A Good Man is Hard to Find

O’Connor’s work of literature is considered southern grotesque for a variety of reasons. The characters, setting, and overall plot of the story make this fit into the category of a grotesque story. Not only does it connect to all of these points, but it also pokes at the negatives of society of the South. One of these that really caught my attention was the racism shown by the grandmother on more than one occasion. Not only does she reference a black kid as the N word, she also goes on to tell a story about a young black boy and how he ate a left out watermelon with the initials E.A.T. on it. She says, “…but she never got the watermelon, she said, because a nigger boy ate it when he saw the initials, E.A.T.!” Just right here in the grandmother’s comments represent the South’s intense racial discrimination they once had, and even today somewhat still do.

As for the setting and plot, these also incorporate the grotesque style into them. The setting takes place in rural areas throughout the story. They travel through Georgia and Tennessee, where John Wesley states, “Tennessee is just a hillbilly dumping ground.” This shows that they are driving through threw rural places. Also, when they are driving to the house they want to go see on the dirt road, the scenery is described as, “The dirt road was hilly and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous embankments. All at once they would be on a hill, looking down over the blue tops of trees for miles around, then the next minute, they would be in a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them.”

The plot is very capable of being a real scenario, but is disturbing as well. The family is driving down a dangerous dirt road in the middle of nowhere, when they have an accident and their car tumbles down a hill. Soon after, the Misfit and his gang drive by. Later on the Misfit and his gang end up killing the entire family. This is a horrible and tragic plot, but at the same time it really could happen in real life. Things of this caliber or worse happen every week here in this country.

Finally we have the Misfit himself. He is a perfect representation of a flawed grotesque character. He possesses a personality trait, his lisp or bad grammar, which is common in these types of characters. Also, the Misfit has rejected Gods will and blamed him for throwing things off balance. He says, “He thrown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the last few minutes you got left the best you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness.” This shows how he has rejected god and look to do nothing good, but see out others and inflict pain into anyone he wants.