A Good Man is Hard To Find Essay

Words: 914
Pages: 4
Open Document
When are people responsible for their actions? According to Simon Blackburn's theory of "Soft Determinism" people are responsible for their actions as long as true and available information is possessed. Blackburn's short story revises the compatibilist definition several times. The revised revised definition reads as follows: The subject acted freely if she could have done otherwise in the right sense. This means that she would have done otherwise if she had chosen differently and, under the impact of other true and available thoughts or considerations, she would have chosen differently. True and available thoughts and considerations are those that represent her situation accurately, and are ones that she could reasonably …show more content…
Once the Misfit and his accomplices decide to murder the family, Bailey is aware of what is going to happen and he says" Listen we’re in a terrible predicament! Nobody realizes what this is"(O’Conner 1209). Although there is no right or wrong decision there are beneficial and nonbeneficial decisions. Bailey chose to do nothing, that decision was nonbeneficial to his whole family. Bailey could have chosen differently in every step along the way. The thoughts and consideration differ from person to person as do motives. Bailey wanted to take his family on a vacation. The grandmother wants to visit her friends in a different state. Who is to say who was right and wrong, it is more about the decisions one makes that shape who they are. Bailey is an angry pushover and the grandmother is manipulative and conniving towards her son and his family. I’m sure if the grandmother knew she would run into the Misfit, she wouldn't have asked the family to take that route. Similarly Bailey would not have gone down that road at his mother's request if he any inkling of the coming events. The point is our decisions are our responsibility. These decisions help to make Blackburn's point that people can make different choices with all of the true and available information.

Works Cited
• O'Conner, Flannery, "A Good Man is hard to find", The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction.
Show More

Related Documents: A Good Man is Hard To Find Essay

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor is a fictional short story that begins as a cynical tale and turns into a tale about redemption. The story portrays an ordinary family from Atlanta who take an absurd family trip that turns into into a violent encounter with the insane escaped convict named the Misfit. The grandmothers actions through out the story are what creates the overall theme Flannery O’Connor author of A Good Man Is Hard to Find, uses characterization, the exposition of…

Words 532 - Pages 3

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

You know it is a good story when the pet lives throughout the end. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor a simple family vacation gone wrong. It starts when a grandmother and her son’s family decide to head out for a few days. While on the road, the grandmother remembers an old house she had visited and told the kids it had a secret panel in it with a fortune behind it. They ended up turning down the road that the grandmother thought it was down and got into an accident. Another…

Words 404 - Pages 2

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” When the story first began I though it was just a simple family road trip where the family learns a lesson of being together. However, the newspaper at the beginning changed my mind and I taught the Misfit may be involved in the story at some point. The story ended different than I thought because I did not think the Misfit would actually kill the family. I was shocked at the end story when the Misfit killed the grandmother and said the she would of “been a good…

Words 165 - Pages 1

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Analysis

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" The story begins when the grandmother convinces her son Bailey and his wife to go on vacation to Tennessee and not Florida. She found an article and point out the Misfit toward Florida and told them that the children had already been there. On the day of the trip the grandmother hides her cat in a basket. She wears a dress with a flower hat so if there’s an accident they can see that she is a lady. Then the grandmother tells a story about an old suitor name Edgar Atkins…

Words 584 - Pages 3

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Analysis

Salvation For The Misguided Flannery O’ Connor’s, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” is a short story about a family’s trip to Florida that goes sour when the encounter an escaped convict called The Misfit. This may seem like a typical slightly quirky horror story with no purpose but to shock audiences, however, upon further evaluation adds up to more than it appears to be. Being the protagonist, the grandmother goes through a chain of events throughout the story which leads to transforming herself…

Words 1199 - Pages 5

A Good Man Is Hard To Find, And Trifles

authors have expressed this confusing reality within their literary works, either in their short stories or dramatic plays, this message was prominent all throughout. Having this in mind, “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by Flannery O'Connor, and Trifles by Susan Glaspell, all include hidden messages such as noticing the beauty in unwanted things, realizing how one truly is, and looking at a drastic situation from a different perspective. With all of them…

Words 871 - Pages 4

Sacrifice In A Good Man In Hard To Find

In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man in Hard to Find” the journey that the grandmother embarks upon has the steepest price of all. As the story begins the grandmother is greedy, concerned with only she wants, going as far as change the entire direction of the trip. She does this twice, once in changing the original direction from Florida to Tennessee, as well as the detour onto the dirt road that would throw the family directly into the lap of tragedy. Some of these decisions such as bringing her cat…

Words 302 - Pages 2

The Grandmother In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

The grandmother from “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner represents a person who many readers do not root for throughout the story, she is neither good nor bad. She constantly reminds people of the past and she is a loud mouth that tends to be judge mental. She has a transformation into true salvation through an experience of the transcendental moment in the final seconds of her life. For the first time throughout the story, the readers have a new profound view of her character transforming…

Words 917 - Pages 4

Foreshadowing In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

anticipation within the reader in order to keep them reading. Foreshadowing can be seen in three examples in Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” O’Connor’s story has become well known due the many examples of foreshadowing she wrote. Many examples of foreshadowing can be seen throughout the short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” The first example of foreshadowing seen is when the grandmother tries to convince Bailey not to go to Florida by telling him about a murderer…

Words 397 - Pages 2

A Good Man Is Hard To Find Analysis

In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the grandmother was always acting as a selfish, racist, manipulative, lier, and a self-centered person. She often perceived herself as a good woman and superior to others. In some aspect, her moral attitude kept her from being loved by her own grandchildren, which described how a terrible grandmother she really was around them. For instance, she felt it was necessary for her as a responsibility to teach her grandchildren…

Words 721 - Pages 3