A Good Man Is Hard To Find: A Tale Of Southern Gothic

Have you ever read Southern Gothic before? You're in for an intriguing experience. Where the old Gothic literature had its characteristic eerie castles and the presence of the supernatural, Southern Gothic mingles themes that show the dark side of humanity with Southern charm. It exchanges ghosts for deeply flawed characters, along with rotting plantations instead of castles and actual horror in the world, rather than supernatural fiction. The atmosphere might feel slightly less spooky, but it's just as unsettling. One of the most impressive works in this genre is Flannery O'Connor's short story A Good Man is Hard to Find.

The story follows a family led by a domineering grandmother, who convinces her son Bailey to take a detour to visit an old plantation she remembers. They get lost in the middle of nowhere; then, an accident befalls them. They encounter The Misfit, a notorious criminal who has just escaped from prison.

Despite her attempting to appeal to The Misfit, insisting that he is a "good man" and encouraging him to pray, the family members are killed by The Misfit's gang. As a last attempt to save her life, the grandmother reaches out to The Misfit and caresses him as "one of her babies." He shoots her. Afterward, he remarks that "It's no real pleasure in life." (O'Connor, 1955 , p. 32) 

The grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find certainly has a manner that is annoying and frustrating. She comes off as a refined Southern lady, clinging to her old-fashioned values and conceptions about what it means to be "a good person." However, as the story moves along, we see that this manner often overshadows a deep sense of self-interest and manipulation.

She wears her Sunday best on the family road trip in case they have an accident and she needs to be recognized as a "lady." This propriety certainly contrasts with her actions, which include such things as bringing along her cat on the trip when her son does not want her to and convincing the family to take a detour to look at an old house, which ultimately leads them into danger.

It further extends into the way she talks about other people: always passing judgment on others, even her family members, making casual racist remarks with that air of superiority.It is ultimately her way of relating to The Misfit, as she tries to appeal to his sense of decency by calling him "one of her own children. For the first time, the grandmother has become vulnerable, and her manner, once condescending, now pleading as death faces her.

The ending to A Good Man is Hard to Find is both haunting and profound. This last instance of the grandmother, who has been manipulative and selfish throughout the story, is one of pure empathy. As she reaches The Misfit, calling him "one of her babies," this is to suggest a fleeting instant of grace and acknowledgment of mutual humanity. However, this act ushers in her instant death showing the brutality of The Misfit.

O'Connor (1955) reveals through The Misfit’s remark, "She would of been a good woman, The Misfit said, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life" (p. 32), that the grandmother's goodness emerged only when she was confronted with death. His last musing, that there's "no real pleasure in life," makes his nihilism complete and heightens the sense of the futility of his argument and the vacuity of violence.

This dark and morally ambiguous story is a Southern Gothic masterpiece, widely regarded as one of the greatest short stories ever written. Included in Forbes' list of "The 25 Greatest Short Stories of All Time," it leaves readers deeply unsettled and reflective long after the final sentence.

References:

O'connor, F. (1955). A good man is hard to find: and other stories. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/entertainment/article/greatest-short-stories/