Christian Tjoa
Morality in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
The Oakridge School
jcolley@theoakridgeschool.org
Morality in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, characters such as the
Grandmother and the Misfit help to illuminate issues on both a personal and societal level.
O’Connor crafts two characters that almost become symbols for the greater issues they have;
their personal problems can be applied to a larger scale. The conversation between the Misfit and
Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” attempts to tackle deep questions of morality,
what a “good man” actually is, and the idea of divine right or justice among others.
O’Connor’s characterization of the Grandmother serves to create conflicting ideas of
what a “good man” is. The Grandmother constantly talks about the past and how in her time
people could leave their “screen door unlatched. Not no more.” This yearning for old, better
times is not a unique character trait of the Grandmother, as it is reciprocated by Red Sam at the
barbecue restaurant, however it is important to note because of how involved the Grandmother is
with the Misfit at the end of the story. The Grandmother throughout the play chastises not
necessarily the Misfit himself, but rather the idea of the Misfit. The Misfit represents the
changing of culture for the Grandmother to a place where there is lawlessness and an overall
decline in character. The Misfit drives the Grandmother’s early motivation, as she does not want
to travel to Florida in fear of running into the convict. O’Connor is attempting to immediately
show the reader that the Grandmother views herself as a good person. This is called into question
by her words and actions during the final confrontation with the Misfit.
The conversation between the Misfit and the Grandmother brings out questions about the
morality of not just the Grandmother, but of society as a whole. Despite the Grandmother’s
earlier preaching about the horrid character of the Misfit, when put in a back-to-the-wall
situation she says, “I know you’re a good man”. The Grandmother’s strong concept of morality
goes out the window when she is in a precarious situation. This is not unjustified, as she simply
wants to make it out of the situation alive, yet it calls into question her character and the strength
of her convictions. It also makes the readers themselves question their own morality; what would
they do in a similar situation? The reader can feel sympathy for the Grandmother in this
dangerous situation, yet it is her actions as the conversation progresses that cause the reader to
pause and truly question the character of the Grandmother. The Misfit’s assistants systematically
kill her family, as they are taken into the woods and shot. Throughout this time, the Grandmother
seems to only be focused on self-preservation, with her only recognition of something awry
being two isolated yells of “Bailey Boy!” O’Connor is showing the character of not just the
Grandmother, but what she perceives to be the common trend in 1950’s culture. The idea of
family unity and selflessness, even by those who propagate the idea, is forgotten when the
individual is threatened.
While O’Connor does have hints of existential philosophy in regards to the individual,
she is ultimately influenced deeply by her Catholic upbringing. This leads to the Grandmother
being a very religious character, constantly asking the Misfit if he prays. While on the surface it
would appear obvious the Grandmother is more religious than the Misfit, it may actually be the
Misfit who has the greater understanding and has potentially thought more about religion than
the Grandmother. The Grandmother espouses a lot of empty rhetoric, telling the Misfit he should
have prayed in prison and saying, “If you would pray, Jesus would help you”. While this sounds
good in theory, the Grandmother once again is simply trying to save herself by any means, and
appealing to a possible religious background would seriously aid her chances. The Misfit, on the
other hand, is not religious at all, as he says “Jesus thrown everything off balance. It was the
same case with Him as with me…” The Misfit has a more serious view of religion that gives off
an existential vibe; there is no purpose to life and without divine consequence there is no clear
right and wrong. O’Connor is making a statement on not just the character of the Misfit and
Grandmother, but rather the society she was living in as a whole. Religion throughout history has
always been a contentious subject, and the idea of “real” religious people is still debated today.
By making the Misfit seem to have actually considered religion in a more meaningful way than
the church-going Grandmother, O’Connor is taking a definitive stance in saying that sometimes
the less religious have put more thought into their stance than the religious have.
This theme of religious morality calls into question the ending, which has been
controversial since the story’s inception. At this point in the story the Misfit’s assistants have
killed the entire family, and the Grandmother is still pleading for mercy from the Misfit. She is
continuing to appeal to the Misfit’s potential religious principles, referencing Jesus raising the
dead and allowing him to drive the conversation. The Misfit makes a face “as if he were going to
cry” and the Grandmother reaches out and touches him, saying, “Why you’re one of my babies.
You’re one of my own children!” This touching seems to startle to Misfit, who kills the
Grandmother after jumping back “as if a snake had bitten him”. Many experts believe that
O’Connor was influenced by her Catholic background when writing this ending. What happens
to the grandmother could be described as a “moment of grace”, which basically means she
redeems herself through literally reaching out towards the Misfit. This traditional reading makes
sense in the context of O’Connor’s upbringing, yet ignores the persistent statements on morality
during the story. The Grandmother’s religion has been used to demonstrate a negative personal
characteristic, so it would be odd for the ending to suddenly undo what has been created
throughout the story. The ending is not a redemption of the Grandmother, rather a conclusive
statement to what has already been developed. The Grandmother reaches out to the Misfit for
two reasons, the first being that she is once again trying to save herself. At this point her cries for
mercy are more relatable to the reader, as her family is dead at this point and she has nothing else
going for her besides making it out of this scenario. However, the Grandmother has also started
to lose her sanity, as she began feeling “feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her
legs twisted under her.” The last act of the Grandmother may not have even been out of any sane
decision, but rather the act of a defeated woman as a last ditch effort.
The Grandmother’s end brings up interesting questions about the morality of the Misfit as
well. Until that point it was not conclusive that the Misfit was capable of actually murdering
someone himself, even though it was strongly implied. He denied killing his father, and the
murders of the rest of the Grandmother’s family were done by his two accomplices. Once the
reader sees the Misfit murder the Grandmother, the perception of the Misfit changes from
intimidating and menacing to evil or heartless. The Misfit is objectively a bad person; he has
murdered one person within the reader’s scope of viewing, as well as his father and likely other
victims. He basically orders the murders of an entire family that includes two young children.
Despite these despicable actions, the Misfit seems to be more in touch with morality and the
human condition than the other characters in the story. The Misfit rejects the notion from the
Grandmother that he is a “good man”, and he seems to know that he is not the kind of person a
family wants around, as is shown when the Grandmother screams that he is the Misfit and he
responds, “it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn’t of reckernized me.” He
realizes the Grandmother’s false Christian morality as well, stating at the end, “She would of
been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” This
call back to the title of the story and the conversation between the Grandmother and Red Sam
furthers the point that a “good man” is hard to define because a person’s character is ambiguous.
The Grandmother appears to be a “good woman”, yet she criticizes the new generation
relentlessly and seems to abandon her principles in the face of adversity. The Misfit is a “bad
man” at first glance, yet he has a deeper understanding of religion and life than the Grandmother.
This question is not answered in the story, rather posed to the audience as a thought for a
personal and societal level.
The concept of a “good man” is posed in the title (saying they are hard to find) and
mentioned throughout the story, yet is never actually given a definitive definition. The concept of
morality as a whole cannot be answered through two very different characters (the Misfit and the
Grandmother) talking at each other about Jesus and the concept of mercy. There is simply not
enough length in the short story to answer this question, yet O’Connor provides insight into
human nature by illuminating the adherence (or lack thereof) to principle by the Grandmother
and the complicated religious and moral nature of the Misfit.
Works Cited
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find." An Uncommon Grace. 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.
"Flannery O'Connor." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
Gordon, Sarah. "Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 10 July
2002. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.