In O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the reader discovers each character's sense of morality and their security within it. It was interesting the way O'Connor introduced each character in the story. In the beginning the children and Bailey seem to hold more importance, but turn to be little more than flat characters. The Mother and baby were rarely even called upon, unlike the Grandmother whom held most of the attention. By the climax it is clear that the Grandmother and The Misfit are the key characters.
In the opening descriptions, O'Connor uses extreme foreshadowing when explaining the Grandmother, "In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady." O'Connor uses such an great juxtaposition almost forcing the reader into a dark mindset; something bad is going to occur.
The whole rest of the story revolves around the normalcy of the road trip saturated with more slight hints of a downfall. At lunchtime in Red Sam's the Grandma gets into a discussion about people these days and how, "A good man is hard to find" and "everything is terrible." Also providing foreshadowing for the impending car crash.
When The Misfit and Grandmother converse after the accident is when the character's morality truly appears. At the point of life and death, the Grandmother discovers her complete trust in God instead of herself. The Misfit exclaims his views.
Grandmother- "If you would pray, Jesus would help you."
The Misfit- "That's right"
Grandmother- "Well then, why don't you pray?"
The Misfit- "I don't want no hep, I'm doing all right by myself."
The Grandmother comes to the utter realization of her weakness and his strength in those few words. Her trust in man diminished, and his trust in himself only grew. As a reader, witnessing this Grandmother's life and trust fall to pieces is disturbing and sad. The worst part is how The Misfit's moral code still stands strong while you just watch this Grandmother loose all faith in herself and the world. Seriously, a good man is hard to find.
