In her 1953 short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor paints a deeply gothic picture of the American South of her time. In the story, a flawed family fights amongst themselves as they move towards a seemingly inevitable demise. Meanwhile, the story explores what it means to be seen as good by society, and how that might differ for men and women.
“A Good Man is Hard to Find” begins with the family, composed of the grandmother, her son Bailey, his wife, and their children June Star and John Wesley, at home bickering about a road trip they are going on. The grandmother wants to visit her contacts in Tennessee and uses the news of an escaped inmate in Florida to attempt to sway her son into changing their plans. On the road trip, the family stops at a restaurant, discussing the escaped inmate and the poor state of the world with the owner. Back on the road, the grandmother remembers a plantation she wants to visit again and lies to the children about hidden treasure in the house so that they loudly complain about being unable to go, leading to Bailey begrudgingly taking the detour. When the grandmother realizes she has guided the family down the wrong road, she gasps, releasing the cat she had snuck into the car. The cat then bites Bailey while driving, causing him to crash the car. Unfortunately for the family, the first person to arrive at the crash is The Misfit. After the grandmother foolishly reveals to The Misfit she recognizes him, he has his accomplices take the family members into the woods in pairs to kill them as the grandmother desperately tries to find his better nature by discussing his past and what it means to be a good person until she tries to touch him and is killed on the side of the road.