Literatue Fiction Analysis

Flannery O 'Connor 's "A Good Man is Hard to Find

They say that God 's way are inscrutable , and this saying characterizes the concept of Flannery O 'Connor 's story A Good Man is Hard to Find The theme of living an empty life and the possibility of revelation for everybody is the main idea of the author . Through telling a simple sometimes even comical story about common people , their stereotypes and narrow-mindedness she discloses the lack of spirituality in human life This makes up the theme , which the author intended to

raise

Speaking about the setting , it is important to mention that it by genre it can be referred to the so-called road story , which presupposes travel from one place to another - on the special level . But there is always a hidden message behind , which constitutes the figurative level of the narration . We know perfectly that a road is a popular metaphor of life and naturally a person who is moving along this road undergoes a kind of mental and spiritual change . The same is true about Flannery O 'Connor 's piece of writing . The journey is from Georgia to Florida with a background of beautiful scenery : Stone Mountain the blue granite that in some places came up to both sides of the highway the brilliant red clay banks slightly streaked with purple and the various crops that made rows of green lace-work on the ground . The trees were full of silver-white sunlight and the meanest of them sparkled . A family of the Grandmother , her son Bailey with his wife and children make a trip by car a picturesque nature , paying no attention at it at all . The only person who is interested is the elderly lady but for some specific reasons - nostalgia about the things as they used to be ' and because travel can be educational for kids . Is it the road to heaven or to hell I will try to answer this question further on

The plot , which forms the external texture of the story seems to be a case of fatal misfortune . The family goes travelling , get into a road accident in a remote area and are caught by a band of serial killer the Misfit who kills the whole family . Therefore , the external movement is from life to death . Internally , however , the direction is the opposite one , from death to life . This implication is embodied first of all in the character of the Grandmother , who has no name in the story . This fact of namelessness proves her to be a typical product of the contemporary society , deprived of any significant individuality . She is selfish , manipulative and full of herself as we meet her first . She is devoted to the past believing that "People are certainly not nice like they used to be , the phrase which is not only her life credo but also reflects her attitude to herself . She considers herself to be good and right and does not notice that her values are...