Analysis of Characters, Conflict, and Symbolism in “a...

Analysis of Characters, Conflict, and Symbolism in â€Å"A Good Man Is hard to Find† The story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is a fascinating story about a family traveling to Florida for a family vacation. The story’s main characters are the grandmother, the mother and a baby, the father Bailey, and the two children June Star and John Wesley. On this trip the family has a run in with the other characters The Misfit, Bobby Lee, and Hiram who are escaped convicts headed towards Florida. O’Connor uses literary elements such as flashback and characterization to explore what it means to be a good person. It appears as the only good person in the story is the person the grandmother becomes through her struggle with the Misfit. O’Connor seems to†¦show more content†¦The story seems to imply how the modern man becomes spiritual when faced with evil. The grandmother seems to be unconcerned with the rest of her family: â€Å"‘I know you wouldn’t shoot a lady!’†(441). She thinks she is a â€Å"lady† sh e shouldn’t be shot. The grandmother is self-centered; she did not even beg for the life of anyone in her family but her own. She is always the first to criticize everyone but never looks at herself in a critical manner. The conflicts in this story highlight the character’s nature. The main fiction element in O’Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† is symbolism. Most of the Symbolism in this story is masked behind a lot of foreshadowing: â€Å"They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island†(371). The number of graves foreshadows the death of each family member. Five or six represents the uncertainty of whether at least one member of the family will survive or not. After the accident the family waits for someone to come help them, ironically The Misfit, Bobby Lee, and Hiram pull up in â€Å"a big black battered hearse-like automobile†(375). The Hearse by definition is a vehicle that carries a coffin to a funeral. So, this is another image of death forthcoming, which foreshadows the outcome of the family before The Misfit and his accomplices even get out of the car. In general symbolism is an important element in this short story; many times it