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A Good Man is Hard to Find

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A Summary and Analysis of Flannery O’Connor’s ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ is one of the best-known short stories by Flannery O’Connor (1925-64), who produced a string of powerful stories during her short life. First published in the collection A Good Man Is Hard to Find in 1955, the story is about an American family who run into an escaped murderer at a plantation.

Before we offer an analysis of some of the key details of the story, here’s a brief summary of its plot.

Plot summary

The story is about a grandmother, her son named Bailey, Bailey’s wife, and the couple’s three children, named June Star, John Wesley, and simply ‘the baby’. The family are going on holiday to Florida. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother points out to her son that a notorious criminal, known as the Misfit, is on the loose and she doesn’t think they should be going on vacation to Florida when the Misfit is rumoured to be heading there.

On their way to their destination, the grandmother tells the children a story of how she was courted by a wealthy man who used to leave her a watermelon every day with his initials, E. A. T., inscribed in it. However, one day a black boy saw the word ‘EAT’ on the watermelon and ate it. This story amuses the children.

The family then stop off for lunch a barbecue diner, The Tower, run by a man named Red Sammy, who talks to the grandmother about the Misfit. It is Red Sammy who remarks, ‘A good man is hard to find’, in reference to the dangerous convict on the loose.

When the family get back on the road, the grandmother persuades her son to take a detour to a plantation she remembers from her youth. She embellishes the story by inventing details, such as the idea that a secret panel concealed the family silver in the house.

However, she has misremembered where the plantation is: Tennessee, rather than Georgia (where the family are). When the grandmother’s cat escapes from his basket and frightens Bailey, he crashes the car into a ditch.

Another car approaches them. It contains three men, one of whom the grandmother recognises as the notorious Misfit. He seems familiar to her, as though she has known him for years.

When she blurts out that she recognises him, the Misfit tells them that it would have been better if she hadn’t recognised him. He talks to the grandmother while his two accomplices lead Bailey into the woods and shoot him. They then do the same with Bailey’s wife and the children. The grandmother tries to flatter the Misfit into sparing her life, telling him that she knows he’s a good man, but to no avail.

The story ends with the grandmother addressing the Misfit as one of her own ‘babies’ or ‘children’; the Misfit shoots her dead. The Misfit has the final word, observing that the grandmother would have been a good woman if she had had someone there ‘to shoot her every minute of her life.’

The character of the grandmother is central to the dramatic power of ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’. The first two words of the story are ‘The grandmother’; the story begins with her warning her son about the escaped Misfit and ends with her being shot dead by the Misfit; the story opens with the third-person narrator’s reference to Bailey as the grandmother’s ‘only boy’ but ends with her addressing the Misfit as one of her ‘own children’.

And although ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ is narrated by an impersonal third-person narrator, in terms of the story’s focalisation we remain close to the grandmother’s perspective on events, seeing things through her eyes and gaining access to her thoughts and feelings as the story approaches its shocking and dramatic climax.

The skill of O’Connor’s writing lies in her ability to shuttle rapidly between comedic moments poking gentle fun at the grandmother and darker plot developments. The point is not that the shift between these two very different modes seems awkward or out of place, but that O’Connor lends the already shocking moments at the end of the story an even more alarming element, through juxtaposing them with lighter comic interludes.

A central theme of O’Connor’s story is, as the title makes clear, goodness: note how the grandmother and Red Sammy’s repeated references to a ‘good man’ meet their match in the Misfit’s statement at the end of the story that the grandmother would have been a ‘good woman’ if someone had been there to (threaten to) shoot her at all times.

This statement of the Misfit’s also highlights another theme O’Connor is exploring: that of crime and punishment. The Misfit tells the grandmother that the punishments he has undergone don’t match with the crimes he has committed. But the story contains a religious angle, too, as exemplified by the grandmother’s epiphany at the end of the story, in which – when confronted with her own imminent death – she reaches out and acknowledges her killer as one of her ‘children’.

This blessing is in stark contrast to the Misfit, who – in almost Dostoevskian fashion – characterises Christianity as a case of either giving up anything and following Christ or rejecting him and doing as one pleases. Anything – murder, burning down someone’s house – is permissible and constitutes the only true pleasure one can get from life.

The grandmother’s final act of blessing (forgiveness, or a last desperate attempt to save her own life?) raises this petty, racially prejudiced, and comical old woman far above the level of the nihilistic Misfit and all he represents.

Of course, it may also be significant that the Misfit – who was accused by one of the prison psychiatrists of killing his own father – personally kills the grandmother, who represents an old and outmoded America. Flannery O’Connor’s story is about a changing America, and the text is marked by the Grandmother’s continual reminiscences about a better, simpler life when she was younger.

The story’s title, taken from Red Sammy’s conversation with the Grandmother in which they lament that the world has become debased and degraded during their lifetimes, places this mood and tone at the centre of the story.

In this connection, the grandmother’s attitude towards African-Americans is already outdated, even in 1955 when the story first appeared.

Her racial stereotypes , such as associating African-Americans with watermelons, the offensive words she uses to describe the black boy they pass in the car, and her casual presumptions about the lives of black people all mark her out as a representative of an older American outlook which is about to be entirely laid to rest with the onset of the US Civil Rights movement. (The Montgomery Bus Boycott , for example, occurred at the end of 1955, the year the story appeared.)

Final thoughts

Viewed this way, ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ might be productively analysed alongside a another key American text from the 1950s: Tennessee Williams’ play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof , also from 1955, similarly deals with the generational gap between an older America and the younger Americans who represent a new attitude, especially regarding race.

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Home › Literature › Analysis of Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Analysis of Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 25, 2021

Frequently anthologized, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” exemplifies Flannery O’Connor’s southern religious grounding. The story depicts the impact of Christ on the lives of two seemingly disparate characters. One is a grandmother joining her son’s family on a trip to Florida. Accompanied by a silent daughter-in-law, a baby, two unpleasant children, and her smuggled cat, she wheedles the son into making a detour to see a plantation that she remembers from an earlier time.

Moments of recognition and connection multiply as the seemingly foreordained meeting of the grandmother and the killer she has read about in the paper takes place. She upsets the basket in which she has hidden her cat; the cat lands on her son’s neck, causing an accident. Soon three men appear on the dirt road, and the grandmother recognizes one of them as the notorious killer the Misfit.

Flannery O’Connor/National Catholic Register

O’Connor weaves the notion of punishment and Christian love into the conversation between the Misfit and the grandmother while the grandmother’s family is being murdered. Referring to the similarity that he shares with Christ, the Misfit declares that “Jesus thrown everything off balance” (27), but he admits that unlike Christ, he must have committed a crime because there were papers to prove it. When the grandmother touches his shoulder because she sees him as one of her own children, she demonstrates a Christian love that causes him to shoot her.

This story typifies O’Connor’s mingling of comedy, goodness, banality, and violence in her vision of a world that, however imperfect, most readers inevitably recognize as part of their own. O’Connor views the world as a place where benevolence and good intentions conflict with perversity and evil, and her protagonists frequently learn too late that their lives can crumble in an instant when confronted by the very real powers of darkness.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Kessler, Edward. Flannery O’Connor and the Language of Apocalypse. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986. Orvell, Miles. Flannery O’Connor: An Introduction. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991

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Discovering Good | Analysis of A Good Man is Hard to Find

By David Dingfelder

Flannery O’Connor explores the meaning of the word “good” through her short story A Good Man is Hard to Find . After a series of deceptions and wrongdoings, O’Connor depicts a grandma leading her family to be killed by a runaway outlaw named “The Misfit.” While the family was traveling to Florida for vacation, the true journey follows the grandma as she begins to understand the true meaning of the word “good” – the most general and most frequently used adjective of commendation in the English language (Oxford English Dictionary). To define a word so commonly overused and socially defined, O’Connor builds the concept of her definition of “good” through the grandma’s interactions with the other characters in the story. By virtue of her interactions with her family, Red Sammy, and “The Misfit,” the grandma transitions from complete ignorance, to misunderstanding, and finally to acceptance of what it means to be “good.”

Initially depicting the grandma as a flawed character with an entirely misconstrued understanding of the word enables O’Connor to establish what does not qualify as “good.” In addition to the grandma’s heedless acts of deception, the narrative uses children as a pure and untainted lens of judgment to expose the flaws in the grandma’s character. In response to the Grandma’s opening efforts to switch the vacation destination, the little girl June delivers a deeply profound critique: “[The grandma] Wouldn’t stay home for a million bucks… She has to go everywhere we go” (1). The establishment of Grandma’s flaws continues as O’Connor parallels the grandma’s perception of herself with the games of the children. Prior to departing on the trip, the grandma dresses with trimmed “collars and cuffs” so that “anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (2). This insight into the grandma’s mindset is soon followed by the description of the children identifying clouds in the sky. While seemingly insignificant, the sky serves as an extended metaphor for the grandma’s understanding of goodness across the work. The children identifying clouds signal the grandma’s clouded understanding of what it means to be “good.”  Rather than worrying about the wellbeing of her son or her family in the event of an accident, the grandma is primarily concerned with others perceiving her as a lady. The clouds symbolize the opinions of others that block to the true meaning of goodness, the sun.

The interaction between the grandma and Red Sammy initiates O’Connor’s discovery of the misunderstandings and contradictions involved in the word “good.” Early into the grandma’s discussion with Red Sammy, the definition of the word “good” becomes confounded as the grandma calls Red Sammy “a good man” immediately after Red Sammy defines a car as “good.” Instead of taking this as a compliment, Red Sammy is “struck with this answer” (6). Juxtaposing these uses of the same word exemplifies its overuse and stale meaning – explaining why Red Sammy feels no sense of satisfaction when complimented. O’Connor furthers the problematic use of the word when Red Sammy states, “a good man is hard to find” (6). This statement is riddled with irony as the word “good” is used profusely but a “good man” is uncommon – creating a paradox with which O’Connor argues that a word that represents anything also represents nothing. The conversation with Red Sammy also highlights the inconsistency in Grandma’s definition of “good.” The grandma compliments Red Sammy for being naïve and gullible with his interactions with the two boys stealing gas, yet condemns her granddaughter for her insightful and honest comment earlier. It becomes apparent that the grandma is not only flawed but she is also unsure of how to become good.

Through the grandma’s interaction with “The Misfit,” the story paints the grandma’s reverse bildungsroman moment by depicting a profound environment that accompanies her change in grieving and perceptions surrounding what it means to be good.

A raw and honest atmosphere is developed as O’Connor describes the cloudless sky with nothing around the grandma but the woods (9). Contrary earlier in the work, the clouds that blocked the sky had cleared, symbolizing the clarity in the grandma’s perception of goodness. Further, this moment of reckoning takes place on the side of a dirt road with the woods in the background – a natural and profound environment. The use of imagery hints towards the deeply philosophical understanding of morality and goodness that the grandma gains from this interaction.

The shift in the grandma’s grieving signifies the acknowledgment of what it means to be good. Immediately after the grandma realizes that the man was “The Misfit,” she selfishly questions, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” (11). The use of the word “lady” again demonstrates that the grandma is still solely concerned about the perception of others, in addition to her not caring about her family. However, her grieving changes as she starts wailing “Bailey boy” for her son (12). This appears to be the first time in the work that the grandma is concerned about someone other than herself. This transition expresses O’Connor’s belief that goodness is an internal trait that is portrayed to – rather than perceived by – others. When the grandma stopped worrying about her perception and started worrying about her family is when she became good.

Further, O’Connor argues that goodness transcends superficial actions such as practicing religion. Despite the grandma’s attempts to pray, “she opened and closed her mouth several times before anything came out” (15). Her inability to pray symbolizes that prayer and religion do not equate goodness.  This realization is what causes the grandma to understand that no actions define what it means to be good. Despite their differences, the grandma now understands that little differentiates her and the misfit, stating, “Why you’re [The Misfit] one of my babies. You’re one of my own children” (16). In denial, The Misfit recoils at the accusation that he is good too and shoots the grandma three times. The grandma dies happily with “with her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky,” tying back into the innocence and purity associated with children (16).

O’Connor’s development of a definition for the word “good” ultimately serves as a social critique. Due to the overuse of the word, the definition of “good” has been spread too thin, depriving the word of true meaning. While a grave ending, this short story serves as a reminder of that “goodness” is not obtained through performative demonstrations or self-centered thoughts. O’Connor’s choice to never fully define the word “good” indicates how the definition of “good” continues to elude us. On the path to becoming good, the first step is identifying what does not qualify as good.

Sources Cited

“Definition of Good.” UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries, Oxford English Dictionary,

www-oed-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/view/Entry/79925?rskey=d7aiwZ&result=1#eid.

O’Connor, Flannery.  “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”  American Studies at the University of

Virginia, 2009, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/goodman.html.   Originally published in

T he Avon Book of Modern Writing .  New York: Avon Publishing, 1953, pp. 27-33.

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A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Critical Analysis Essay

Introduction, the story summary, works cited.

Flannery O’Connor is the brightest representative of the Southern Gothic in US literature. Her prose is filled with violence, erupting evil and dark features of a human being, and many stories shockingly end on a note of horror. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” first appeared in a small collection with the same name in 1955. It possesses all the peculiar features of her style: the contrast of violence with the humor of carefully written characters and religious philosophy. There are differing interpretations of the story mainly concerned with the final act of the grandmother. Some believe it was the scene of love and compassion, but others insist the selfishness of the grandmother is depicted throughout the story (Bryant 304). The grandmother, however, opposed the journey from the very beginning, being worried about the potential confrontation with the fugitive criminal, the Misfit, which turned into reality. Therefore, the grandmother’s actions were not of egoism but care for others.

The state of Georgia in the south of the US serves as the setting for the story. The provider of his family, Bailey, desires to take his son, John Wesley, his daughter, June Star, his wife with an infant, and his mother to Florida. But Bailey’s mother persuades her son to depart from his plans. The fact that they went there last summer serves as the first reason. There is also, however, the news of a criminal named The Misfit who was sent to Florida but escaped from federal prison. All the claims of Bailey’s mother are ignored, and the family drives out of Atlanta.

Their path carries them to a cafe where the family decides to have lunch. The operator of the cafe, who called himself Red Sammy Butts joins the family’s table conversation and begins complaining about his life, saying that, despite the most laborious attempts, one still finds himself in unfavorable situations. He supports his claim by sharing his personal experience. The grandmother suggests that Red Sammy’s troubles may be caused by the fact he is a good man. Red Sammy Butts accords with Bailey’s mother and explains that today, it is not easy to find a good man. One cannot trust anyone, unlike before, when it was possible to leave home without locking the doors.

After visiting the cafe, Bailey’s family continues its journey in the car. The grandmother sleeps sweetly in the backseat but wakes up as they drive through the city of Toomsboro. Abruptly, she recollects that somewhere nearby, there is a place with a fine residence and a beautiful alley. The grandmother insists that she stills holds a memory of the house’s location and she can show the road despite not visiting the place for many years. She is confronted by Bailey’s and his wife’s unwillingness to deviate from the route so as not to lose time, but she succeeds in intrigue the children. Bailey has to conform as his children share their desires to see the discussed destination.

Bailey grumbles because is not suitable for comfortable trips. Suddenly, the grandmother realizes that she has made a mistake: the place she has been talking about is not in Georgia but Tennessee. The car turns over and falls downhill, and Bailey’s wife breaks her shoulder and injures her face. Bailey looks at his mother silently and fiercely because it was the grandmother who involuntarily made Bailey lose control of the vehicle. Nobody is near as cars most likely do not drive along this road. There on the horizon, however, some vehicle appears near the woods on the ridge. The grandmother starts waving her hands and calls for help.

There are three men in the approaching vehicle, and the grandmother finds one of them very familiar. She realizes that it is the Misfit she learned about from the newspapers. The grandmother notices a gun in the hands of one of the Misfit’s companions and starts asking for mercy. She says that in his heart, the Misfit is seemingly a decent person. The Misfit, however, commands a gunman to take Bailey and his son to the woods. The grandmother, exceedingly frightened, assures the Misfit that he, nevertheless, can become a respectable man if he only prays to God. Two shots that rang out from the forest further intensify the situation.

The Misfit begins to tell the grandmother about his restless life. Meanwhile, his companions, Hiram and Bobby Lee hold Bailey’s shirt as they come out of the woods. The Misfit demands Bailey’s wife and daughter to proceed with the returning men back into the woods. Left alone, grandmother again tries to convince the Misfit to pray to God. She is troubled with the sound of shots that follow the desperate scream and asks the Misfit to release her. The criminal is further provoked by the grandmother’s cries to Jesus Christ. The Misfit shoots the grandmother three times through the chest. And then he orders his companions to carry her body to the forest.

The behavior of the grandmother on the last page of the story has received mutually exclusive interpretations in American literary criticism. According to one point of view, it was the selfishness of the grandmother that became the cause of the tragedy (Bryant 304). She forced her son to change the route of the trip and took the cat with her that later caused the accident. It was the grandmother who told the criminal that she recognized him. Her words that stated the Misfit was one of her children, in this context, seem as fanciful as the previous manipulation of grandchildren through parables about fictional treasures.

On the other hand, in the face of death, the grandmother, like the characters of O’Connor’s many different stories, exhibits grace and charity. Through her attempt to caress the Misfit, she atones for her past sins (Shinn 70). The criminal is aware of her spiritual transformation, sarcastically noting that she could have been a good person if a gun was pointed at her every day. The grandmother tries to save one more soul even if its bearer killed her whole family (Kinney 94). This act has associations with Christian theology and represents Jesus Christ’s attempts to save his offenders.

Despite the small number of written works, Flannery O’Connor is considered one of the most outstanding short-form writers of the 20th century. Her stories are atmospheric and disturbing but depict a more profound meaning and cause many controversies among critics. The theme of grace is prevalent throughout her works, as O’Connor was a practicing Catholic. Her famous short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” is no exception because the grandmother’s final actions are an act of charity, as she tried to save both the criminal and herself.

Bryant, Hallman. “Reading the Map in ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find.’.” Studies in Short Fiction , vol. 18, no.3, 1981, pp. 301-307.

Kinney, Arthur F. “Flannery O’Connor and the Fiction of Grace.” The Massachusetts Review , vol. 27, no.1, 1986, pp. 71-96.

Shinn, Thelma. “Flannery O’Connor and the Violence of Grace.” Contemporary Literature , vol. 9, no.1, 1968, pp. 58-73.

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Summary: “a good man is hard to find”.

Flannery O’Connor originally published the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” in the 1953 anthology The Avon Book of Modern Writing . It subsequently appeared in several other collections and is today one of O’Connor’s most famous works. It is also one of the best-known examples of the Southern Gothic genre , which O’Connor explored in most of her writing. This genre is characterized by its emphasis on the interplay between grace and the grotesque, as well as its exploration of the post-Civil War American South.

The story is set in Georgia in what is presumed to be the early 1950s. The main characters, members of a Southern family, are Bailey; his unnamed wife; their children, eight-year-old John Wesley , his younger singer, June Star , and a baby; and the grandmother , who is never named. At the start of the story, the grandmother is trying to convince her son Bailey to take the family to Tennessee for their summer vacation instead of Florida so that she can visit some old friends. In an attempt to convince him, she references recent news reports of The Misfit , a murderer who recently escaped from federal prison. When scare tactics do not work, she appeals to the children’s mother by saying the children have never seen Tennessee.

Annoyed, John Wesley rudely tells his grandmother that she could stay home if she does not want to go to Florida. June Star dismisses the idea that the grandmother would stay, saying she would be “afraid she’d miss something. She has to go everywhere we go” (Paragraph 7).

Proving June correct, the grandmother is the first to get in the car the next morning and is dressed in her Sunday best, ensuring, as the narrator explains, that anyone who found her body in a crash would know she was a lady. She also smuggles her pet cat, Pitty Sing, into the car in a basket. She sits in the back seat with the children and talks the whole drive.

John Wesley remarks that he doesn’t like Georgia or Tennessee because it is “a hillbilly dumping ground” (Paragraph 16), a comment that offends the grandmother. She opines that in her day “children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else. People did right then” (Paragraph 18). However, she then sees a poor Black boy out the window and immediately makes a racist remark about him.

The family passes a graveyard that used to be on a plantation, and the grandmother explains that this plantation, like all others, no longer exists. To pass the time, they eat lunch and play a game watching clouds. Then, the grandmother decides to entertain the children with a story. She tells them that she once was courted by a man who used to bring her watermelon with his initials, “E.A.T.,” carved into it. One day when she was not home, he left it on the porch. However, a Black child—whom she describes with a racist slur—came along and ate the watermelon, mistaking the initials for the invitation: eat. She then states that she should have married this suitor because he ended up wealthy.

They stop at an establishment called The Tower and order barbecue. the owner, Red Sammy , is fixing a car while his wife serves the family. The wife compliments June’s impromptu dancing, but the girl responds rudely. Red Sammy comes in, upset, and says that “these days you don’t know who to trust” (Paragraph 34). He explains how he was swindled by a pair of customers earlier that week because they looked trustworthy. The grandmother agrees that people are not nice liked they were when she was young and calls Red Sammy “a good man” for being so trusting (Paragraph 37).

The grandmother then asks if they have heard of The Misfit. The wife says she would not be surprised if the criminal came to rob their roadside store for the money in the register. Red Sammy says: “a good man is hard to find [...] Everything is getting terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more” (Paragraph 43). He and the grandmother talk of better days in the past, blaming Europe for the current state of the country, while the kids go to play with the family’s pet monkey outside.

The family leaves. The grandmother falls asleep then wakes up and recognizes the area. She believes there is an old plantation she used to know nearby and knows just where to turn to get there. However, she knows her son would not want a detour, so she tells the children exaggerated stories about the house. She goes so far as to lie about the house having a secret panel.

The children are fascinated and scream that they want to go see the plantation until Bailey goes back and turns down the dirt road the grandmother specifies. John excitedly discusses how they will break into the home to find the secret panel while Bailey distracts the owners. The grandmother is happy remembering the dirt roads of her youth.

Bailey complains about how far the plantation is, and just as she is assuring him that it is not much further, the grandmother comes to a horrible realization. She recalls that the plantation she was thinking about is in Tennessee, far away. She is so embarrassed that she accidentally upsets the basket containing her cat. Pitty Sing jumps onto Bailey’s shoulder, scaring him and causing him to drive the car into a ditch.

The car rolls over completely, landing right side up. The grandmother hurts her side in the wreck, but everyone ignores her complaint about her injured organs. The mother, who was thrown from the car while holding the baby, suffers a broken shoulder, but neither of the children nor Bailey is seriously hurt. Seeing the wreckage, the grandmother decides not to mention her mistake. They all sit down in the ditch and hope that someone will pass by. The ditch is recessed from the road above, and behind is a dark wood.

Eventually, a car appears on the road, and the grandmother stands up to wave it down. The car stops and three men exit: a fat boy in a sweatshirt, a man in khaki pants and a blue striped jacket, and the driver, who is shirtless but wears blue jeans, a black hat, and glasses.

The children scream excitedly about the accident. The grandmother has a strange feeling that she knows the driver somehow as he climbs down into the ditch with them. The driver tells the family to sit down, to which June retorts: “What are you telling US what to do for?” (Paragraph 78). Meanwhile, John Wesley notices that the driver has a gun and asks him what he is going to do with it.

Bailey tries to reason with the driver, telling him that they are in a predicament. However, the grandmother interrupts because she recognizes that the driver is The Misfit. He confirms her suspicion, looking pleased, but says “it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn’t of reckernized me” (Paragraph 82). The grandmother starts to cry, and The Misfit apologizes for upsetting her by speaking to her like that.

Frightened, the grandmother asks if The Misfit would shoot a lady, to which he replies: “I would hate to have to” (Paragraph 86). The Grandmother insists that he must come from a nice family—that he does not have common blood. The Misfits confirms this. She then insists that he is not a misfit but is “a good man at heart” (Paragraph 89).

Bailey tells his mother to be quiet and that he will handle it. Hiram—one of the Misfit’s companions—says that he could fix the car in an hour. However, the Misfit tells Bailey and John to accompany Hiram and Bobby Lee into the woods. Bailey tries to protest, but Hiram forces him. He turns back to call to his mother that he will be right back, but he is clearly frightened.

Again, the grandmother tries to tell the Misfit that he is a good man. He says that he is not a good man but that he is also not the worst there is. His father used to describe him as a person who always needed to know why something happened. He then apologizes for being shirtless in front of the women.

The mother screams for Bailey, but the Misfit keeps talking, explaining that his father was a character who had a knack for dealing with the authorities. Again, the grandmother appeals to the Misfit, telling him that he could be an honest man who settles down and does not have to worry about being chased. The Misfit disagrees, because someone is always chasing after you.

The grandmother asks the Misfit if he prays. He says no just before two pistol shots are heard from the woods. The Misfit then tells them how he used to be a gospel singer and had many other occupations. He was never bad, but he did something wrong, so he was sent to jail, where he was effectively buried alive. The psychiatrist in jail told him that he killed his father, but he has no memory of doing so. As he speaks, the grandmother continues encouraging him to pray.

Hiram and Bobby Lee come back. Bobby Lee is carrying Bailey’s shirt, which he gives to the Misfit, who puts it on. The Misfit then says, “I found out the crime don’t matter [...] sooner or later you’re going to forget what you done and just be punished for it” (Paragraph 122). He then tells the mother to take June and the baby into the woods with his companions, leaving the grandmother alone with The Misfit. Unable to say anything else, she says “Jesus, Jesus.”

The Misfit tells her that Jesus threw everything off balance and that both he and Jesus were punished for things they did not do. To combat this plight, he now writes down everything he does. He calls himself The Misfit because he cannot reconcile what he has done with the punishment he has received.

There is a scream from the woods followed by a gunshot. The Misfit asks if the grandmother thinks it’s fair that “one is punished a heap and another ain’t punished at all” (Paragraph 129). She insists that he comes from good blood and would not shoot a lady. He tells her that money cannot stop death.

There are two more gunshots, and the grandmother cries out for her son, Bailey. The Misfit tells her that Jesus was the only one who ever raised the dead, and it was a mistake because it unbalanced the world. He reasons that if Jesus did perform miracles, then anyone would follow him, but if he didn’t then the only thing to do is what makes you happy, and he knows “no pleasure but meanness” (Paragraph 133).

The grandmother mumbles that perhaps Jesus never raised the dead. The Misfit thinks that it isn’t right that he wasn’t there to see whether Jesus truly performed that miracle, because if he had, he wouldn’t be like he is now. The grandmother looks at him and calls him “one of my babies. You’re one of my own children” (Paragraph 135). She touches him on the shoulder, and The Misfit jumps back and responds by shooting her three times in the chest.

Hiram and Bobby Lee return to see the grandmother lying dead, smiling at the sky. The Misfit says that “she would have been a good woman [...] if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (Paragraph 139). He then tells his companions to shut up because there is no pleasure in life.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Books — A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Essays on A Good Man is Hard to Find

Our curated selection of essay samples on "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" offers a wide range of perspectives on this seminal work. Each essay provides unique insights into the story's rich tapestry of characters, from the morally complex Grandmother to the enigmatic Misfit, whose interactions prompt readers to question the nature of true goodness and grace.

Themes Explored in Depth

Dive into essays that meticulously analyze the story's central themes, including the moral dilemmas faced by the characters, the role of grace and redemption, and the profound commentary on the human condition. Understand how O'Connor employs her narrative to challenge and redefine the concept of a "good" person in the context of her Southern Gothic setting.

Literary Devices and Symbolism Uncovered

Flannery O'Connor's use of literary devices and symbolism is pivotal to the depth and resonance of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Our essay samples explore how irony, foreshadowing, and vivid imagery enhance the narrative's impact, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of O'Connor's storytelling prowess.

Fuel Your Academic Success

Whether you're crafting an essay, conducting research, or seeking inspiration for your writing, our database provides invaluable resources to support your academic journey. Explore essays that dissect the story's complex narrative structure, character development, and thematic undertones to enrich your analysis and critical thinking skills.

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Embark on your literary exploration with our "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" essay samples and become part of a vibrant community passionate about delving into the intricacies of Flannery O'Connor's work. Let our essays inspire your academic endeavors and deepen your appreciation for one of the most influential stories in American literature.

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The Misfit and The Grandmother: Perspectives on Life in Flannery O'connor's Work

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Flannery O'Connor

Short Story, Southern Gothic

Bailey, Bailey's wife, Grandmother, John Wesley, June Star, The Baby, Red Sammy Butts, Red Sammy's Wife, The Misfit, Hiram, Bobby Lee, Edgar Atkins Teagarden, Pitty Sing, Gray Monkey, The Negro child

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Symbolism & Irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Flannery O’Connor’s short story is stuffed with symbolism, metaphors, and other literary devices hidden from first-time readers. The analysis of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Custom-Writing.org experts aims to shed some light on these details.

First of all, we discuss the symbols and imagery that compose the wholesome picture of the events. How much do you think a little hat can represent? Well, in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, even a car has an underlying meaning. We will also look at irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find, tone, and foreshadowing.

• 🌈 Symbolism & Imagery
• ⚙️ Analysis of Irony
• 👀 Explanation of Foreshadowing
• 🔥 Tone Analysis
• 🔍 Point of View Analysis
• ⚔️ The Main Conflict

🔗 References

🌈 a good man is hard to find symbolism & imagery.

The symbols in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” help convey the main idea of the story . They are sometimes highly ironic, which can’t be hidden from the reader. Moreover, they serve as literary devices such as foreshadowing . For example, the look of the Misfit’s car is a sign that you shouldn’t miss.

Symbolism in A Good Man Is Hard to Find: The Grandmother’s Hat

The Grandmother, the story’s central character , grooms up before the family road trip until she becomes straight up overdressed. She does it because she wants to look “lady-like” in case they get into a car accident. The Grandmother is extremely concerned about what people would think of her.

In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Meanwhile, the elderly lady completely ignores the fact that she and her whole family might as well be dead if it happens.

For the selfish and hypocritical Grandmother, the only thing that matters is her image . She wants everybody to think she is a lady , and it proves her moral decay.

After the dramatic events of the car crash, the Grandmother’s elegant hat is destroyed. We can conclude that the hat symbolizes the moral beliefs of the old lady. The accident becomes the moment when her perfect image has to dissolve. She loses her hat just like she loses her face in front of her death.

Symbols in A Good Man Is Hard to Find: The Misfit’s Car

The Misfit’s car is pictured as a “big black battered hearse-like automobile.” Since hearse is a type of vehicle that transfers coffins, it is evident that the car symbolizes death . Moreover, it appears to be an example of foreshadowing in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.”

The car continued to come on slowly, disappeared around a bend and appeared again, moving even slower, on top of the hill they had gone over. It was a big black battered hearse-like automobile. There were three men in it. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

As the family enthusiastically awaits for the car to stop and give them a hand, they have no idea how tragically it will turn out. Even when they see the car’s shape, they remain clueless and only think about getting some help. Only the reader understands that it is a clear hint about their tragic fate.

Instead of saviors, this “hearse-like automobile” carries three killers that bring death upon every member of the Grandmother’s family. We don’t know if the Misfit chose the car unconsciously, but in any case, its appearance shows that his band carries the baggage of death and violence .

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Symbolism of the Sky

The sky’s description is mentioned a few times, which makes it a prominent element of the imagery of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” There are different ways of understanding how the sky can be cloudless and sunless. This ambiguity may be confusing, but it highlights some important messages.

Ain’t a cloud in the sky… Don’t see no sun but don’t see no cloud neither. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

You might see a sky without clouds or sun at night, but we don’t know for sure if that’s what the narrator means. However, we can suggest that there is a deeper meaning of this imagery.

First of all, the sky with no sun and clouds symbolizes emptiness . It may point out the Misfit’s inner state since he has lost the sense of what’s right and what’s wrong. Moreover, the sky appears to be as empty as the whole situation happening to the family. They are in the middle of nowhere, and there is no one to help them.

Hiram and Bobby Lee returned from the woods and stood over the ditch, looking down at the grandmother who half sat and half lay in a puddle of blood with her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

⚙️ Irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Irony is the main literary device used in ”A Good Man Is Hard to Find” that helps to set the story’s tone and mood. This Southern Gothic narration uses several types of irony:

Verbal Irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

The use of verbal irony is closely connected to the story’s themes of hypocrisy and superficiality. In particular, this type of irony is evident in situations where characters are talking to each other. It’s especially characteristic of the Grandmother who often says one thing but implies something else. One prominent example is her insisting on being a “lady” while behaving in very un-ladylike ways.

Situational Irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

As you have already seen, some symbols in the story, such as the hearse-like car, work along with verbal irony. However, a situational irony in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is something else. This device is described as a situation that turns out to be the opposite of the expected , just like the Misfit’s band not being the family’s saviors.

Jesus! You’ve got good blood! I know you wouldn’t shoot a lady! I know you come from nice! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got! A Good Man Is Hard to Find

The ending of the short story is the perfect example of situational irony. The Misfit helps the Grandmother realize that she is not what she always thought of herself. Moreover, she dies with a smile on her face instead of an expression of horror, as she finally becomes a real good Christian.

Dramatic Irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

As for dramatic irony , it’s closely related to the story’s foreshadowing. We as readers know that the Misfit is a violent criminal, while the characters are oblivious to it. This creates the sense of suspense and dread.

Dramatic irony reaches its peak when the Grandmother starts pleading for her life by appealing to the Misfit’s sense of morality. She mistakes him for a good man, while the readers are aware of his true nature.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Irony of Fate

Essentially, the entire story is an example of cosmic irony . Its main plot involves the sudden death of a family at the hands of a violent criminal. No matter what the characters did, the tragic outcome was inevitable. This situation demonstrates the unpredictability of fate.

Irony Quotes in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

When it comes to verbal irony in the story, it can mostly be found in the Grandmother’s quotes where she doesn’t mean what she says. For example:

“People are certainly not nice like they used to be,” said the grandmother. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

“Listen,” the grandmother almost screamed, “I know you’re a good man.” A Good Man Is Hard to Find

The following quotes are examples of situational irony . In both cases, what happened in reality differed significantly from what the characters expected to happen:

In a few minutes they saw a car some distance away on top of a hill, coming slowly as if the occupants were watching them. The grandmother stood up and waved both arms dramatically to attract their attention. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children! A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Regarding dramatic irony , here are the two cases in which the readers realize characters are in a dangerous situation which the characters themselves are oblivious to:

“We’ve had an ACCIDENT!” the children screamed in a frenzy of delight. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

“You could be honest too if you’d only try,” said the grandmother. “Think how wonderful it would be to settle down and live a comfortable life and not have to think about somebody chasing you all the time.” A Good Man Is Hard to Find

The whole story is an example of cosmic irony . The plot kicks off when the Grandmother tries to persuade Bailey not to go to Florida to avoid a dangerous criminal:

Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

But later, her mistake leads the family right into the Misfit’s hands.

👀 A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Foreshadowing

You can write a whole essay on the topic of foreshadowing in this story. Flannery O’Connor extensively uses this device to build up the interest in the readers. It starts at the very beginning when the Grandmother mentions the Misfit.

Of course, the Grandmother says it for a reason, as she and her family eventually meet the convict. Another moment to note is that the Grandmother dresses up in case she dies in a car accident .

Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

A less obvious bit of foreshadowing is used when the Misfit says that some people run away, and others get punished for no reason. It is a hint that the Grandmother will be killed as well as the rest of her family.

🔥 A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Tone

Overall, the tone in ”A Good Man Is Hard to Find” has several shades: it’s cynical, foreboding, philosophical, and humorous. In particular,  the author satirizes the Grandmother as much as she can, thus providing a social critique of hypocrisy and superficiality.

Lady,.. there never was a body that give the undertaker a tip. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Sometimes the situations are exaggerated, making the characters appear cartoonish . For instance, even in the pretty horrific situation between the kills, O’Connor writes that the old lady “raised her head like a parched old turkey hen crying for water.”

Moreover, some people accuse the story of being overly grotesque with all the repelling and ugly characters. However, despite this style, the reader should understand that real life can be that harsh and sympathize with the Grandmother.

🔍 A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Point of View

Even though the story is told in the third person, the point of view in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” refers to the Grandmother. The reader has a chance to know some of her thoughts and feelings. Even the description of another major character, the Misfit, is given through her perspective.

The grandmother had the peculiar feeling that the bespectacled man was someone she knew. His face was as familiar to her as if she had known him all her life but she could not recall who he was. A Good Man Is Hard to Find

At the same time, the narrator never gives too many details , leaving some room for imagination.

This way, you are given the opportunity to interpret the Grandmother’s intentions as you wish. Even the setting of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” doesn’t affect the perception as much as the point of view.

⚔️ What Is the Main Conflict in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

If you want to gain a deeper understanding of what the main conflict in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is, check out the previous section of our guide dedicated to the story’s themes . One of them is the clash between good and evil, which the Grandmother and the Misfit might also represent. This aspect of the story can be called its main conflict.

We hope that the information above was useful to you. If you’re looking for exciting essay ideas on the story, feel free to read our list of topics .

• Analysis of the novel, ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ – ThoughtCo
• Flannery O’Connor & Strange Morality in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• (PDF) A Good Man Is Hard to Find – Academia.edu
• Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) – Georgetown University
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Project 2025 has a starring role in this week’s Democratic National Convention.

And it was front and center on Night 1.

WATCH: Hauling large copy of Project 2025, Michigan state Sen. McMorrow speaks at 2024 DNC

“This is Project 2025,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said as she laid a hardbound copy of the 900-page document on the lectern. “Over the next four nights, you are going to hear a lot about what is in this 900-page document. Why? Because this is the Republican blueprint for a second Trump term.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has warned Americans about “Trump’s Project 2025” agenda — even though former President Donald Trump doesn’t claim the conservative presidential transition document.

“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris said July 23 in Milwaukee. “He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we got to take this seriously, and can you believe they put that thing in writing?”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, has joined in on the talking point.

“Don’t believe (Trump) when he’s playing dumb about this Project 2025. He knows exactly what it’ll do,” Walz said Aug. 9 in Glendale, Arizona.

Trump’s campaign has worked to build distance from the project, which the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, led with contributions from dozens of conservative groups.

Much of the plan calls for extensive executive-branch overhauls and draws on both long-standing conservative principles, such as tax cuts, and more recent culture war issues. It lays out recommendations for disbanding the Commerce and Education departments, eliminating certain climate protections and consolidating more power to the president.

Project 2025 offers a sweeping vision for a Republican-led executive branch, and some of its policies mirror Trump’s 2024 agenda, But Harris and her presidential campaign have at times gone too far in describing what the project calls for and how closely the plans overlap with Trump’s campaign.

PolitiFact researched Harris’ warnings about how the plan would affect reproductive rights, federal entitlement programs and education, just as we did for President Joe Biden’s Project 2025 rhetoric. Here’s what the project does and doesn’t call for, and how it squares with Trump’s positions.

Are Trump and Project 2025 connected?

To distance himself from Project 2025 amid the Democratic attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he “knows nothing” about it and has “no idea” who is in charge of it. (CNN identified at least 140 former advisers from the Trump administration who have been involved.)

The Heritage Foundation sought contributions from more than 100 conservative organizations for its policy vision for the next Republican presidency, which was published in 2023.

Project 2025 is now winding down some of its policy operations, and director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, is stepping down, The Washington Post reported July 30. Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita denounced the document.

WATCH: A look at the Project 2025 plan to reshape government and Trump’s links to its authors

However, Project 2025 contributors include a number of high-ranking officials from Trump’s first administration, including former White House adviser Peter Navarro and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

A recently released recording of Russell Vought, a Project 2025 author and the former director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, showed Vought saying Trump’s “very supportive of what we do.” He said Trump was only distancing himself because Democrats were making a bogeyman out of the document.

Project 2025 wouldn’t ban abortion outright, but would curtail access

The Harris campaign shared a graphic on X that claimed “Trump’s Project 2025 plan for workers” would “go after birth control and ban abortion nationwide.”

The plan doesn’t call to ban abortion nationwide, though its recommendations could curtail some contraceptives and limit abortion access.

What’s known about Trump’s abortion agenda neither lines up with Harris’ description nor Project 2025’s wish list.

Project 2025 says the Department of Health and Human Services Department should “return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care.”

It recommends that the Food and Drug Administration reverse its 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion. Medication is the most common form of abortion in the U.S. — accounting for around 63 percent in 2023.

If mifepristone were to remain approved, Project 2025 recommends new rules, such as cutting its use from 10 weeks into pregnancy to seven. It would have to be provided to patients in person — part of the group’s efforts to limit access to the drug by mail. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to mifepristone’s FDA approval over procedural grounds.

WATCH: Trump’s plans for health care and reproductive rights if he returns to White House The manual also calls for the Justice Department to enforce the 1873 Comstock Act on mifepristone, which bans the mailing of “obscene” materials. Abortion access supporters fear that a strict interpretation of the law could go further to ban mailing the materials used in procedural abortions, such as surgical instruments and equipment.

The plan proposes withholding federal money from states that don’t report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how many abortions take place within their borders. The plan also would prohibit abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funds. It also calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the training of medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, omits abortion training.

The document says some forms of emergency contraception — particularly Ella, a pill that can be taken within five days of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy — should be excluded from no-cost coverage. The Affordable Care Act requires most private health insurers to cover recommended preventive services, which involves a range of birth control methods, including emergency contraception.

Trump has recently said states should decide abortion regulations and that he wouldn’t block access to contraceptives. Trump said during his June 27 debate with Biden that he wouldn’t ban mifepristone after the Supreme Court “approved” it. But the court rejected the lawsuit based on standing, not the case’s merits. He has not weighed in on the Comstock Act or said whether he supports it being used to block abortion medication, or other kinds of abortions.

Project 2025 doesn’t call for cutting Social Security, but proposes some changes to Medicare

“When you read (Project 2025),” Harris told a crowd July 23 in Wisconsin, “you will see, Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.”

The Project 2025 document does not call for Social Security cuts. None of its 10 references to Social Security addresses plans for cutting the program.

Harris also misleads about Trump’s Social Security views.

In his earlier campaigns and before he was a politician, Trump said about a half-dozen times that he’s open to major overhauls of Social Security, including cuts and privatization. More recently, in a March 2024 CNBC interview, Trump said of entitlement programs such as Social Security, “There’s a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.” However, he quickly walked that statement back, and his CNBC comment stands at odds with essentially everything else Trump has said during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump’s campaign website says that not “a single penny” should be cut from Social Security. We rated Harris’ claim that Trump intends to cut Social Security Mostly False.

Project 2025 does propose changes to Medicare, including making Medicare Advantage, the private insurance offering in Medicare, the “default” enrollment option. Unlike Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans have provider networks and can also require prior authorization, meaning that the plan can approve or deny certain services. Original Medicare plans don’t have prior authorization requirements.

The manual also calls for repealing health policies enacted under Biden, such as the Inflation Reduction Act. The law enabled Medicare to negotiate with drugmakers for the first time in history, and recently resulted in an agreement with drug companies to lower the prices of 10 expensive prescriptions for Medicare enrollees.

Trump, however, has said repeatedly during the 2024 presidential campaign that he will not cut Medicare.

Project 2025 would eliminate the Education Department, which Trump supports

The Harris campaign said Project 2025 would “eliminate the U.S. Department of Education” — and that’s accurate. Project 2025 says federal education policy “should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” The plan scales back the federal government’s role in education policy and devolves the functions that remain to other agencies.

Aside from eliminating the department, the project also proposes scrapping the Biden administration’s Title IX revision, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also would let states opt out of federal education programs and calls for passing a federal parents’ bill of rights similar to ones passed in some Republican-led state legislatures.

Republicans, including Trump, have pledged to close the department, which gained its status in 1979 within Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s presidential Cabinet.

In one of his Agenda 47 policy videos, Trump promised to close the department and “to send all education work and needs back to the states.” Eliminating the department would have to go through Congress.

What Project 2025, Trump would do on overtime pay

In the graphic, the Harris campaign says Project 2025 allows “employers to stop paying workers for overtime work.”

The plan doesn’t call for banning overtime wages. It recommends changes to some Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, regulations and to overtime rules. Some changes, if enacted, could result in some people losing overtime protections, experts told us.

The document proposes that the Labor Department maintain an overtime threshold “that does not punish businesses in lower-cost regions (e.g., the southeast United States).” This threshold is the amount of money executive, administrative or professional employees need to make for an employer to exempt them from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2019, the Trump’s administration finalized a rule that expanded overtime pay eligibility to most salaried workers earning less than about $35,568, which it said made about 1.3 million more workers eligible for overtime pay. The Trump-era threshold is high enough to cover most line workers in lower-cost regions, Project 2025 said.

The Biden administration raised that threshold to $43,888 beginning July 1, and that will rise to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. That would grant overtime eligibility to about 4 million workers, the Labor Department said.

It’s unclear how many workers Project 2025’s proposal to return to the Trump-era overtime threshold in some parts of the country would affect, but experts said some would presumably lose the right to overtime wages.

Other overtime proposals in Project 2025’s plan include allowing some workers to choose to accumulate paid time off instead of overtime pay, or to work more hours in one week and fewer in the next, rather than receive overtime.

Trump’s past with overtime pay is complicated. In 2016, the Obama administration said it would raise the overtime to salaried workers earning less than $47,476 a year, about double the exemption level set in 2004 of $23,660 a year.

But when a judge blocked the Obama rule, the Trump administration didn’t challenge the court ruling. Instead it set its own overtime threshold, which raised the amount, but by less than Obama.

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122 a good man is hard to find essay topic ideas & examples.

🏆 best a good man is hard to find topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 interesting topics to write about a good man is hard to find, ✍️ good research topics about a good man is hard to find, ❓ a good man is hard to find essay questions.

What do you think the phrase “a good man” means? Is there somebody whom you can call “a good man”?

Flannery O’Connor’s short story is a polarizing novel which will make you think about good and evil, relationships with your relatives, etc. We will provide you with some ideas that will help you to cope with the “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” essay.

“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” Character Analysis

There are 12 characters: The Grandmother, the Misfit, Bailey, June Star, John Wesley, the Mother and the Baby, Bobby Lee, Hiram, Red Sammy and his wife, and Pitty Sing.

You can choose any for your character analysis.

If you choose a Granny, you can examine her manipulations to get the desired. For example, you can explore the way she makes her family travel to Tennessee instead of Florida.

She also states that she’s a lady. What does being a lady mean for her? What does “being a lady” mean for you?

Grandmother talks about Jesus, but is she a religious person? State your opinion and provide examples.

Another character to analyze is the Misfit, the misguided escaped prisoner. How do you think, was he “the Wrong Guy”? Why was he sent to the penitentiary? Is he a religious man?

Think about other characters and their roles in the story.

5 “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” Essay Themes

If you’re looking for “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” essay ideas, check our list below:

• Theme of grace. What is the moment of grace? If grandmother did not bring God into the picture, how it would change the plot?
• Theme of good and evil. Whom does the granny calls a “good man” and why? What does a “good man” mean, according to her? Is The Misfit a good or evil man?
• Theme of religion. Was The Misfit a religious person or not? Prove your opinion with the quotes. And what about the grandmother?
• Theme of manipulation. What is manipulations? Is the granny a manipulative person? Provide your opinion and supporting evidence.
• Theme of family. Do you think is the family described in a story realistic? Do they care for each other? Provide your evidence.

When you will be reading the story, ask these “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” essay questions:

What do you think about the story: is it a cynical tale about manipulation and human pettiness and manipulation? Or it’s rather a simple horror story?

What is being “good” means for you? Does it mean being religious or being kind?

Do we really need a religion to be a good person?

If you need more topic samples, you can always turn to IvyPanda free essays for more inspiration.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay Tips

Before you start writing the paper, check our essay writing tips:

• Write a thesis statement that will reflect the topic of your paper. Include it at the end of your intro. The thesis is aimed to help your readers understand what you are going to discuss.
• Focus on the topic and determine points to support it. Avoid deviations from the essay subject because it would only distract your reader.
• Separate the essay body into structured sections with descriptive titles. This will make the navigation easier.
• Make sure that your “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” essay conclusion restates the thesis and does not provide any new ideas you haven’t covered in the body.

Do not let essay on O’Connor’s short story control your life and take away your sleep. Find free high-quality samples at IvyPanda!

• A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Literary Critical Analysis Essay The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” stands as the American Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor’s most disturbing work of fiction.”A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is the title work of […]
• “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” vs. “Good Country People”: Themes & Characters Analysis Indeed, as the old lady in the story dies, the last ray of hope for the world to stay the way it used to fade away, and the remaining of the past that the family […]
• O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”: Foreshadowing Analysis Later, despite the grandmother’s plea, she is still killed, true to the young girl’s statement; the grandmother follows the rest in death.
• Misfit in F. O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” This seems to be the reaction of a badly abused child, and it may be that he has repeated his crime of shooting her.
• Flannery O’Connor’s Story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Despite the varied opinion about the grandmother, her manipulative behaviour is very clear to the reader throughout the story. The grandmother knows that Bailey would not allow her to visit the old plantation.
• Dialogues in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The dialogue aspect of A Good Man is Hard to Find is the story’s key component for delivering the characters’ thoughts, their personalities, their points of view on the events described in the story, and, […]
• The Message of Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The phrase ‘good man’ and the theme of who a good man is, according to peoples’ judgment in the play, stand abused.
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find Grace In A Good Man is Hard to Find, O’Connor explores the theme of grace through her two characters: Misfit and Grandmother.
• Symbol of Weather in Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find Nevertheless, an in-depth analysis of symbolism shows that the weather is the most dominant symbol in the story, and every scene is described in a given type of weather.
• Psychoanalytical Analysis of a Book “A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Revelation” by Flannery O’Connor The stories under analysis A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Revelation focus on the psychological and moral analysis of the main actors with regard to their perception and attitude to the external social […]
• Knowledge and the Loss of Innocence: “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The reason for that is the gain of knowledge about social reality. Without a doubt, knowledge of this kind leads to the loss of innocence.
• Representation of Family in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” According to Bandy, the selfish nature of the grandmother and her disregard to her family is evidenced when she seems to care the safety of the other family members.
• Qualities in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by O’Connor The confrontation between the Grandmother and Misfit has many direct allusions to Christianity such as that the criminal plays the role of the Devil’s advocate.
• Grandmother Character in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The grandmother asserts that she could paint the picture of the black boy if granted the chance. The grandmother seems to be complaining about the dramatic destruction of the environment since plantations that used to […]
• Biblical Analysis of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Thus, the essay will consider the short story from a Biblical perspective and demonstrate that O’Connor’s short story introduces Biblical allusions to critique people’s attitude to Christianity. Thus, the author tries to demonstrate that religion […]
• Violence in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Violence situation in the story entitled “A good man is hard to find” begins when the family is on a road trip to Florida during the vacation.
• Analysis of (Mary) Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Concurring with the behavior of Misfit and Grandmother, O’Connor gives the elusive description of a good man relating it to gracility as a Christian value.
• Flannery O’Connor’s Message in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” She argues that what individuals truly mean by the phrase “good men” is the opposite of what they actually mean in her powerful masterpiece, A Good Man is Hard to Find.
• Interpreting O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” O’Connor’s use of disruption and distortion to reconfigure ethical-religious forms of being in the world is illuminated by the Levinasian themes of alterity, anarchy, and the absolute.
• Gothic in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by O’Connor The grandmother persuades the family to take a detour to an old farm, but they crash the vehicle on the route and get trapped on a remote road.
• “Barn Burning” by Faulkner and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by O’Connor The main themes are class problems and social issues, and the overall atmosphere is pervasive and terrifying to the reader. The woman is a burden to be borne because of the deep-seated belief in the […]
• Grandmother From O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Essay Not a single person from her family took her seriously, so the grandmother grabbed the opportunity to be noticed. The decision to speak out becomes the doom of the grandmother and her entire family.
• The Short Story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor Perhaps it was this passage that served the emergence of various interpretations of the conclusion and perpetuated the story in the category of American classics. The quintessence of this hope is expressed in the exclamation, […]
• Grandmother in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Despite her image of a genteel, conscientious lady, the grandmother is a selfish hypocrite whose irresponsibility directly leads to the death of her family. However, in her final moments, she is able to recognize the […]
• “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor Later, the entire family’s death was caused because of the cat’s sing following the car accident, which derived into the encounter of the Misfit.
• Gothic Aspects of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” This paper aims to identify and discuss O’Connor’s understanding of the good and the evil in the religious context, based on the A Good Man Is Hard to Find plot and characters.
• Symbolism in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The current essay discusses the implementation of symbolism in A Good Man is Hard to Find and its effects on the narrative.
• O’Connor’ System of Characters in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Below, the possible ideas of O’Connor within A Good Man are Hard to Find will be analyzed in various contexts through the prism of the system of characters in the story. The main and most […]
• “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Comparison Farquhar is symbolic of the slave confederate states that sought to secede from the United States, whereas, the soldiers represent the might of the union.
• Subtle Religious Overtones Portrayed in O’Conner’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Based on the actions of the grandmother it can be said that the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” contains subtle religious overtones portraying how aesthetics and what it means to truly […]
• Religion-Based Morality in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor After all, as the author shows in this particular story, it is named on the account of self-righteous/pious but perceptually arrogant individuals that the saying “road to hell is made out of good intentions” continues […]
• A Rose for Emily and A Good Man Is Hard to Find In order to highlight this idea, the writers focus on the values and worldviews of the characters who prefer to live in the imaginary world of their past.
• ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ by Flannery O’Connor’s When the grandmother holds the baby, there is an apparent difference between the two, the wrinkled face of the grandmother and the smooth face of the baby.
• The Old Age Concept in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Furthermore, the face of the woman is compared to that of the baby she is curdling. This shows the changes that old age has brought to the grandmother.
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories She had a plan that was contrary to what the rest of the family had. She easily accepted to travel with the family to the destination she was against initially.
• Literature: A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor All these aspects observe the truth in the writer’s perceptions through the words of the grandmother that “a good man is hard to find”.
• Flannery O’Connor: Grandmother’s Act in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The most dominant opinion though is that the grandmother’s final deed was graceful, thereby implying that “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” was penned by the author to depict a gradual change in the […]
• The Poor Treatment and Relationship With the Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Character Analysis of the Grandmother and the Misfits in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• An Analysis of a Family’s Fatal Confrontation With the Misfit in the Novel “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• Compare and Contrast the Use of Irony in a Good Man Is Hard to Find and the Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
• The Mutifaceted Personality of the Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• An Analysis of Incidents and Characters in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Religion in A Good Man Is Hard to Find
• The Use of Grotesque Character in “Good Country People” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• An Analysis of the Analogy Between Apostle Paul and Misfit From “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Effective Use of Tone in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• The Theme of Conformation to Moral Standards and Thinking Before Acting in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• An Analysis of Parent-Child Relationship in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Mocking of the Mankind’s Moral Code in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• An Analysis of Gullibility and Hypocrisy in the Life in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• A Literary Analysis of the Protagonist in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner
• Man vs. Man Conflict in A Good Man Is Hard to Find
• An Analysis of Southern Gothic Elements in Flannery O’Connor’s Short Story Collection “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
• The Mistakes of Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Tragic Heroes and Narcissists in the Short Story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Special Part of Every Characters in the Short Story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connora
• The Misconception of the Idea of Goodness in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Confrontations With a Killer in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Analyze the Irony of the Grandmother’s Actions That Cost the Lives of the Entire Family
• The Grandmother’s Journey and the Virtues and Qualities of a Person in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Dark Writing Style of Flannery O’Connor in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• Analysis of Spiritual Themes in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Analysis of the Agent of Grace Archetype in the Character of the Misfit in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• Critics Described Wise Blood by O’Connor as “Low Comedy and High Seriousness.” Why Can We Say the Same About a Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Compare the Depiction of Sin and Hatred in the Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Poe and a Good Man Is Hard to Find by O’Connor
• An Examination of the Crucial Character of the Grandma in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Egotistical Nightmare in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• The Religious and Ironic Interpretation of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Compare the Goodness of the Characters in Good Country People and a Good Man Is Hard to Find
• The Symbolic and Narrative Use of the Unlikely Character of the Misfit to Portray Christ in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• Analysis of the Foreshadowing in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O Connor
• The Real Courage Comparison Between the Central Characters in Roger Malvin’s Burial and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• Priorities and Values in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Fate of the Grandmother in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
• The Enjoyable and Likeable Character of the Misfit in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Analysis of the Concept of Christianity in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Representation of Modern Culture in Each of the Character in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Lack of Genuine Spirituality in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• Enumerate the Situations When the Grandmother Acts as a Bad Person. Are They Evenly Distributed Throughout the Text?
• Analysis of Real Grandmother’s Role in the Family in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• The Real Thoughts and Motives of the Misfit and Grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• What role does racism play in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What causes the accident in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Why is the aspect of religion so important in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What are the main characters in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What does the wood where the family gets killed symbolize?
• What is the short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find about?
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find – what is the title’s meaning?
• How does the setting affect the plot and character development in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the main theme of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What was the role of society in the formation of the Misfit’s character?
• When was A Good Man Is Hard to Find written?
• What is the problem in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the meaning of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Which values did the grandmother uphold as a woman from the south?
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find: What does the ending mean?
• What role does the setting play in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• How is the theme of the family represented in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the moral of the story A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What does the violence in A Good Man Is Hard to Find symbolize?
• What is the Misfit’s name in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Was the grandmother killed in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What does the grandmother realize at the end of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Who is the protagonist in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• How is imagery used in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Why is A Good Man Is Hard to Find considered southern gothic?
• How could Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily inspire O’Connor to write A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the time period of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the main conflict of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• How does the theme of Jesus show up in the characters, and what are the differences?
• How does A Good Man Is Hard to Find depict conflict?
• Why does the grandmother consider Red Sammy butts “a good man”?
• What is the point of view of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• How is dramatic irony used in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Who convinces the father in A Good Man Is Hard to Find to take the road to the plantation?
• What role does foreshadowing play in the cemetery scene of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What are the examples of verbal irony in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• Is the Misfit the grandmother’s son in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What are the literary elements in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the style of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
• What is the symbolism of the characters’ names in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
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As a Teenager in Europe, I Went to Nudist Beaches All the Time. 30 Years Later, Would the Experience Be the Same?

In July 2017, I wrote an article about toplessness for Vogue Italia. The director, actor, and political activist Lina Esco had emerged from the world of show business to question public nudity laws in the United States with 2014’s Free the Nipple . Her film took on a life of its own and, thanks to the endorsement from the likes of Miley Cyrus, Cara Delevingne, and Willow Smith, eventually developed into a whole political movement, particularly on social media where the hashtag #FreeTheNipple spread at lightning speed. The same year as that piece, actor Alyssa Milano tweeted “me too” and encouraged others who had been sexually assaulted to do the same, building on the movement activist Tarana Burke had created more than a decade earlier. The rest is history.

In that Vogue article, I chatted with designer Alessandro Michele about a shared memory of our favorite topless beaches of our youth. Anywhere in Italy where water appeared—be it the hard-partying Riviera Romagnola, the traditionally chic Amalfi coast and Sorrento peninsula, the vertiginous cliffs and inlets of Italy’s continuation of the French Côte d’Azur or the towering volcanic rocks of Sicily’s mythological Riviera dei Ciclopi—one was bound to find bodies of all shapes and forms, naturally topless.

In the ’90s, growing up in Italy, naked breasts were everywhere and nobody thought anything about it. “When we look at our childhood photos we recognize those imperfect breasts and those bodies, each with their own story. I think of the ‘un-beauty’ of that time and feel it is actually the ultimate beauty,” Michele told me.

Indeed, I felt the same way. My relationship with toplessness was part of a very democratic cultural status quo. If every woman on the beaches of the Mediterranean—from the sexy girls tanning on the shoreline to the grandmothers eating spaghetti al pomodoro out of Tupperware containers under sun umbrellas—bore equally naked body parts, then somehow we were all on the same team. No hierarchies were established. In general, there was very little naked breast censorship. Free nipples appeared on magazine covers at newsstands, whether tabloids or art and fashion magazines. Breasts were so naturally part of the national conversation and aesthetic that Ilona Staller (also known as Cicciolina) and Moana Pozzi, two porn stars, cofounded a political party called the Love Party. I have a clear memory of my neighbor hanging their party’s banner out his window, featuring a topless Cicciolina winking.

A lot has changed since those days, but also since that initial 2017 piece. There’s been a feminist revolution, a transformation of women’s fashion and gender politics, the absurd overturning of Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction in New York, the intensely disturbing overturning of Roe v Wade and the current political battle over reproductive rights radiating from America and far beyond. One way or another, the female body is very much the site of political battles as much as it is of style and fashion tastes. And maybe for this reason naked breasts seem to populate runways and street style a lot more than they do beaches—it’s likely that being naked at a dinner party leaves more of a permanent mark than being naked on a glamorous shore. Naked “dressing” seems to be much more popular than naked “being.” It’s no coincidence that this year Saint Laurent, Chloé, Ferragamo, Tom Ford, Gucci, Ludovic de Saint Sernin, and Valentino all paid homage to sheer dressing in their collections, with lacy dresses, see-through tops, sheer silk hosiery fabric, and close-fitting silk dresses. The majority of Anthony Vaccarello’s fall 2024 collection was mostly transparent. And even off the runway, guests at the Saint Laurent show matched the mood. Olivia Wilde appeared in a stunning see-through dark bodysuit, Georgia May Jagger wore a sheer black halter top, Ebony Riley wore a breathtaking V-neck, and Elsa Hosk went for translucent polka dots.

In some strange way, it feels as if the trends of the ’90s have swapped seats with those of today. When, in 1993, a 19-year-old Kate Moss wore her (now iconic) transparent, bronze-hued Liza Bruce lamé slip dress to Elite Model Agency’s Look of the Year Awards in London, I remember seeing her picture everywhere and feeling in awe of her daring and grace. I loved her simple sexy style, with her otherworldly smile, the hair tied back in a bun. That very slip has remained in the collective unconscious for decades, populating thousands of internet pages, but in remembering that night Moss admitted that the nude look was totally unintentional: “I had no idea why everyone was so excited—in the darkness of Corinne [Day’s] Soho flat, the dress was not see-through!” That’s to say that nude dressing was usually mostly casual and not intellectualized in the context of a larger movement.

But today nudity feels loaded in different ways. In April, actor and author Julia Fox appeared in Los Angeles in a flesh-colored bra that featured hairy hyper-realist prints of breasts and nipples, and matching panties with a print of a sewn-up vagina and the words “closed” on it, as a form of feminist performance art. Breasts , an exhibition curated by Carolina Pasti, recently opened as part of the 60th Venice Biennale at Palazzo Franchetti and showcases works that span from painting and sculpture to photography and film, reflecting on themes of motherhood, empowerment, sexuality, body image, and illness. The show features work by Cindy Sherman, Robert Mapplethorpe, Louise Bourgeois, and an incredible painting by Bernardino Del Signoraccio of Madonna dell’Umiltà, circa 1460-1540. “It was fundamental for me to include a Madonna Lactans from a historical perspective. In this intimate representation, the Virgin reveals one breast while nurturing the child, the organic gesture emphasizing the profound bond between mother and child,” Pasti said when we spoke.

Through her portrayal of breasts, she delves into the delicate balance of strength and vulnerability within the female form. I spoke to Pasti about my recent musings on naked breasts, which she shared in a deep way. I asked her whether she too noticed a disparity between nudity on beaches as opposed to the one on streets and runways, and she agreed. Her main concern today is around censorship. To Pasti, social media is still far too rigid around breast exposure and she plans to discuss this issue through a podcast that she will be launching in September, together with other topics such as motherhood, breastfeeding, sexuality, and breast cancer awareness.

With summer at the door, it was my turn to see just how much of the new reread on transparency would apply to beach life. In the last few years, I noticed those beaches Michele and I reminisced about have grown more conservative and, despite being the daughter of unrepentant nudists and having a long track record of militant topless bathing, I myself have felt a bit more shy lately. Perhaps a woman in her 40s with two children is simply less prone to taking her top off, but my memories of youth are populated by visions of bare-chested mothers surveilling the coasts and shouting after their kids in the water. So when did we stop? And why? When did Michele’s era of “un-beauty” end?

In order to get back in touch with my own naked breasts I decided to revisit the nudist beaches of my youth to see what had changed. On a warm day in May, I researched some local topless beaches around Rome and asked a friend to come with me. Two moms, plus our four children, two girls and two boys of the same ages. “Let’s make an experiment of this and see what happens,” I proposed.

The kids all yawned, but my friend was up for it. These days to go topless, especially on urban beaches, you must visit properties that have an unspoken nudist tradition. One of these in Rome is the natural reserve beach at Capocotta, south of Ostia, but I felt a bit unsure revisiting those sands. In my memory, the Roman nudist beaches often equated to encounters with promiscuous strangers behind the dunes. I didn’t want to expose the kids, so, being that I am now a wise adult, I went ahead and picked a compromise. I found a nude-friendly beach on the banks of the Farfa River, in the rolling Sabina hills.

We piled into my friend’s car and drove out. The kids were all whining about the experiment. “We don’t want to see naked mums!” they complained. “Can’t you just lie and say you went to a nudist beach?”

We parked the car and walked across the medieval fairy-tale woods until we reached the path that ran along the river. All around us were huge trees and gigantic leaves. It had rained a lot recently and the vegetation had grown incredibly. We walked past the remains of a Roman road. The colors all around were bright green, the sky almost fluorescent blue. The kids got sidetracked by the presence of frogs. According to the indications, the beach was about a mile up the river. Halfway down the path, we bumped into a couple of young guys in fanny packs. I scanned them for signs of quintessential nudist attitude, but realized I actually had no idea what that was. I asked if we were headed in the right direction to go to “the beach”. They nodded and gave us a sly smile, which I immediately interpreted as a judgment about us as mothers, and more generally about our age, but I was ready to vindicate bare breasts against ageism.

We reached a small pebbled beach, secluded and bordered by a huge trunk that separated it from the path. A group of girls was there, sharing headphones and listening to music. To my dismay they were all wearing the tops and bottoms of their bikinis. One of them was in a full-piece bathing suit and shorts. “See, they are all wearing bathing suits. Please don’t be the weird mums who don’t.”

At this point, it was a matter of principle. My friend and I decided to take our bathing suits off completely, if only for a moment, and jumped into the river. The boys stayed on the beach with full clothes and shoes on, horrified. The girls went in behind us with their bathing suits. “Are you happy now? my son asked. “Did you prove your point?”

I didn’t really know what my point actually was. I think a part of me wanted to feel entitled to those long-gone decades of naturalism. Whether this was an instinct, or as Pasti said, “an act that was simply tied to the individual freedom of each woman”, it was hard to tell. At this point in history, the two things didn’t seem to cancel each other out—in fact, the opposite. Taking off a bathing suit, at least for my generation who never had to fight for it, had unexpectedly turned into a radical move and maybe I wanted to be part of the new discourse. Also, the chances of me going out in a fully sheer top were slim these days, but on the beach it was different. I would always fight for an authentic topless experience.

After our picnic on the river, we left determined to make our way—and without children—to the beaches of Capocotta. In truth, no part of me actually felt very subversive doing something I had been doing my whole life, but it still felt good. Once a free breast, always a free breast.

This article was originally published on British Vogue .

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Short Summary of "A Good Man is Hard to Find". The action of "A Good Man is Hard to Find" depicts a family vacation gone terribly awry. On a road trip to Florida a family from Atlanta encounter a homicidal escaped convict whom the media dubs The Misfit. The Misfit and his henchmen execute the entire family and steal their clothes, car ...

A Good Man is Hard to Find Summary & Analysis. The story opens on the Grandmother (unnamed), whose family is about to take a trip to Florida. Unlike the rest of her family, however, the Grandmother would rather go to Tennessee. She shows a newspaper article to her son Bailey, whose house she lives in.

Analysis. The character of the grandmother is central to the dramatic power of 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'. The first two words of the story are 'The grandmother'; the story begins with her warning her son about the escaped Misfit and ends with her being shot dead by the Misfit; the story opens with the third-person narrator's ...

Frequently anthologized, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" exemplifies Flannery O'Connor's southern religious grounding. The story depicts the impact of Christ on the lives of two seemingly disparate characters. One is a grandmother joining her son's family on a trip to Florida. Accompanied by a silent daughter-in-law, a baby, two unpleasant ...

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Summary. A Good Man Is Hard to Find portrays a tragic tale of a family. A grandmother, father, mother, and three children set out on a trip to Florida. Initially appearing as good country folk, the family harbors various flaws. The older children, John Wesley and June Star, exhibit rude and ignorant behavior.

Critical Overview. PDF Cite. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," the title selection of O'Connor's 1955 collection, has received a great deal of critical attention. The story serves as an excellent ...

The force of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find'' speaks for an angry outsider, a person without illusions or sentimentality. The grandmother does not go to Florida, and O'Connor has her way. A world of ...

In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, O'Connor depicts a road trip to Florida that ends unpredictably. A comical chain of accidents leads to a tragedy. A typical American family encounters a gang of criminals on a lonely country road, with no one to come for help. The gangsters kill the family members one by one in a nearby forest while their leader ...

Conclusion. The analysis of A Good Man is Hard to Find reveals an intriguing aspect. The grandmother and The Misfit have very similar personalities. They both are ready to lie, manipulate, and murder to fulfill their desires. A Good Man is Hard to Find essay covers Flannery O'Connor's concern.

O'Connor furthers the problematic use of the word when Red Sammy states, "a good man is hard to find" (6). This statement is riddled with irony as the word "good" is used profusely but a "good man" is uncommon - creating a paradox with which O'Connor argues that a word that represents anything also represents nothing.

Introduction. Flannery O'Connor is the brightest representative of the Southern Gothic in US literature. Her prose is filled with violence, erupting evil and dark features of a human being, and many stories shockingly end on a note of horror. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" first appeared in a small collection with the same name in 1955.

First published in 1953, following her permanent move to Andalusia, her mother's dairy farm, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" illustrates many of the techniques and themes which were to characterize the typical O'Connor story. Since she was limited by her illness to short and infrequent trips away from the farm, O'Connor learned to draw upon the ...

Discussion. A Good Man is Hard to Find portrays a disparity of violent action with hilarious and carefully created characters and a philosophy that underlines her staunch Roman Catholic faith. The short story is disturbing and entertaining at the same time- a feature that characterizes most of O'Connor's writings, notably Wise Blood.The story begins on a naïve perspective, but instantly ...

This essay entails an analysis of A Good Man is hard to Find' by Flannery O'Conner. ... In summary, this paper entails an analysis of A Good Man is hard to Find' by Flannery O'Conner. The aspect of moral codes is a key factor that is predominant in the book. The aspect is reflected through misfit and the grandmother.

The main themes in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" are finding grace, prejudice, and family. Finding Grace: Extraordinary circumstances allow a selfish character like the grandmother to truly ...

A good man is really hard to find in this story. When Red Sam tells the Grandmother the story about him getting swindled for the gas, she calls him a good man. She then tries to tell the Misfit he is a good man because she believes he would not shoot a lady. What she fails to realize is that she is not calling people good because they are moral ...

Summary: "A Good Man Is Hard to Find". Flannery O'Connor originally published the short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" in the 1953 anthology The Avon Book of Modern Writing. It subsequently appeared in several other collections and is today one of O'Connor's most famous works. It is also one of the best-known examples of the ...

2 pages / 821 words. Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a masterful example of the use of foreshadowing in literature. Foreshadowing, the technique of hinting at future events or outcomes, is employed throughout the story to create suspense and build tension.

Irony is the main literary device used in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" that helps to set the story's tone and mood. This Southern Gothic narration uses several types of irony: 💬 Verbal. This type of irony involves characters saying one thing but meaning another. 😱 Situational.

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Foreshadowing has been used in the story "a good man is hard to find.". The reader is introduced to a nuclear family that wants to go on a vacation to Florida. However, the grandmother who is to be part of the vacation is against going to Florida, she prefers Tennessee. She happens to be aware of a killer called Misfit, who is on run to ...

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Gothic Aspects of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find". This paper aims to identify and discuss O'Connor's understanding of the good and the evil in the religious context, based on the A Good Man Is Hard to Find plot and characters. Symbolism in O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find".

Indeed, I felt the same way. My relationship with toplessness was part of a very democratic cultural status quo. If every woman on the beaches of the Mediterranean—from the sexy girls tanning on ...

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