Exploring the idea that all men are born sinners, O’Connor demonstrates immoral indulgences entertained by various characters. Readers are introduced to grandmother, an elderly woman whose consistent unscrupulous behavior exhibits her inner motives. Grandmother uses subtle, indirect confrontation to get her way until she is faced with The Misfit, a runaway criminal who believes that crime is a justifiable. In “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” Flannery O’Connor uses characterization to display a loss of morals, imagery to portray evil in society, and symbolism to emphasize the struggle of obtaining grace to prove how life is nihilistic without religion.
Characterization is used not only to amuse readers, but to also display an understanding of human nature, in this case a decline in values. June Star is described as critical with a nasty motormouth. She is rude to everyone surrounding her although adults seem to find her charming; “’Ain’t she cute?’ Red Sam’s wife said leaning over the counter. ‘Would you like to come be my little girl?’ ‘No I certainly wouldn’t,’ June Star said. ‘I wouldn’t live in a broken-down place like this for a million bucks!’ and she ran back to the table. ‘Ain’t she cute?’ the woman repeated, stretching her mouth politely. ‘Aren’t you ashamed?’ hissed the grandmother” (O’Connor 121). In life, there are a multitude of ways to reply to various comments and she could have courteously declined. Her response allows her to be represented with an absence of respect. There is a universal code of law state that younger ones should respect their elders and honor thy father and mother. June Star’s behavior does not follow this code. Bailey and his wife do not discipline her to correct her mistake(s), at the most the grandmother attempts to use guilty conscience to discipline her which has no effect. In contrast, when Red Sammy’s wife is insulted, she responds politely to the little girl showing her lack of values as well as discipline. This also displays her parents lacking ability to instill these values. Furthermore, as the family diverts their trip to see a false house Grandmother mentions, they get into an accident in which “[t]he grandmother was curled up under the dashboard, hoping she was injured so that Bailey’s wrath would not come down on her all at once. The horrible thought she had had before the accident was that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee…’I believe I have injured an organ,’ said the grandmother, pressing her side, but no one answered her” (O’Connor 125). After getting into the accident, the very first thing the grandmother does is to devise a plan to keep herself from facing the wrath of her son, Bailey. That is very selfish and manipulative of her to feign an illness rather the first thing she should have done was to check on everyone else’s well-being. Also, she should not have to fear the rage of her son because it is incorrect for a child to be disrespectful towards their parents especially in that type of situation. Bailey too, should check on the well-being of his mother instead. The sympathy that she looks for is not given which is good because no one will feed into her self-center internal request, however it is sad that none of her family members could check on her welfare, especially since she is an elderly. The family’s ignorance demonstrates their lack of care, a very important value. Temperaments given to both characters express how their lack of religion affects them.
Displaying the true intentions and feelings of characters, the author uses imagery to present thoughts and actions of malevolence in humanity. The family stop at Red Sammy’s restaurant to get food and he and Grandmother spark a conversation about society. Red Sammy, just as Grandmother is shocked by the state of the world; “’A good man is hard to find,’ Red Sammy said. ‘Everything is getting terrible. I remembered the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more.’” (O’Connor 122). The reminiscence of unlocked doors and safety makes Red Sammy a bit nostalgic. That previous way of life is calming yet in the present because one can not do that, it signifies evil in society. People like The Misfit make the world unsafe and evolves the peaceful image of leaving your screen doors unlocked into one of fear. Religion teaches that stealing and/or harming other is unacceptable but evident as the story progresses that the characters do not practice their respective religions causing destruction to increase. The Misfit has deeply thought about religion and gives and ultimatum rather than broad option on the interpretation of religion. In doing so, The Misfit wants to believe in God but chooses not to; “’Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead,’ The Misfit continued, ‘and He shouldn’t have done it. He thrown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can—by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness,’ he said and his voice had become almost a snarl.” (O’Connor 132). The Misfit’s ideals embody pure evil, particularly in his talk of how Christ threw off the balance of life. His talk of the validity of Christ’s miracles is way to justify his wrongdoings. Stating that if Christ raised the dead then people should follow him, but if not they are free to explore anarchy. He also says that the best way to spend your last minutes is to harm other which he will possibly do. However, not in his last minute does he cause harm rather in the last minute of others does he harm them. The Misfit’s inability to live by faith causes him to become dangerous. In any religion, faith in the creator aids in positive productivity but the lack of faith The Misfit has allows him to be consumed by such malicious ideals. Once one brakes away from the normality of society to enter demolition, there is very little space within the person for internal rejuvenation.
Using symbolism, readers are able to decipher the path characters take as they journey to find favor, which some will achieve and others will delay. The Misfit and his crew are approaching the site of the accident. Grandmother saw a vehicle coming in their direction in which she frantically waved her hands and “[t]he car continued to come on slowly, disappeared around a bend and appeared again, moving even slower, on top of the hill they had gone over. It was a big black battered hearse-like automobile.” (O’Connor 125-26). The car is a representation of both the grandmother and the Misfit. Just as the car comes slowly up the hill, so does both characters as they slowly ascend to find grace. Being a hypocritical religious person, criticizing others and manipulating them, the grandmother uses these actions to favor her. These actions delay her from finding favor, although the Lord will forgive one’s sins, it does not mean that one can commit them repeatedly. The grandmother disappears on that path to freedom when she exudes these actions but reappears again when she learns of her mistakes, especially while conversing with the Misfit. That conversation propels her into favor through death. As the Misfit gradually ascend to the grace, it is very difficult for him to obtain due to his constant irrational actions. He disappears from the face of God and consistently does wrong. Only will he reappear when he relieves himself from his lack of faith. The belief that wrong is wrong and that he should not be doing it will increase his journey towards mercy, and his ability to maintain and carry out that mentality will be the deciding factor of whether he obtains his grace. The last conversation Grandmother has causes her to change her ways. Along with the confrontation with death allowing The Misfit to know that Grandmother “’would have been a good woman,’ The Misfit said, ‘if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.’” (O’Connor 133). The realization that the grandmother has received grace represents that she too was like the Misfit, a sinful person, and now she has entered a society where she can become a new and free person. This partially applies to the Misfit, in that he connected with the grandmother. He realized his atonements but unlike grandmother does not do much to change them or correct himself causing him to struggle even more with obtaining his grace. He keeps himself from being new and free person. Ending the story in a moment of grace, O’Connor changes the dynamic of not only the story but of the character, Grandmother, as well as evolves the character, The Misfit, and adds deeper dimensions to his characterization.
In using references to religion to reveal the evolution of Grandmother and Misfit, O’Connor exposes a how unreal life would be without religion. Religion shapes thoughts as well as character and without the human disposition starts crumbling. The world gains disrespectful children like June Star and fugitives like Misfit. As well as, one’s chances of reaching the heaven or eternal paradise becomes difficult to acquire. Deprived of religion, a nihilist society would be established, a society where inhabitants will no longer be able to distinguish iniquity and will not feel guilty for partaking in any act.