Good vs. Evil in “a Good Man Is Hard to Find” Essay

Good vs. Evil in â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† Flannery O’Connor shows her readers a realistic look at their own mortality in â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find.† The story is about a family of five, a father, mother, grandmother, and two children, starting out on a vacation to Florida from Georgia. The family, on their way to a routine vacation, takes a detour that will change their lives forever. Through the use of literary elements like symbolism and characterization, O’Connor creates a theme of good vs. evil, which can be felt throughout the story by tapping into the audience’s emotions. How does one characterize good and evil? Throughout time, people have asked this question and only received opinions based on references from†¦show more content†¦The events happening in the story can really happen, and this allows open-minded readers to put themselves in the story line and feel what O’Connor makes the characters feel. A great example of creating fear and sympathy in the audience is when O’Connor writes, â€Å"There were two more pistol reports and the grandmother raised her head like a parched old turkey hen crying for water and called, ‘Bailey Boy, Bailey Boy!’ as if her heart would break† (O’Connor 454). In this line, readers feel hearts almost break in sympathy for the grandmother as if they have lost their own son, but soon fear creeps up because everyone has been murdered except the grandmother, leaving her alone with evil. Through characterization, O’Connor creates an emotional and relatable connecti on between the story and the readers, which is a great element that defines good writers from great writers. Reading is just a way for people to escape the everyday redundancies of life, even if it is met with fear and sympathy. In â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† symbolism is used to foreshadow the actions and portray the actual character of The Misfit. Symbolism is using â€Å"a person, object, or event that suggests more than its literal meaning† (â€Å"Symbolism† 270). O’Connor uses objects that are not menacing in everyday use and describes them in such graphic detail that it intensifies the terror to come in the story (Kahane). After the family had wrecked, a car comes into view, passes by them, comesShow MoreRelatedA Good Man Is Hard To Find And Al Roosten Analysis1651 Words   |  7 Pages Would you consider yourself good or evil? â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard To Find,† written by Flannery O’Connor, is a short story written about a grandmother and her son’s family traveling on vacation, coming into contact with some trouble. 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