A Good Man Is Hard To find

The title itself caused prejudice upon my mind on the theme of the story. I have been expecting, from the very beginning, the idea that indeed “a good man is hard to find” theme would be all throughout the story. Indeed my insights were correct.

The reasons why my perceptions have stayed intact and have not been swayed can be attributed to the way the story itself have progressed. In fact, at the start, I never had the faintest idea how and why Flannery O’Connor gave such title to her story. With the presence of the “wicked grandmother” in the story as I may say, I have drawn conclusions on how humanity or a person can really be bad.

In the story, I have observed the absence of heavenly guidance on the characters, especially to the old woman, the grandmother. In her alone, I have imagined the reality of an evil act and evil’s existence.

Moreover, I have learned that in many occasions, human beings cannot really make better decisions and how their thinking can be influenced by the things they believe and by their ambitions: materialism. I have seen this specific situation when the old woman believed that nicely dressed men are better and good-hearted than those that are haggard looking and dirty ones.

Moreover, I can see the bulging ego of the characters and how material world have influenced the lives of humanity in general. I see egocentricities and heavy pride in the old woman as well in the dominant hard character of the son. In the presence of the Misfit, I have perceived lack of respect and a strong absence of beliefs to the supreme being.

Again, a good man is in fact difficult to find. Man is generally evil, proud, materialistic and lost. Only with God’s grace and guidance they can be led in a correct pathway of life. In the story, these ideas were emphasized making me stay with my thoughts regarding the story.

As the grandmother and the Misfit found something uncommon, it was actually not as uncommon as they have thought. It was sin and suffering in life. Certainly the grandmother “would have been a  good woman… if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”

Reference

Castle A. (2007). “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. The Literary Encyclopedia, 14 October 2007. Accessed 16 May 2008 from <http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7139>.