ENGL 102 Week 4 Homework

   

  

   

 

 

 

  

 

Insert a header that includes your last name, 

followed by a space, and then click “Insert” from  top menu and click “Page Number” from the Jones 1 Header & Footer menu

Maria Jones

Professor Kim Brown

English 102

In tro

 p a ra g ra p h  h a s th

e  rig

h t a

m o u n t

o f su

m m a ry  a n d  b a ck g ro u n d  co

n te xt.

 PLACE YOUR NAME, PROFESSOR’S NAME, COURSE, AND DATE ON THE LEFT‐HAND SIDE OF THE FIRST PAGE.  ALL PAGES HAVE 1‐INCH MARGINS ALL AROUND, ARE DOUBLE‐SPACED, AND USE 11 OR 12‐POINT FONT SIZE.

October 12, 2020  COME UP WITH AN INTERESTING TITLE, WHICH IS CENTERED AND PLACED HERE.  (NO SEPARATE TITLE PAGE) 

A Good Man Is Hard to Find—Seriously!

A great literary work creates an imagined situation that encapsulates the reality of human

experience. Literary fiction dramatizes what it means to live in the world of its characters,

and while that world that may not be identical to our own, we will almost certainly recognize

aspects of our own reality in it. Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man Is Hard to

Find” does just that: it takes us into rural Georgia in 1953 on a family vacation that meets

with a tragic fate, mostly as a result of the actions of its main character, known only as “the

grandmother,” who leads the family into a den of murderers, all the while lamenting that “a

good man is hard to find.” The story provides us with insight into the grandmother’s actions and

values and their effects on the story. This story is an excellent example of a literary work because

it demonstrates the hypocrisy of her religious and moral position through its approach to

characterization, plot, and theme. [This last sentence of the intro paragraph is the clearly stated thesis with its claim

and three warrants.]

TOPIC The character of the grandmother is central to the story, and it is through SENTENCE 

First bodycharacterization that we are able to see her hypocritical nature and unethical choices that paragraph 

explaining how

lead to disaster. It is because of her manipulation, selfishness, and total lack of self- characterization  of grandmother 

demonstrates  awareness that the family ends up traveling down the dirt road that leads them to the

her hypocrisy in 

the story 

Misfit and his fellow murderers. Throughout the story, we see evidence of the

grandmother’s manipulation. Because she does not want to go to Florida but would prefer to visit

Quotations (highlighted in orange) that are taken directly from the story are well‐chosen because they are in the particular style or voice of the story, which differs from the voice or tone of the student‐writer.  Quotations are also introduced with signal phrases, such as “he replied,” and well‐

   

   

 

     

 

 

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East Tennessee, we see her using two different manipulative strategies to try to persuade her son

Bailey and his wife to change their travel plans. She tells Bailey that they should avoid Florida

because the Misfit is “aloose from the Federal Pen,” while her strategy to persuade “the

children’s mother” is to say that it would be a broadening experience for the children to visit

Tennessee. As if this weren’t evidence enough of her selfishness, the grandmother also brings

her cat on the road trip, even though she knows Bailey doesn’t like traveling with a cat. When

the family arrives at a roadside café, the grandmother has a long conversation with its proprietor,

Red Sammy Butts, about how hard it is to find “a good man,” someone as moral and trustworthy

as the two of them. It’s clear that both Sammy and the grandmother see themselves as “good,”

despite evidence that Red Sam is rude to his wife and that the grandmother is manipulative and

selfish.

The story’s plot hinges around the elaborate chain of cause and effect set up by TOPIC 

the grandmother’s selfish choices and hypocrisy. Two choices in particular determine SENTENCE 

T h is b

o d y  p a ra g ra p h  fo

cu sin

g  o n  p lo t 

n e e d s to

h a ve  so

m e  su

m m a ry, b

u t it 

is a lw a ys tie

d  to

 th e  a n a lysis.   

Second body 

paragraphthe course of action that results in the story’s tragic outcomes: her decision to bring the leading off with 

cat on the trip, and her insistence on traveling on the dirt road that leads to the Misfit elucidates the  how plot 

grandmother’s 

hypocritical, because of her mistaken conviction that it will lead to an old plantation she recalls selfish choices 

from her youth. Her dishonesty is manifested in both choices: she conceals the cat

in a “valise” that looks like “the head of a hippopotamus,” and she manipulates Bailey into

trying to find the plantation by suggesting to the children that there’s a “secret panel” in

the house where the family silver was hidden during the Civil War, a lie that causes the

children to start shrieking that they want to stop there. As they wind along the dirt road, the

grandmother realizes that she has made a mistake and that the house she recalls is actually in

Tennessee. This horrifying realization causes her to remove her feet from the valise, prompting

integrated, for example, into the student‐writer’s own statements.  Every statement still maintains the student‐writer’s authority, while quoted  words or phrases from the story are peppered in for added effect and evidence.

Quotations (highlighted in orange) that are taken directly from the story are well‐chosen because they are in the particular style or voice of the story,  Quotations are also introduced with signal phrases, such as “he replied,” and well‐

   

     

   

 

     

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the cat to spring out and jump onto Bailey’s shoulder, which causes the car to flip over and land

in the gulch where the Misfit and his gang find them. Every step in the chain of events that has

led them to the Misfit—ironically the very possibility the grandmother has invoked to try to talk

Bailey into going to Tennessee—is the result of the selfish, manipulative choices of the

grandmother.  [Solid restatement of topic sentence/main idea on the plot, i.e. chain of events, occurring because of the

grandmother.]

When the grandmother and the Misfit finally meet, the story’s theme becomes clear: in

the hypocritical world of this story, it seems impossible to find a “good” man or woman. But this

story’s theme abounds with ironies. While the Misfit’s cohorts appear sinister, the Misfit himself

creates the appearance of gentility and kindness. He wears “silver-rimmed spectacles” that give

him “a scholarly look,” and he is soft-spoken and polite—ostensibly “good.” But as we soon find

out, the appearance of goodness, like the grandmother’s own ladylike costume of organdy and

lace, means nothing: his actions show that he is devoid of morality or compassion, and he

murders the entire family without a shred of remorse. In his lack of a moral compass, we can’t

help seeing a reflection of the grandmother, who has lied, cheated, and manipulated to get what

she wants without any regard for the other members of her family. Yet in the end, the

grandmother appears to be potentially capable of the kind of change we may expect to see in a

short story: as her family members are being murdered all around her, she tries to bargain for her

life with the Misfit by repeatedly insisting that he is “a good man.” “Nome,” he replies, “I ain’t a

good man.” As this strategy fails to work, she starts telling him to pray, saying that Jesus will

help him, but he responds, “I don’t want no hep.” In this moment, her religious hypocrisy and

manipulation are foregrounded, but when she sees that the Misfit looks like he is about to cry,

she reaches out to him, saying, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!”

Her touch on his shoulder causes the Misfit to shoot her three times, killing her instantly. Has the

which differs from the voice or tone of the student‐writer.  

Every statement still maintains the student‐writer’s authority, while quoted words integrated, for example, into the student‐writer’s own statements.   or phrases from the story are peppered in for added effect and evidence. 

 

 

 

 

 

H a n g in g  in

d e n t fo

rm a t fo

r lin e  

2  a n d  b e y o n d

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grandmother experienced a religious conversion in which she truly feels empathy for the Misfit,

or has she just said this to manipulate him? The story refuses to confirm that one way or

another. [These last two statements provide clever analysis because the paragraph provides us with many examples of the

grandmother’s dubious behavior. Still, the analysis is based on the student‐writer’s interpretation, which is debatable, if other 

evidence were to posit a different point.  For example, one could argue instead that the story proves the grandmother is 

beyond redemption or any empathy and that she is driven only by her own self‐preservation till the end.] 

In presenting the grandmother as a person with no morals who is convinced of her own

goodness, O’Connor paints a picture of the hypocrisy that can lurk behind a genteel façade. The

grandmother’s selfishness, manipulativeness, casual racism, and misguided belief in her own

goodness show us that indeed, in the world of O’Connor’s story, a good man is hard to find. But

the story’s greatness is in leading us to wonder, at least for a moment, if perhaps the grandmother

was truly capable of change—and if by inference, all humans are.

Work Cited

O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” The World's Best Short Stories: Anthology

& Criticism, vol. 3: Famous Stories, Roth Publishing, 1990, p. 34. The World's Best

Series. Gale Literature:

LitFinder, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/LTF0000504203WK/LITF? u=umd_umuc&sid

=LITF&xid=57a96771. Accessed 12 Oct. 2020.

Make sure citation entries remain double‐spaced and are formatted using the “Hanging Indent” 

feature in your word processing software.  See the basic elements of a works cited entry, which are 

all included above.  Also, see MLA Sample Works Cited page for what a full, separate Works Cited 

page looks like (and which would be required if more than one source is referenced.)