"A Good Man is Hard to Find"

Flannery O'Connor and one of her peacocks.

Please address the possibility that O'Connor's religious beliefs are helpful in understanding "A Good Man is Hard to Find." We all have varying levels of knowledge about Roman Catholicism (a kind of Christianity), and different Catholics have different ideas, but we must do our best. Please be respectful of others ideas about religion. thank you!

1. From what you know about Jesus, what might be his opinion of, or attitude toward, the grandmother? Would it be the same as his attitude toward, say Bailey and "the children's mother," or different?

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2. Consider the possibility that the Misfit is the Devil, i.e., Satan, the chief devil. (One way of thinking about devils is that they were angels who rebelled against God and who, after a civil war in heaven, were banished to hell. They decided, however, to invade earth in order to corrupt human beings and bring them down to hell with them.) Would thinking of the Misfit as the Devil make sense of the Misfit's actions? Would it make sense of the Misfit's statements about Jesus? Would it make sense of the Misfit's name? Is there a different way of making sense of the Misfit?

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3. Given what you know about Christianity or Roman Catholicism, why might the story be called "A Good Man is Hard to Find"?

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4. Assuming that O'Connor's religion does matter in this story, how does the humor and the element of the grotesque fit in with the religious issues?

A Good Man is Hard to Find 374 to the end

The author, Flannery O'Connor, kept peacocks at farmhouse home in Georgia.


1. Find an instance of an effective use of language and explain.

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2. Are their elements of the grotesque in this story? Like what? What's grotesque about your example?

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3. Who ends up seeming the most foolish in this story? Why?

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4. Assume for a moment that the author is interested in satirizing (criticizing in an indirect, but judgmental, usually funny way) the grandmother. What is there to criticize?

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5. Can you make sense of the character known as "the Misfit"?

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6. Notice something no one else has noticed yet.

A Good Man is Hard to Find, 371-374

1. Notice a place where language is used effectively, and try to say why.

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2. Red Sammy says "a good man is hard to find." According to the story so far, would this generalization hold true?

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3. Is there more evidence in this part of the reading that the grandmother in the story is a somewhat diferent kind of person than the other characters? What might the difference be? What evidence is there?

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4. The monkey (paragraphs 28 and 45): comment.

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5. Notice something no one else has noticed so far about this reading.

A Good Man is Hard to Find 369-370

Please note: don't just say something that someone else has said. If someone else has already made the point you wanted to make, find a phrase or sentence from the story that no one has quoted yet and explain how that phrase bears on the point you're trying to make. Briefly quoting the text in connection with or support of what you're saying = good.

1. Name one or more of the characters and come up with an adjective to desribe him or her.

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2. Notice the imagery to describe the mother in paragraph two: " . . . whose face . . . rabbit ears." Comment.

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3. Is there anything about the sotry that seems comic so far?

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4. Is there a use of language (diction, syntax, other) that you find notable?

one more "Country Husband" entry

Turner, Hannibal Crossing the Alps

1. How much compassion does the story or the author have for Francis and his plight, and how would we know?

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2. Consider the sentence in par. 135: "He had been lost once in his life . . . the path that he'd lost." Consider also the last sentence in the story: "Then it is dark . . . over the mountains." Consider also the sentence, in par. 36, "The sky shone like enamel." Comment.

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3. Can you find comic elements in this story? Like what?

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4. Notice something that no one else has noticed yet about the story.

The Country Husband 73-81

1. Find a moment in the story at which you think language is being used effectively, quote it, and briefly say why. Diction (word choice)? Syntax (word order)? Sound? Irony? Something else?

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2. Why do you suppose Francis treats Clayton Thomas so badly, and of what does his bad treatment consist?

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3. In paragraph 121, Francis imagines what it will be like for his wife Julia if he and she split up. Comment.

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4. The whole part in which Julia decides to leave but is persuaded to stay by Francis: comment.

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5. The cat dressed in doll clothes at the end of the story: comment.

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6. The last sentence of the story: comment.

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7. Notice something that no one else has noticed yet about this reading.

The Country Husband 69-73

1. Find a moment in the story at which you think language is being used effectively, quote it, and briefly say why. Diction (word choice)? Syntax (word order)? Sound? Irony? Something else?

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2. Is there anything so far about the story that makes it seem a little different from other stories you have read? Briefly explain.

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3. Francis is rude to Mrs. Wrightson on p. 70 (paragraphs 33-35). Comment.

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4. Can you find a connection between Gertrude (p. 72) and anything else in the story so far? What?

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5. Notice something that no one else has noticed yet about this reading.