Looking for caring people, we often forget to be caring ourselves. The only possibility to make this world a better place is to make yourself a better person. A Good Man Is Hard to Find Study Guide explains why Flannery O’Connor chose such a murderous plot to illustrate these moral lessons.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find Key Facts
A Good Man Is Hard to Find Articles
A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Summary
Looking for a summary of A Good Man Is Hard to Find? This article contains everything you might need: a plot infographic and a short summary of the story by Flannery O’Connor.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Characters
This article contains all the information about A Good Man Is Hard to Find characters: the Grandmother, the Misfit, Bailey, June Star, John Wesley, Red Sammy Butts, and others. In the first section, you’ll find A Good Man Is Hard to Find character map.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Themes
The article explains the key themes of A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Good vs. evil, religion, and death are the core issues represented in the short story by Flannery O’Connor.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Analysis
Flannery O’Connor’s short story is stuffed with symbols and literary devices hidden from first-time readers. The analysis of A Good Man Is Hard to Find aims to shed some light on these details.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Essay Topics & Samples
The article aims to help you if you are looking for an essay topic on the story. The first section of this article contains a list of ideas, and the second one contains essay samples that you are welcome to use for inspiration.
Historical Context of A Good Man Is Hard to Find
This short story shows the non-erasable line of race and class that divided American society. O’Connor lived in the times of Jim Crow laws (that were enforced till 1965). They consisted of racial segregation in Southern states. In fact, Jim Crow laws ensured “separate but equal” facilities for Southern Americans, limiting their possibilities and leading to the Great Migration.
Almost a century had passed since slavery was abolished in the US, but the old ways were hard to eliminate. Many elderly people romanticized the idea of the “Old South,” where African Americans worked on plantations and landlords lived in large houses. We hear this legacy in many of Grandmother’s remarks. A good man is hard to find if you have the wrong criteria for good and evil. The author hints at the racial and class differences that made people inherently “good” or “bad.” This division made people less humane and left more questions than answers.
The “Old South” society was a religious one. O’Connor was a Christian, but she accuses hypocritical people whose faith manifests only when they face some danger. Instead, compassion and grace are the only ways that can change a person for the better.
Due to an illness, O’Connor had to live on her farm for years. For this reason, she wrote A Good Man is Hard to Find in the context of newspapers and stories of local people. The Misfit was a collective image of serial killers who acted in Atlanta in the 1950s. The other characters are also relatable and typical for the US of those days.
