Quartija S. Winters
Mr. Moorer
ENG 1113 HH
27 March 2014
Misfit?
In “A Good Man is Hard to Find", the story symbolizes religion. The story takes place in Georgia. The story begins in the city where the family lives, and also in various places along the road as the family travels. There is a conflict between the grandmother and The Misfit. The grandmother brings up praying to Jesus in the hope that she can persuade The Misfit to spare her life by acting as if she was religious. It turns out that The Misfit has probably thought about Jesus more seriously than she has. But The Misfit thinks that there’s no point in life, and he has nothing to live for, because he has doubt in Jesus. Reading into the story, the grandmother appears to receive a moment of grace, which might transform her and The Misfit. It's time for a family trip of some kind, and there's a disagreement in the family about where to go. Bailey wants to take his family to Florida. His mother, called "the grandmother," doesn't want to go there. To keep from going, she says that there's a dangerous criminal named The Misfit on the loose, and that he's headed that way, to Florida, but no one seems to take her seriously. The next morning, everyone piles in the car, including the grandmother, who seems to be happy for the trip. She's also secretly brought alone her cat, Pitty Sing, which Bailey told her not to bring.
During the trip the grandmother plays games and tells stories to the kids. They stop at a restaurant to eat, and starts to have a conversation with the owner, Red Sammy, and his wife. The grandmother talks with the couple about how hard it is to trust people and find "good men" these days. She also talks a bit about The Misfit.
Back on the road, the grandmother gets the kids all excited by telling them about an old plantation she once visited that's located nearby, so the kids convince Bailey to take them all to see it. He turns onto a dirt road, which, the grandmother says she is she it leads to the plantation. After following the road for a while, they don't see anything. Then, the grandmother remembers that the plantation wasn't there at all, it's actually in Tennessee. She is so surprised by realizing that, which she jerks, letting her cat out of the basket where she's hid it. The cat is thrown onto Bailey's shoulder, which causes an accident. The car skids off the road and flips over, but no one is killed.
The family waits for a car to come along, and sooner or later one does. Only it's not the help that they were expecting.