English 102 Week 4
A Good Man May Be Hard to Find, But so is a Good Lady
The grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, thinks she is a
great “lady” and her ideas about what that means are somewhat twisted. She calls a little black
boy a “pickaninny” and makes crude remarks about his clothing, or lack thereof, and she
deliberately tells lies to her family to manipulate them. She thinks being a “lady” means coming
from a respectable family and dressing and behaving like a member of the wealthier white social
class. She is in for a rude awakening when she encounters “The Misfit”.
Grandmother lives with her son and his wife and children. From the beginning of the
story she is being manipulative and sarcastic. She wants to go to Tennessee and her son, Bailey,
wants to take the family to Florida. She tells him that she would never take her children to a
place where an escaped convict is, insinuating that she is a superior parent. Bailey and his wife
ignore her and her grandchildren talk rudely to her. June Star, her granddaughter, tells her that no
matter where the family goes, Grandmother will come along because “she is afraid she will miss
something”. This suggests that Grandmother is a nosey old woman and is always butting into
their business and telling them how to run their lives.
Sure enough, Grandmother is the first one in the car the next day ensuring that she does
not get left behind. She even sneaks her cat, Pitty Sing, into the car because she is afraid he will
die if he is left alone for three days. The name Pitty Sing sounds like what Grandmother does to
get her way; she whines a little sing song to everyone to get them to pity her. Grandmother is
dressed in a fine dress and hat with a little spray of violets so that if they are in an accident,
everyone will know that she is a lady. Once they get started she is in a good mood and tells the
children stories and even holds the baby for a while and plays with him. She can be a good
person when it is to her advantage.
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English 102 Week 4
After lunch, Grandmother falls asleep and awakens just as they are going through
Toomsboro. The name sounds like a tomb and insinuates impending doom. Grandmother
suddenly remembers a plantation from her childhood that she wants to go see. Once again she
tells lies to get her way. She tells the children that the house has a secret door and gets them so
excited that they throw a terrible tantrum. Bailey relents and turns around to go down the dirt
road to the plantation. After quite some time, Grandmother remembers that the house was
actually in another state. She is so excited she knocks over Pitty Sing, who immediately jumped
onto Bailey’s neck. This causes a terrible accident. No one actually gets killed much to the
despair of June Star, which shows how much she really cares about anyone. Bailey slings the cat
into a tree and believes it to be dead. Just then a car comes along that looks like a hearse, which
is another sign of impending doom. Grandmother recognizes the driver as the Misfit and yells
