36 pages • 1 hour read
Flannery O'ConnorA Good Man is Hard to Find
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1955A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Religion—specifically Christianity—is a strong motif in the story; both the grandmother and The Misfit are preoccupied with religion. How do their views differ? How are they the same?
How does the grandmother define a “good man”? How does this term relate to the title of the story? Is the grandmother a good person herself?
Explore the various meanings behind the title: “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Does the story prove that this is true?
Family is very important to both The Misfit and the grandmother. Compare and contrast their relationships to family.
Does the grandmother find goodness at the end of the story, as The Misfit suggests? Or is she simply trying to save her own life when she calls him her child?
How does the setting in the American South affect the story? Could this story have taken place in any other setting?
The Misfit claims not to remember the crime he committed that got him sent to prison and also that he definitely did not kill his father. Do you believe him? What do you think is the truth?
Related Titles
By Flannery O'Connor
