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Setting of "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery 'O Connor

[Like many of Flannery O' Connor's works, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" takes place in the deep southern United States, specifically on a road trip between Georgia and Florida, and in fact, the setting provides several integral parts and ideas to the story.] This is most notably Grandmother's realization that the "house with a secret panel" was in Tennessee and not in Georgia, and because the family was attempting to visit the house due to the screaming demands of the children, grandma is shocked by this, resulting in her kicking her feet and frightening Pitty Sing, the family's cat -

 " 'It's not much farther,' the grandmother said and just as she said it, a horrible thought came to her. The thought was so embarrassing that she turned red in the face and her eyes dilated and her feet jumped up, upsetting her valise in the corner. The instant the valise moved, the newspaper top she had over the basket under it rose with a snarl and Pitty Sing, the cat, sprang onto Bailey's shoulder. The children were thrown to the floor and their mother, clutching the baby, was thrown out the door onto the ground; the old lady was thrown into the front seat. The car turned over once and landed right-side-up in a gulch off the side of the road. Bailey remained in the driver's seat with the cat-gray-striped with a broad white face and an orange nose-clinging to his neck like a caterpillar.," 

 - which causes the father, Bailey, to lose control of the car and flip over twice. After this ordeal, O'Connor uses the scenery of the ditch near the crash site as well as the cloudless sky to set up a dramatic moment ("There was not a cloud in the sky nor any sun. There was nothing around her but woods."), which of course results in the Misfit and his gang pulling-up in a black hearse and eventually murdering the family, creating a very disturbing and jarring ending to the story.

Comments

  1. Cole BargerDecember 15, 2017 at 8:50 AM

    I agree that the writing O'Connor used made the crash scene much more dramatic. Do you think the setting being in the deep south has any connection to the story?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ren ShimadaDecember 15, 2017 at 11:33 AM

    I chose to look at the setting too but looked more at the cultural aspect of the south but I agree with you about the author's use of the setting to create this weird disturbing story. The setting and story both give off a weird creepy vibe.

    ReplyDelete

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