The character of grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” evolves throughout the story. She is the only character who seems to represent a general character of “goodness” in the story. It is true that she is selfish and is responsible for the murder of her family and herself; however, she is the only character in the story that can make a small impact on the actions of The Misfit. This is starkly contrasted by Bailey and his family, who give all kinds of hints towards their being spoiled and impatient. The family drags grandma along even though it is clear she is unwelcome. June Star, her own grandmother retorts, “She wouldn’t stay home for a million bucks . . . [s]he has to go everywhere we go.” We never truly found out how her family feels about grandma, and unfortunately we never get the chance to find out.
The almost terrifying irony of the stories conclusion, transforms grandma’s character from one of “goodness,” to one of crazy foolishness. In the stories first paragraph, grandmother pleads with Bailey to go to Tennessee instead of Florida, “. . . this fellow who calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida . . . I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it.” Sadly, this is exactly what grandma does to her children and her grandchildren. This is the event in the story where we loose all respect for grandma, she is a completely unhinged annoyance to all.
Then something happens between grandma and The Misfit, they begin to talk. It is obvious that grandma’s hope in talking to The Misfit is to save her own life, even though all whom she cares about are dead. After hearing about her killer’s childhood and family a connection seems to grow between the two. Not anything great, only a spark that possibly ignites in The Misfit thoughts that he had been trying all of his life not to have. “His voice seemed about to crack and the grandmother’s head cleared for an instant. She saw the man’s face twisted close to her own as if he were going to cry . . . .” This view inside grandmother’s connects the reader with The Misfits own sense of hesitation and emotion. Even though, grandmother seems to be getting to him, the grandma still end up dead and The Misfit still continues killing.
Along with Flannery O’ Connor’s commentary on just grandma, she could also be making commentary on humankind in general. Red Sammy, at first glance an inconsequential character, plainly states that, “[a] good man is hard to find . . . [e]verything is getting terrible.” By having the bad guy win and the good, or at least somewhat moral, characters die perhaps O’Conner want to tell readers that there is no hope for the future of man. That horrible things will happen and that horrible people will be born with the evolution of humankind; and that no matter how big or small the spark or connection between two humans it is not enough to change decisions and their outcomes.
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Maude, I appreciate what you say, but I get a slightly different message from the story. And it's kind of a difficult message for me to put into words, since I'm not a religious person myself. But I think the idea I get is that it's never too late to enter into a state of grace, and that such states can come about in the most mysterious of ways. An old woman about to be killed recognizes, in her killer, the signs of suffering and sinful humanity Jesus spoke of and died for, and in that moment, perhaps, she is saved, becoming a christ-like figure herself, even dying to redeem the sins of a fallen human race. So even thought the ending is dark, it doesn't feel quite so hopeless to me.
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