a small-minded biddy, selfish or at least self-centered, prone to stupid remarks like Oh look at the cute little pickaninny (par. 18) and People are certainly not nice like they used to be (par. 35), capable of blaming Europe for the way things were now (par. 44), and regretting that she hadnt married Mr. Teagarden because he was a gentleman and had bought Coca-Cola stock when it first came out (par. 26). These remarks reveal her to be a manipulative, self-centered, silly woman, but by the end, she gives a final gesture that indicates a radical infusion of grace and compassion. As Flannery OConnor herself wrote, I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace. Their heads are so hard that almost nothing else will do the work (On Her Own Work).

Answer to Question 2

The foreshadowing of the storys tragic end comes as early as the opening paragraph. The grandmother doesnt want to go to Florida because the newspaper says, this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida. The irony of this first paragraphs last two sentencesI wouldnt take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldnt answer to my conscience if I didbecomes evident several paragraphs later. Baily does not listen to her, so the grandmother addresses the children. John Wesley suggests that she stay home if she doesnt want to go to Florida (par. 3), and June Star says her grandmother wouldnt stay home for a million bucks because she would be afraid shed miss something (par. 7). Of course, if the grandmother had stayed home, shealong with her entire familywould neither have met nor been murdered by this same Misfit.

Along the way, OConnor provides many other hints. The grandmother brings the cat in specific defiance against Bailys wishes (par. 10). She wears a dress and hat as they travel so that In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (par. 12). She points out a family graveyard to her grandchildren (par. 22).
But the scene at Red Sammys Barbecue remains one of the most important scenes as it advances the story to its conclusion. No mere filler, this scene tightens the suspense and enforces the hint that the much-talked-about Misfit is bound to show his face. In his highway signs, Red Sammy boasts of his uniqueness: NONE LIKE FAMOUS RED SAMMYS. He considers himself a hard-to-find good man. In calling him a good man (par. 37), the grandmother first introduces the theme. The barbecue proprietor agrees with her, even declares, thinking of how many bad characters are on the loose these days, A good man is hard to find (par. 43). In the end, the title leaves us thinking: yes, a good man (a saint) certainly is hard to find. We find, at the end, a serenely good woman whose salvation has come only through traumatic suffering and the amazing arrival of grace.