tone analysis

A Good Man is Hard to Find ' by Flannery O`Connor

Regarded as one of O 'Connor 's best stories , A Good Man is Hard to Find ' depicts a rather disturbing and violent story about the murder of a family by a group of three men led by a notorious escaped convict called The Misfit

The story starts out in a humorous , almost sarcastic tone . It introduces first the grandmother who tries to manipulate her only son and his family to visit Tennessee , instead of Florida . Then , her son Bailey , and his passive

, unnamed wife ignore her . But their children John Wesley and June Star , make fun of her , mocking her and saying that She wouldn 't stay at home for a million bucks . She has to go everywhere we go (O 'Connor . It is hard not to notice the feelings of disdain for the grandmother that the other characters in the story display . However , this is downplayed by the childish remarks of the two youngsters to the point of being humorous . She is at once illustrated as a manipulative and vain woman who is disliked by her family for her idiosyncrasies despite her best intentions "`A Good Man Is Hard to Find ' O 'Connor , Flannery

When the family starts the trip , the tone becomes lighter , but still retaining its sarcastic tone , as the story focuses more on the narration of funny little details : how the grandmother wrote down the mileage on the car , how she dressed up in a Sunday outfit so that in case of an accident , anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady , her reference to an African American child as a pickaninny ' and her story about the watermelon and Mr . Teagarden (O 'Connor

When they reach the Tower , the tone remains the same but it immediately shifts into a more serious one when the grandmother and Red Sammy begin to talk about the Misfit and how hard it is to find a good man . The conversation somehow foreshadows what is to become of the family

From that point onwards , every detail narrated seems to signal the impending doom awaiting them . The tone becomes overcast and ominous There is no more hint of sarcasm everything is narrated with gloomy seriousness . Even the comic details (e .g . when the two children started yelling that they want to visit the house with the secret panel , when the grandmother suddenly realizes that the house with secret panel is actually in Georgia and not Tennessee ) that would have appeared humorous can no longer be read in a positive way . The feeling that danger is on its way just lingers at the back of one 's mind

When the accident finally happens , one cannot help but feel the distance the writer has put between herself and the characters that readers would find it difficult to empathize nor even sympathize with the family . One can even feel that they deserve their plight . Disdain towards the...