Tazeen Hossain September 17, 2013 English 1102 Section H No One is Good (DRAFT) We all know the golden

rule: treat others as you want to be treated. But how far does this rule extend into our judgment? Should we also judge others as we would judge ourselves? A Good Man is Hard To Find by Flannery OConnor depicts the morals of a range of characters from a murderer to an elderly woman. The victim of the story is given an unfavorable personality and the killer is courteous, so the lines between the definitions of good and bad get blurred. Yet through the characterization of the grandmother and the Misfit, the author points out the irony between good and bad actions, ultimately demonstrating that goodness is neither an inherited condition but a trait that people are trained to recognize when juxtaposed with their own personal morality. When I think of an old woman from the South in the mid-1940s, two general types come to mind. The first is similar to modern days Paula Deen, a happy and loving elderly woman, someone who is looked at for moral wisdom. The other kind is a more affluent, arrogant woman who represents materialism and old money. The grandmother from this text falls into the latter category. Throughout the story, OConnor continues to reiterate the grandmothers obsession with being known as a lady and making sure she is always dressed as such (OConnor 118). Her need to prove her social status implies that the grandmother values superficialities over the reputation of others. The grandmother believes herself to be a woman of virtue yet her actions contradict her righteousness.

In addition, the grandmother holds her own values and beliefs of what makes a person good as the point of comparison for all others. For example, she does not hesitate to call Red Sammy a good man because she and him share the same attitudes from the past; they are likeminded and of the same generation (OConnor 122). Since the grandmother considers herself on a pedestal, anyone whose thoughts coincide with hers must also be almost as good as she is. However, she is by no means perfect herself. The clever old woman is more than willing to manipulate her son into taking a detour to visit a house from her memories by simply mentioning a secret panel to the children, knowing full well that she is not telling the truth (OConnor 123). By giving the grandmother all of these unpleasant personality traits, OConnor makes it difficult for me to initially view the grandmother as the protagonist. On the other hand, despite being known as a murderer, the Misfit is unexpectedly polite. He comforts the grandmother by telling her not to get upset when Bailey is rude to her (OConnor 127). Interestingly, he also feels embarrassed because he is not wearing a shirt before [the] ladies, despite having just sent Bailey and his son to their deaths. The Misfit does not seem as cruel as his actions, yet his courteousness contrasts with the grandmothers personality, resulting in her portrayal as the antagonist instead. Nonetheless, like the grandmother, The Misfit also has his own interpretation of what a good person is. He says that he comes from the finest people in the world in reference to his family yet he does not agree with the grandmothers insistence that he is a good man who does not have common blood (OConnor 127). The Misfit acknowledges that he aint a good man, but clarifies that he aint the worst in the world neither; the fact that he does not consider himself to be evil shows that his definition of a good man is vastly different from the grandmothers (OConnor 128). In the

end, neither character can be considered good because each has a different moral code to hold the other to. Consider the scale above to have good deeds on one side and bad deeds on the other. Then continue to add good and bad thoughts and intentions. It is hard to tell which side will eventually outweigh the other, but one has to keep in mind that bad actions outweigh bad intentions because bad deeds have greater consequences. The moral scale for the grandmother can be skewed just as much as the Misfits. Each character tries to recognize the good in the other by comparing their morals and values with each others. What they grow up to know to be good becomes the definition of good to them. The Misfit ultimately can not gauge his goodness against anyone elses and therefore cannot define goodness with crime. The grandmother ultimately cannot convince the Misfit to show her mercy because she is not good enough to bring the good out in him. Naturally, neither character performs solely good deeds, yet even if he or she does, he or she does not have good intentions. Neither character can be considered inherently good because each judges goodness differently. Everything is conditional, even goodness.

Works Cited OConnor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard To Find. The Complete Stories. New york; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971, 117-33. Print.