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Harshit Aggarwal

Professor Abir Bazaz

FC0701-1

19.12.2022
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Moving Beyond Meanings

In ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find,’ a short story by Flannery O’Connor, the idea of

goodness is nuanced and multifaceted. The grandma who plays the main character has a

distorted idea of what it is to be a “good” person and is presented initially as judgmental and

self-righteous and primarily concerned with upholding a particular image of herself in the

eyes of others. She categorizes people as good or bad based on their actions and appearance

and frequently passes judgment on them. However, when she and her family run across a

violent criminal named The Misfit, her conception of kindness is revealed to be faulty. She

starts to care more about herself and less about judging other people. The story raises

questions about the nature of goodness and how it is perceived and judged by others and

ultimately suggests that true goodness comes from empathy and concern for others.

The story centres around a family of five who embarks on a road trip to Florida. The

concept of “good” is explored through the character of the grandmother and Misfit. The

grandmother appears kind and compassionate, but as the family encounters danger in the

form of the escaped convict known as the Misfit, the grandmother’s true nature is revealed.

This essay will try to explain how her idea of “good” changes from one to another when she

is met with fear. Additionally, the question of whether she is even good herself. Since she

repeatedly alters her idea of good, does she even have the authority to label people as good or

bad?

O’Connor explores the idea that true goodness is rare and elusive throughout the

story. The grandmother, for example, is initially portrayed as a selfish and manipulative

person who is more concerned with appearances and social norms and appears to be a “good”

person to others than true morality. She is quick to judge others and seems to believe that she
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is a good person simply because she follows the rules of society. She is worried about making

a good impression on the family she is visiting, and she is also concerned with the reputation

of her own family. She is often critical of her son and daughter-in-law and tries to control

their decisions, mainly their destination on their road trip to Florida. She is judgmental of

others, including a family of poor travellers she encounters on the road whom she dismisses

as “trash” and a man she meets in a restaurant.

The grandmother applies the label “good” indiscriminately, blurring the definition of

a “good man” until the label loses its meaning entirely. She first applies it to Red Sammy

after he angrily complains about the general untrustworthiness of people. He asks her why he

let two strangers charge their gasoline—he has obviously been swindled—and the

grandmother says he did it because he is “a good man.” In this case, her definition of “good”

seems to include gullibility, poor judgment, and blind faith, none of which are inherently

“good.”

Throughout the story, the author tries to pinpoint the grandmother’s beliefs, stating

what she views as good and bad. Although she disapproves of her grandchildren being rude

or manipulative, she demonstrates both traits when she requests his son Bailey to take a

shortcut to the place she wants to see. There are instances where we see her being selfish- a

quality she despises and says people in older ages did not possess. She acts indifferent to the

realization that her idea to see the house resulted from her misremembrance.

However, when the grandmother and her family face The Misfit and his accomplices

take the family hostage, her idea of what it means to be good is challenged, and the

grandmother’s facade of goodness crumbles. The Misfit is a violent criminal who escaped

prison, but the grandmother can see some good in him. The grandmother’s concern for others
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quickly fades, and she becomes solely focused on saving herself. She begs for mercy and

tries to convince the Misfit that he is a good person, even calling him one of her babies.

“Listen,” the grandmother almost screamed, “I know you’re a good man. You don’t

look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people!”

(O’Connor 127)

In the above small passage, Grandmother tells the Misfit how good of a man he

seems. This merely demonstrates how Grandmother modifies the meaning of “good” to suit

her purposes. Or what does the word “good” even signify in the context of the people? From

the beginning, she refers to him as a nasty person and wishes to warn everyone to be careful

of him, but as her dread of death grows upon meeting him, she begins to change her opinion

and refer to Misfit as a kind man. She does not care about her family; she only wants to

survive. So is her selfishness “good?” She tells him how his family has raised a “good man”

and how they must have been “good people.” Her idea of what makes a man “good” is

heavily influenced by societal norms and expectations. She believes that a man is good if he

comes from a “nice” family and has a specific appearance – in this case, she says that the

Misfit does not look like he has “common blood,” implying that she thinks he comes from a

higher-class family. This narrow understanding of goodness reveals the grandmother’s

shallow and superficial values. She is more concerned with appearances and social status than

the Misfit’s actual character or actions.

She tries to persuade him that she is a candidate he is not supposed to kill because she

does not think of him as a wrong person like the others. She even tries to convince him to

turn himself in and seek redemption. She even tries to appeal to the Misfit’s better nature,

recognizing his humanity in a moment of fear and desperation. Her efforts to convince the

Misfit that he is a good man contrast entirely with what she had stated at the story’s
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beginning, saying that she would not let her children go around such a vicious man. However,

when the actual time comes, and her son, his wife, and her grandchildren are taken away, she

does nothing more than try to convince the Misfit that he is a good man and should not do

what he plans to do. The grandmother begins to realize the emptiness of her moral code. She

is forced to confront her mortality and the realization that her superficial understanding of

goodness is not enough to save her. Ultimately, she is unable to persuade The Misfit to spare

her life, and she dies.

It is worth noting that the grandmother’s limited understanding of goodness is not

unique to her character. It is a reflection of the shallow and superficial values that are

prevalent in the society depicted in the story. The grandmother’s narrow concept of goodness

is a product of the societal norms and expectations she has been raised to follow.

The grandmother’s idea of goodness is flawed because it is based on appearances and

social expectations rather than genuine compassion and empathy for others. Furthermore, the

grandmother is only concerned with her idea of goodness and does not consider the needs or

feelings of others. This lack of empathy ultimately leads to her death, as she is unable to

connect with The Misfit on a deeper level and understand his perspective.

In her final moments, she realizes that her idea of what is “good” is shallow and self-

centred. She was more concerned with projecting a specific image of herself to others than

truly considering their well-being. The story suggests that true goodness comes from empathy

and concern for others rather than self-centeredness and judgment.

Additionally, the grandmother’s actions and behaviour throughout the story raise

questions about whether she is truly good at herself. Alternatively, does she has the right to

label people as good or bad? Despite her initial concern for her family, she is also shown to

be selfish and manipulative, using emotional appeals and guilt to try and get her way. She
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lacks the empathy and compassion necessary to make such judgments about others. She also

tends to judge others harshly, particularly her son Bailey and his wife, whom she views as

inferior to herself. Ultimately, the grandmother is not a good person, as she cannot see

beyond her self-interest.

In the passage, the grandmother is teaching people around her what is good and bad.

The roll of her eyes, her manipulative ideas, and her attempts to pursue the Misfit altogether

conclude that she is just another character who looks at the world with their own eyes

imposing their opinions on others and looking down on everyone else. Most humans are like

that. Therefore, it is sufficiently necessary to look beyond our sight and have the sieve of

acceptance through which we can filter others’ opinions instead of directly disregarding

them. Nothing in this world has completely been black or white, and even if it was to some

extent, who do we think we are to tell what is what. As the most scholarly species on earth,

we are here to explain our existence and not question people’s.

The contrast between the grandmother and the Misfit reinforces this idea of “good.”

The grandmother, who sees herself as a good person, is ultimately revealed to be selfish and

shallow. On the other hand, the Misfit, considered a “bad” person due to his criminal history,

shows moments of empathy and insight. This suggests that our understanding of goodness

sometimes aligns with societal norms and expectations. True goodness comes from within

rather than from external labels or judgments.

Conclusively, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” challenges our assumptions about

goodness and morality. It raises questions about who has the right to label people as good or

bad and whether our understanding of goodness can change depending on our circumstances

and experiences. The story suggests that true goodness comes from empathy and

consideration for others rather than self-centeredness and judgment.

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Works Cited

O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” The Complete Stories of Flannery

O’Connor, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NY, 1985, pp. 117-133.