Question

In at least 150 words, explain three ways in which Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard To Find,” exemplifies the characteristics of the Southern Gothic movement in American literature.

Answer 1

Southern Gothic literature is based on southern cultures and deals mostly with literal monsters within the community that are faced every day, as well as seriously troubled characters and tragic outcomes. The short story A Good Man is Hard To Find shows all three of these features. We can see the literal problems that they face through the misfit when he struggles with murderous thoughts and the grandmother whose selfishness ultimately leads to her family's destruction. These characters also bring out the common theme of flawed characters, as we find out throughout the story just how deeply disturbing they are. The last way that this short story shows a characteristic of southern gothic literature is the tragic results. The story ends with the grandmother in a way having killed her own family due to her selfishness and racism.

Step-by-step explanation:

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Answer 2

Southern Gothic is a genre with a mood that combines Southern details, such as small-town life, with terror or suspense. Unlike early gothic literature about vampires and ghosts, Flannery O’Connor and others began writing about the monsters around us in everyday life. A key characteristic of this genre is having deeply flawed characters. In “A Good Man is Hard To Find,” both the grandmother and The Misfit are deeply flawed characters for very different reasons. The Misfit is a murderer who seems to have been created by a failed penal system, while the grandmother seems like a proper lady at first, but turns out to be selfish, a racist, and ultimately gets her whole family killed. It is through these characters that O’Connor explores the theme of good and evil, and whether people are truly capable of change.