Overview “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”

In the short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor she tells us a story of a typical extended family. There are two parents, one is named Bailey, and the other is his wife. Bailey and his wife have 2 children; John Wesley and June Star and an unnamed baby boy, and Bailey’s mother; the children’s grandmother. The grandmother seems a lot like a typical grandmother. John Wesley and June Star are mouthy, quick-witted kids who don’t seem to have that all important brain to mouth filter yet. The grandmother, as grandmothers do, is over reacting to a local news story of an escaped prisoner in Florida that is self-named The Misfit. The family is soon to head to Florida, the same place that the paper states The Misfit is traveling. The grandmother would rather visit her home state of Tennessee and is using guilt and scare tactics to convince the family to appease her and change their plans.
When they embark on their short journey, the grandmother is the first in the car, with her cat that is hidden in a small bag. Of course she could leave her darling cat Pitty Sing at home, not even for 3 days! The grandmother is dress in her Sunday best for the trip, frilly, flowered hat included!
The family stopped for a brief lunch at a small dinner that is self-proclaimed to have the BEST BBQ and owned by a man named Red Sam, the family continues on the journey. The family takes a detour to see a house that they grandmother told them stories of with its secret doors and hidden treasure. The roads seemed longer than what the grandmother seems to have remembered and she has a thought that startles her. Perhaps she realized she had the wrong road. With her startled thought she jerked and scared Pitty Sing. A terrified Pitty Sing, scared by the sudden movement of the grandmother, leapt from the bag and attacked Bailey as he drove. Now Bailey was the scared one. In his fearful state he ran off the road and flipped the car down to the bottom of a 10 foot ravine. This was before the days when seatbelts and car seats were law, so family was hurled around the interior of the car as it tumbled and finally landed upright. Grandmother, who held the fault for this accident had been tossed under the dash of the car. She hoped to