Character Analysis in A Good Man is Hard to Find

Response Paper: Analysis of the Grandmother Character in A Good Man is Hard to Find. 

A Good Man is Hard to Find is a narrative that focuses on a family that is planning to travel on a road trip for the holidays. They have to decide on their destination, and this is where the grandmother takes center stage by manipulating the family into going to where she wanted. On their way to Florida, she makes up a lie about a house they see in the plantation just to make the family take the detour. The lie is an evidence of how manipulative the lady is, and despite knowing that it is not the right place, she counsels the information just to keep her image as the superior to the others. Her manipulative nature, however, does not save her from being murdered by misfits even if she tries the trick on him.

The grandmother throughout the narrative considers herself morally superior and usually referring to herself as the lady where she frequently passes judgment on others. She proudly dresses like a lady, dress, and a hat, a characteristic only she has in the story. The evidence of how she sees herself is seen when she tells Bailey that she wouldn’t take the children to where the Misfit is, instead her conscience would guide her away from that direction. It is clear that the lady considers herself in this instance superior and judges Bailey for deciding to take the family to Florida despite her objection. The grandmother has a rigid opinion about anything that involves her, for example, she gets defensive by telling John Wesley to have respect for Georgia since it was his home state.

Despite being critical of other people like John Wesley, grandmother does not see anything wrong with herself. Even after being dishonest to the family and having being selfish, there is no one time she turned to criticism on herself. Her selfishness is evident when she does not beg for the lives of the children, but she pleads for her own. The entire story could be based on this character as she tries to find the goodness in misfits while begging for her life but she does not find it.