In the short story A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O Connor, the

author writes about an irritating grandmother who leads the family on an adventure. The

adventure is short ended when they encounter the Misfit, an escaped killer. As the family

is led into the woods to be murdered, the grandmother stays back pleading that her life

should be spared. In an unexpected act of compassion, she yells to the murderer, Why

youre one of my babies. Youre one of my own children! The Misfit recognizes that

when she cries these words, it is the first time she really believes in the power that God

has and the first time she shows concern for someone other than herself. This is a very

drastic moment because prior to these pleas, the grandmother is a manipulative, deceitful,

and self-serving woman. The grandmothers only son, and his entire family are dead and

she remained absorbed in her own fear, oblivious to what was going on around her. In

these final moments of her life, she not only sees beyond herself and shows a concern to

other individuals, but she finally forms a connection with God. Assuming God will be

there to save her is a lot to hope for because she hasnt done anything in life to earn his

saving grace. She would argue that she was always captivated by the Christian faith, but

truly she lived a life disregarding Christian, religious beliefs and morals. Showing interest

in the Misfit was unexpected as well. He has just killed her whole family but she was still

able to conclude the Misfit relates to the vast majority, that everyone does things that are

wrong by other peoples standards but dont feel wrong to themselves. The Misfit never

lied about things he had done, he just lacked morals to know right from wrong. David J.

Leigh wrote an article Suffering and the Sacred in Flannery OConnors Short Stories.

He believes, Characters are transformed by their suffering The result is that the

grandmother becomes a good woman in the last moment of her life as she suffers
death from the Misfits gun. (Leigh, Davis J. Suffering and the sacred in Flannery O

Connors Short Stories Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 65.5 (2013). Literature

Resource Center. Web. 14, December, 2015. ) Leigh concludes that suffering brings out

humanization in individuals, in this case the grandmother. The grandmother was never

a homicidal monster like the Misfit, but previous to this moment she as well had an

extreme absence of integrity. This short story is a reflection of thoughts and problems

that individuals face in society.

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