Great discussion today! O'Connor is difficult to sort through and she leaves readers asking difficult questions--you're doing a great job sorting through the story to get to that point. Within this story, she consistently uses the word good--"good blood", "good man", "good woman". O'Connor pushes us to question what is good. So my question is--based on this story, what is good? What makes a person good? Consider The Misfit's statement: "She would of been a good woman...if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."
Make sure to support your answer with specific examples. :)
Throughout "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", O'Connor constantly leaves the reader to question what defines a good person. According to this story, I believe O'Connor is trying to portray a "good" person as someone who is honest to themselves as well as someone who comes to terms with reality and the truth in others. First, I think that O'Connor is not defining a person who is morally "good" in the eyes of society. She is obviously not portraying "good" the way society sees it today because I believe O'Connor portrays The Misfit as a good person. He is a thief and murderer which is not the way we think of a "good" person. Throughout this story, I begin to get the feeling that she is portraying "good" not as someone who is truthful to others and themselves. For example, when the grandmother is talking to Red Sammy, they bring up the topic of a good man. Red Sammy asked why he "let them fellers charge the gas they bought?" (448). The grandmother responds simply, "Because you're a good man!" (448) This partially shows Red Sammy conforming to what is good for society, but it also shows his contemplation on why he did something helpful for others who were rude and unappreciative. He knew in himself that it was the right thing to do. He stayed honest with himself to help out others. Another example occurs when The Misfit appears. As the grandmother and The Misfit constantly go back and forth in the conversation, O'Connor seems to portray The Misfit as a "good" man. At first, I was confused at what O'Connor was trying to portray as a "good" person because The Misfit was a murderer and wanted criminal. Once,The Misfit responds, "Nome, I ain't a good man... but I ain't the worst in the world neither." (452) As a reader, I began to see how The Misfit could be seen as "good." I took this statement as a meaning that he accepts the fact that he has done wrong. He is honest with himself and believes he is not the worst out in the world. As The Misfit goes on and discusses his father and his past, I believe it brings out the truth in The Misfit. Even though he is a Wanted criminal, he keeps honest with himself and others. He talks of his past even if it is disturbing and comes to terms with it. He seems to accept the reality of the world and the truth of people. The Misfit says to the grandmother, "I found out the crime don't matter. You can do one thing or you can do another... because sooner or later you're going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it." (453) In this statement, I saw The Misfit being honest about the world. The world is never perfect, and we all try to convict others of wrongdoing when we all commit some type of crime or sin ourselves. Therefore, throughout "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", I believe O'Connor is trying to portray that a "good" man is not someone who is innocent in the eyes of society, but someone who has come to terms with the truth of themselves and others.
ReplyDeleteIn O'Connor stories, the definition of the word "good" varies with whoever is talking. "Good" is defined as whatever set of ideals and ideas they agree with. In "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the grandmother is far from ideal, yet she considers herself so. Anyone that differs from her ideals (even just in vacation site preference) is considered unruly and disrespectful. The Misfit has a different definition of good... he only considers the Grandma "good" when she's constantly trying to flatter him. The definition is subjective to who's point of view we're reading from.
ReplyDeleteIn "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" the issue of what makes a person "good" is constantly at hand. O' Connor created characters that had different views on what defined a good person, just like everyone in today's society views good differently. For example the grandmother viewed herself as good and other that did what she liked as good rather than just looking at a general goodness. The Misfit also knows he isn't a good man but isn't the worse man alive. He knows that what he done/was going was wrong but he had done good in his life. The Misfit tells his two men that the grandmother was a good woman and she would have been more if someone had threatened to shoot her for her entire life. He basically means that she was only good when her life was on the line, when she wanted something. Everyone has a different view on what makes someone good, especially in "A Good Man Is Hard To Find".
ReplyDeleteI think the definition of "good" definitely varies in "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Each person had their own definition of what is good and how a good person should act. However, we really only see how the grandmother and The Misfit think of as good. The grandmother thinks anyone that has the same views as her is good. Since she considers herself good, anyone like herself would have to be good as well. The Misfit on the other hand, has done both good and bad things in his life. I would consider him a good, honest man leading up the his imprisonment. He wasn't the best man in the world but as a gospel singer and an ex military man he definitely wasn't the worst person in the world either. After he was in jail though he was kind of transformed into this bad person who he was not really meant to be. The Misfit believed more that what a person does determines whether they are bad or good. For example, he believed himself to be good and once he went to prison for something he didn't do he felt the need to do bad things almost as if he were making up for getting in trouble for something that he didn't do. His quote at the end of the story saying that the grandmother would have been a good woman had there been somebody there to shoot her he whole life was kind of true. At the end where she was trying to save herself she brought God into the situation which she had not done throughout the entire story before that point. She tried to make the Misfit feel better and even called him "one of her own" and even started to care about her son at the end but none of it mattered because he killed her anyways. Basically, what I'm getting at is the definition of "good" can mean one thing to one person and another thing to somebody else. It just varies based on each person's individual beliefs and morals.
ReplyDeleteThe story presents a few different definitions of good. The grandma thinks she is good (and thus she thinks those like her are good), but in reality she's not as good as she thinks. The Misfit, in contrast, seems to be able to see himself accurately. He says he knows he's not a good man, but he's also not the worst. Also, the Misfit is very open and honest. He seems to understand himself, and he has no problem telling the grandmother about his past and why he feels the way he feels. So, perhaps O'Connor is trying to suggest that "goodness" is just being authentic - knowing yourself and presenting yourself honestly.
ReplyDeleteIn "A Good Man is Hard to Find," O'Connor makes us think about what the meaning of "good" is. She brings up the word several times, but never really comes out and says her view on what good is. I believe that according to O'Connor, good means honest and true to oneself. The way the grandmother uses it makes her not so good, since she is only trying to save herself. She thinks of herself as good, but the Misfit knows this is not true. She tries to convince him by saying, "I know you're a good man" (451). I think this only frustrates the Misfit. He knows she is being dishonest to save herself, especially since she does not even seem to be that upset when her family gets killed. I think the defintion of "good" means different things to different people. According the O'Connor, I believe it just means being real.
ReplyDeleteBeing a good person, in my opinion, is determined differently through the eyes of every person. Everyone is brought up by different parents using different morals, religious viewpoints, and different parenting styles. So personally, being good is seen differently by every person. Obviously, I don't conisder a killer or rapist to be good considering that is an extreme measure not exactly considered good by anyone. I think some of those people are misunderstood but that doesn't give them the excuse to say they're still good. In the story, the grandma considers herself good even though obviously from the viewpoint of others, her acts were not exactly worthy of being called "good". In conclusion, being good depends on the person and the way they were brought up.
ReplyDelete