Theme Analysis EW

Grandmother

When thinking of the characteristics of a grandmother what does one think about? In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor it is written from the perspective of the grandmother. With it being told from her perspective it shows how she feels and her opinion. Even if the grandmother looks down on someone she still can find the good in others, well if it is to her advantage. A characteristic of this grandmother is someone who tries to manipulate others to get her way.

At the beginning of the story, the grandmother tries to manipulate the son from going on vacation to Florida. She did not want to go to Florida; she wanted to go to Tennessee. She had friends she wanted to visit in Tennessee and was disappointed that she was not getting her way to go there. She had even noticed an article in the newspaper that her son was reading about how a guy “that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from Federal Pen and headed toward Florida” (Glaspell, 1916, p. 117). She gave this as a reason that going to Florida would not be a good idea. Neither the son nor the daughter-in-law listened to her, and she then turned to her grandkids in hopes that trying to scare them would make them upset and get her sons attention. The kids did not get scared but rather turned her manipulation back on her letting her know they did not care if she went on the trip. Her granddaughter June Star even stated the reason her grandmother would not stay home was that she was “afraid she’d miss something” (Glaspell, 1916, p. 117).

When the family first got in the car going on the trip, the grandmother hid her cat so it would not be left behind. Her son would not approve so manipulating the situation by hiding the cat was her best option. She wore a very nice outfit that she felt a lady should wear. Her daughter-in-law was dressed as though she was wearing clothing someone would wear to do chores around the house. The grandmother wanted everyone to know she was a lady by just looking at her. If they had a wreck on the way to Florida and she passed away, she wanted anyone coming up to the scene to know she was a lady when they first laid eyes on her. To pass the time she told the kids a story about how when she was a young lady a man named Mr. Teagarden, that she had dated would bring her a “watermelon every Saturday afternoon” (Glaspell, 1916, p. 117). She stated, “she would have done well to marry Mr. Teagarden” (Glaspell, 1916, p. 117) because he became rich when he was older. Even though she would be manipulative with something’s, she still was very interactive with the kids and kept them entertained.

When the family drove through the town of Toombsboro Georgia, the grandmother began to talk about a plantation that she used to visit when she was young. She started to describe the house and lied by saying it had a secret room that no one knew about, but the people living there. The grandmother knew the room was not real, but she manipulated them into believing that it was. The mystery of the room intrigued her grandson John Wesley, and he began to ask questions and wanted to visit the house, then June Star wanted to go. The grandmother wanted to go, but instead of coming out and asking her son to go there she manipulated her grandkids into asking by intriguing them with the story of the secret room that she made up. She even let them know it was very close to where they were, and it would not take any time to see the house. The father would not go, so the kids began to be disruptive and screaming, throwing a temper tantrum. To get the kids to be quiet, the father agreed to go and see the plantation. Just as the grandmother intended she manipulated the situation and got her way.

On the way to the house, the family had a wreck due to that cat the grandmother had to hide and bring. It got loose and jumped on her son the driver and caused him to wreck. Everyone was okay and survived the wreck. The grandmother felt terrible that she was the one wanting to see the house and that her cat is what caused the wreck. The reason she felt terrible is that she had just realized the house they were looking for was in Tennessee not in Georgia and if she would not have manipulated everyone they would never have gone down that road and been in an accident. A car finally came down the road they were on, but it turned out to be the escaped convict “The Misfit” that the grandmother had warned the family about when she was trying to manipulate them into going to Tennessee. The men had no intention of helping the family. When the man approached the grandmother, she recognized him and stated “You’re The Misfit!” (Glaspell, 1916, p. 117). This was one time the grandmother should have kept her mouth shut and said nothing. The grandmother began letting the men know she was a lady and that they were good men. She was trying to manipulate them into believing that they were good and not to harm her. But in the end, they killed all of the family, and no matter how hard she tried to manipulate them she was still killed.

The grandmother was very manipulative, from trying to get the family to change its plans to go to Tennessee to bringing her cat on the trip. She wanted everyone to think of her like a lady, but by being manipulative, it did not show a positive characteristic of a lady. Her manipulation did not pay off by having the children convince their dad to go see the plantation house, this caused her whole family to lose their lives, and no amount of manipulation to “The Misfit” could save her in the end.

References

Glaspell, S. (1916). A good man is hard to find. In X.J Kennedy and D Gioia (Eds.) The Literature Collection: An E-Text [VitalSource digital version] (p. 117). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.