Gothic Tradition Writing
“A Good Man Is Hard To Find”
“GRANDMOTHER”
The prominent character in O’Connor’s a “Good Man Is Hard to Find” is the grandmother. O’Connor shows the in discriminatory property of grace she possesses. She is the most developed character in this story. In my opinion she fits the “gothic tradition” classification. The character of the grandmother is self-centered and completely unaware spiritually. O’Connor provides her with an epiphany, one which she probably would not have been able to deal with, had she lived. O’Connor paints her as a tragically comic caricature, one that a reader can easily, but wrongly feel superior to. She is selfish and pushy in fact her desire to see a house from her childhood results in the family’s death at the end of the story. She is the character who embodies the grace. She also demonstrates racist behavior by calling a poor black child a “pickaniny.” She also goes on to state that “Little riggers in the country don’t have things like we do. If I could paint, I’d paint that picture.” In the beginning of the story she doesn’t want to go on the family trip to Florida, instead she rather visit some of her family in Tennessee. She states to her son Bailey that “The children have been to Florida before.” This is an example of her selfishness and controlling behavior. She always treated her son Bailey as if he was a child, and could not make his own decisions for himself.
O’Connor’s became the master of gothic tradition after writing this short story in 1955. She belonged to the Southern Gothic tradition that focused on the decaying South and its damned people. In this story she writes without any regard for kindness or evil. By including imperfections in the development of the grandmother’s character, O’Connor shows the in discriminatory property of grace she possesses. O’Connor’s writing reflects her Southern and Catholic traditions. She believed that the essence of the South is derived from a fount of faith...
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