“A Good Man Is Hard to Find”

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is short story about an escaped convicts murdering of a family during their vacation in Florida, and how ultimately you should listen to those around you.

Level 1 – Where is the family heading?
Level 2 – What happens every time Bobby Lee and Hiram take someone into the forest?
Level 3 – What can be said about the grandmother going everywhere the family does, and them dying? What could this kind of technique be called?

Let me start off my saying that this story took me for surprise! There are many unexpected turns and I think I’ve come to realize that all the stories we have read in this AP English packet are about death - and you know, that's not depressing at all...

O’Connor used a couple of narrative techniques that made this story captivating. One of which is writing from the perspective of the grandmother and in third person. As a reader we are able to see what is occurring and go into the mind of any character. This made it somewhat difficult to understand the point of view of the story, however it allowed us to see the story unfold.

The story kicks off with the typically family that is challenged by the family member that doesn’t want to go on vacation – in this case it is the grandmother. The reason she does not want to go is because she has read about an escaped murderer named the Misfit who is heading for Florida. Unfortunately every one in the family, except for June Star, ignores her… and at the end the Misfit kills all of them.

I think the theme of the short story was to listen and cherish those around you and maximize the opportunities in life that you are given. I thought it was interesting the grandmother warned the family about the Misfit, got the family lost, and then was eventually killed. There is a fair amount of foreshadowing that leads into the violence at the end. Had the family listened to the grandmother in the beginning, they would all probably still be alive.