A Good Man is Hard to Find – THEMES and QUESTIONS
A. Good vs Evil
"A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a confrontation of between a grandmother with a rather superficial
sense of goodness, and a criminal who embodies real evil. The grandmother seems to treat goodness
mostly as a function of being decent, having good manners, and coming from a family of "the right
people." What a contrast, when the grandmother encounters The Misfit, who seems straightforwardly
evil, with little to no sense of guilt, and a genuine desire to do cruel or destructive things for their own
sake. Understanding the motivations of The Misfit, and what "goodness" means by contrast, is one of
the central puzzles of the story.
Questions About Good vs. Evil
1. According to the grandmother, what is a "good man"? Is she sincere when she calls Red Sammy
a good man? How about The Misfit?
2. What motivates The Misfit – why does he do what he does? Is he a wholly evil character? Why
or why not?
3. Why would The Misfit say he never thinks the punishment fits the crime? Is he genuinely
innocent, or does he believe himself to be? Has he forgotten his crimes? Does he have no sense
of right and wrong?
4. What does it mean when The Misfit says the grandmother would have been a good woman if he
had been there to shoot her every minute of her life? What kind of "goodness" does he have in
mind? Is this the beginning of a transformation in The Misfit?
Your Opinion
A. The Misfit has no sense of right and wrong, and for this reason doesn't feel any punishment can
ever "fit" the crime.
B. The Misfit recognizes the grandmother's final gesture as good, and understands "goodness" to
be the unconditional love given by divine grace.
B. Religion
The central confrontation between the grandmother and The Misfit in "A Good Man is Hard to Find"
revolves around Jesus. The grandmother brings up praying to Jesus in the hope that she can induce The
Misfit to spare her life by appealing to his religious sense. It turns out, however, that The Misfit has
probably thought about Jesus more seriously than she has. The Misfit's doubt in Jesus leads him to think
that there is no real right or wrong, and no ultimate point to life. At the story's climax, the grandmother
appears to receive a moment of divine grace, which might transform her and The Misfit. How this
ending is understood is the major question of the story.
Questions About Religion
1. Is the grandmother a real religious believer? Does she have genuine faith? What evidence can
you find either way?
2. Does The Misfit believe in Jesus? If he does, to what degree? If not, why not?
3. Between The Misfit and the grandmother, who seems to have a more solid foundation in faith?
4. Why would The Misfit attach so much importance to the question of whether Jesus did what
he's supposed to have done? Why is this an all-or-nothing question for him?
5. Is the grandmother's "moment of grace" a genuine moment of grace? What evidence do you
see either way?
Your Opinion
A. The grandmother never took her religious faith seriously.
B. The grandmother's final gesture is a genuine moment of grace.
C. Manipulation
Flannery O'Connor understood her story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" as a tale of good, evil, and divine
grace. Other critics, however, have seen in it something more cynical. Many see it as the story of a
selfish woman who uses manipulation to get what she wants, but is ultimately unable to save herself by
her acts. There are several moments in the story when the grandmother manipulates others, including
her family members and the criminal. An interesting question is whether she ever stops manipulating,
and, if so, when.
Questions About Manipulation
1. Is the grandmother an unusually manipulative person, or is her behaviour fairly
understandable? Why?
2. In her confrontation with The Misfit, does the grandmother use purposeful, calculating
manipulation, or is her attempt to save her own life desperate and not thought-out?
3. Does the grandmother ever stop trying to manipulate The Misfit? At what point? How can you
tell?
4. Is the grandmother's moment of grace actually just another manipulation? Is The Misfit fooled
by it?
Your Opinion
A. The grandmother never stops trying to manipulate The Misfit, and is stopped only when he kills
her.
B. The grandmother's attempts to save her life are desperate from the beginning, and can hardly
be considered deliberate manipulation.
D. Family
Besides its more serious themes, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" contains some mercilessly funny comedy
about a dysfunctional family, and the ways they get on each other's nerves. You know, the kind of family
that could be in a National Lampoon movie? There's the two troublesome and annoying kids, the hotheaded dad who tries to maintain control of a situation and fails, the wife busy attending to the baby,
and the grandmother, who's a case all to herself (and also the main character). Though the story starts
out seeming like a comedy, it takes a serious turn when the family encounters a criminal, who kills them
one by one. Whether this family members attract any genuine sympathy from the reader, or from each
other, or whether they death presents little more than a black comedy is an issue up for debate.
Questions About Family
1. Is the family in the story a caricature of a family, or are they realistic in certain aspects? Why?
2. Are there any points in the story at which one of the family members comes across as
sympathetic? If so, where are they? If not, why?
3. Do any of the family members care for each other? If yes, then what evidence can you find in
support?
4. Does the grandmother really about the rest of her family, or is she purely self-interested?
Your Opinion
A. The family in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is pure caricature.
B. The grandmother is purely self-interested, and shows little concern for the rest of her family.
E. Society and Class
The grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" gives great importance to being "a lady," and her
ideas about what that means reflect an old-fashioned, somewhat upper-crust Southern mindset. She
uses the n-word and longs for the good old days when kids were polite, people were trustworthy, and
there were pretty plantations to visit. All of this leads her to associate being "good" with coming from a
respectable family and behaving like a member of her social class; those who don't are outsiders. Her
sensibilities are in for quite a shock when she meets The Misfit.
Questions About Society and Class
1. In what ways does the grandmother reflect a particular Southern social class? To what extent is
this conscious on her part?
2. How does the grandmother's social class play a role in her confrontation with the Misfit, and in
the story's larger contrast between good and evil?
3. Do any characters besides the grandmother display an awareness of class or social status?
4. Does the story adopt a negative view towards the kind of southern culture the grandmother
represents? Is it instead positive, or neutral? How can you tell?
Your Opinion
A. The grandmother's values are only concerned with appearances, and are therefore criticized
and mocked by the story.
A Good Man is Hard to Find – General Questions
1. All right, we've got to ask it: do you think the moment of grace is a moment of grace? Why or
why not? How does the story change if it isn't?
2. If the grandmother's moment of grace isn't actually a moment of grace, what is it? And how do
you interpret The Misfit's reaction to it?
3. Could the grandmother have something like the moment of grace without bringing God into the
picture? How would that change the story?
4. If you do read the moment of grace as a real moment of grace or something like it, how
responsible was she for it, and how responsible was the situation, The Misfit, or even God? Why
does she receive it when she does?
5. Even if you read the grandmother's gesture as a moment of grace, does this moment lose its
meaning since she dies right afterward?
6. How much do you think the story's meaning depends upon the religious perspective of the
author? How much do you think it depends on the religious perspective of the reader? Is the
author the best person to say what the story means? What does it mean to describe what the
story "means"?
7. If you don't read the story religiously, does it work as well as a story? Does it have a message?
Does it have as clear of a structure? How would you judge that? (Try to answer this question
even if it isn't the way you read the story).
8. What's the grandmother really like? Is she a manipulative genius? A superficial and selfish
woman? A rather average grandmother, with her share of human faults? A positively lovely
lady? Does she remind you of other people you know?
9. Are any of O'Connor's characters sympathetic? Is the grandmother sympathetic? The Misfit?
10. Is the story hopeful or cynical? How do you feel at the end?
11. Why does The Misfit not order the grandmother into the woods with Bobby Lee and Hiram?
Would he have done it anyway if he hadn't shot her first?
12. Given how much of the story seems to centre on the grandmother and The Misfit, what do we
do with the other characters? Are they just there for show or comic relief? Can it be a hopeful
story if they die?
13. How do you think The Misfit sees the grandmother throughout the story? By the end? How, if at
all, does she affect him?
14. Is The Misfit a believable character, and a believable personification of evil? Why or why not?
15. Could a grandfather have filled the role of the grandmother in the story?