AGENDA:
Quiz on vocabulary from "A Rose for emily"
Grade, go over and hand in AP Multiple Choice packets
Continue discussion of "A Good Man is Hard to Find"
HMWK: FINISH reading
As I Lay Dying for discussions Monday and Tuesday
Papers are due when we return on Dec. 1
Shmoop Discussion questions:
Good vs. Evil Theme
"A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a confrontation of between a
grandmother with a rather superficial sense of goodness, and a criminal who
embodies real evil. The grandmother seems to treat goodness mostly as a
function of being decent, having good manners, and coming from a family of
"the right people." What a contrast, when the grandmother encounters
The Misfit, who seems straightforwardly evil, with little to no sense of guilt,
and a genuine desire to do cruel or destructive things for their own sake.
Understanding the motivations of The Misfit, and what "goodness"
means by contrast, is one of the central puzzles of the story.
Questions About Good vs. Evil
1. According to the grandmother, what is a "good man"? Is she
sincere when she calls Red Sammy a good man? How about The Misfit?
2. What motivates The Misfit – why does he do what he does? Is he a wholly
evil character? Why or why not?
3. Why would The Misfit say he never thinks the punishment fits the crime? Is
he genuinely innocent, or does he believe himself to be? Has he forgotten his
crimes? Does he have no sense of right and wrong?
4. What does it mean when The Misfit says the grandmother would have been a
good woman if he had been there to shoot her every minute of her life? What
kind of "goodness" does he have in mind? Is this the beginning of a
transformation in The Misfit?
Try on an opinion or two, start a
debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
The Misfit has no sense of right and wrong, and for this reason doesn't
feel any punishment can ever "fit" the crime.
The Misfit recognizes the grandmother's final gesture as good, and understands
"goodness" to be the unconditional love given by divine grace
Religion Theme
·
The central confrontation between the grandmother and The Misfit in "A
Good Man is Hard to Find" revolves around Jesus. The grandmother brings up
praying to Jesus in the hope that she can induce The Misfit to spare her life
by appealing to his religious sense. It turns out, however, that The Misfit has
probably thought about Jesus more seriously than she has. The Misfit's doubt in
Jesus leads him to think that there is no real right or wrong, and no ultimate
point to life. At the story's climax, the grandmother appears to receive a
moment of divine grace, which might transform her and The Misfit. How this
ending is understood is the major question of the story.
Questions About Religion
1. Is the grandmother a real religious believer? Does she have genuine faith?
What evidence can you find either way?
2. Does The Misfit believe in Jesus? If he does, to what degree? If not, why
not?
3. Between The Misfit and the grandmother, who seems to have a more solid
foundation in faith?
4. Why would The Misfit attach so much importance to the question of whether
Jesus did what he's supposed to have done? Why is this an all-or-nothing
question for him?
5. Is the grandmother's "moment of grace" a genuine moment of grace?
What evidence do you see either way?
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate,
or play the devil’s advocate.
The grandmother never took her religious faith seriously.
The grandmother's final gesture is a genuine moment of grace.
Manipulation Theme
Flannery O'Connor understood her story "A Good Man is Hard to
Find" as a tale of good, evil, and divine grace. Other critics, however,
have seen in it something more cynical. Many see it as the story of a selfish
woman who uses manipulation to get what she wants, but is ultimately unable to
save herself by her acts. There are several moments in the story when the
grandmother manipulates others, including her family members and the criminal.
An interesting question is whether she ever stops manipulating, and, if so,
when.
Questions About Manipulation
1. Is the grandmother an unusually manipulative person, or is her behavior
fairly understandable? Why?
2. In her confrontation with The Misfit, does the grandmother use purposeful,
calculating manipulation, or is her attempt to save her own life desperate and
not thought-out?
3. Does the grandmother ever stop trying to manipulate The Misfit? At what
point? How can you tell?
4. Is the grandmother's moment of grace actually just another manipulation? Is
The Misfit fooled by it?
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate,
or play the devil’s advocate.
The grandmother never stops trying to manipulate The Misfit, and is stopped
only when he kills her.
The grandmother's attempts to save her life are desperate from the beginning,
and can hardly be considered deliberate manipulation.
Family
Theme
Besides its more serious themes, "A Good Man is Hard
to Find" contains some mercilessly funny comedy about a dysfunctional
family, and the ways they get on each other's nerves. You know, the kind of
family that could be in a National Lampoon movie? There's the two troublesome
and annoying kids, the hot-headed dad who tries to maintain control of a
situation and fails, the wife busy attending to the baby, and the grandmother,
who's a case all to herself (and also the main character). Though the story
starts out seeming like a comedy, it takes a serious turn when the family
encounters a criminal, who kills them one by one. Whether this family members
attract any genuine sympathy from the reader, or from each other, or whether
they death presents little more than a black comedy is an issue up for debate.
Questions About Family
- Is the family in the story a caricature of a
family, or are they realistic in certain aspects? Why?
- Are there any points in the story at which one
of the family members comes across as sympathetic? If so, where are they?
If not, why?
- Do any of the family members care for each
other? If yes, then what evidence can you find in support?
- Does the grandmother really care about the rest of
her family, or is she purely self-interested?
Try on an
opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
The family in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is
pure caricature.
The grandmother is purely self-interested, and shows little concern for the
rest of her family.
Society and Class Theme
The grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" gives great
importance to being "a lady," and her ideas about what that means
reflect an old-fashioned, somewhat upper-crust Southern mindset. She uses the
n-word and longs for the good old days when kids were polite, people were
trustworthy, and there were pretty plantations to visit. All of this leads her
to associate being "good" with coming from a respectable family and behaving
like a member of her social class; those who don't are outsiders. Her
sensibilities are in for quite a shock when she meets The Misfit.
Questions About Society and Class
1. In what ways does the grandmother reflect a particular Southern social
class? To what extent is this conscious on her part?
2. How does the grandmother's social class play a role in her confrontation
with the Misfit, and in the story's larger contrast between good and evil?
3. Do any characters besides the grandmother display an awareness of class or
social status?
4. Does the story adopt a negative view towards the kind of southern culture
the grandmother represents? Is it instead positive, or neutral? How can you tell?
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate,
or play the devil’s advocate.
The grandmother's values are only concerned with appearances, and are
therefore criticized and mocked by the story.
Known as "The Lost Generation" American writers of the 1920s Brought Modernism to the United States. For writers like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, World War I destroyed the illusion that acting virtuously brought about good. Like their British contemporaries, American Modernists rejected traditional institutions and forms. American Modernists include: