Southern Gothic Style in Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is...

American literature refers to written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and Colonial America. It has many forms and different kinds of authors within its genre. One American author, Flannery OConnor, is known for her Southern Gothic style of writing. In her short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find OConnor uses the Southern Gothic style, brought on by her background, to establish various ties between the characters and their actions. Flannery OConnor was born in Savannah, Georgia on March 25, 1925. Growing up in the Deep South, her family was of Catholic religion. During her lifetime, OConnor wrote two novels and 32 short stories among other works. Many of her stories take place in the south such as†¦show more content†¦Bailey, the son of the character known as the Grandmother, decides to go to Florida anyway. Along their way to Florida with Bailey’s wife, the baby, and the two disobedient children; June Starr and John Wesley, the Grandmother is characterized as a senile, racist woman of bad judgment. This can be seen when along the ride she sees an African-American young boy and states, â€Å"Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!...Little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do. â€Å" (O’Connor 12). The climax of the story occurs as the family leaves Red Sammy’s Famous Barbecue and gets in a car accident with the Misfit himself. It is then safe to say that the assumption of the senile Grandmother is accurate due to the thought that runs through her mind, â€Å"A horrible thought came to her†¦the house that she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia, but Tennessee,† (19). The Grandmother’s forgetfulness is in turn the direct cause of the accident and run-in with the Misfit. The two other escapees then murder the family one by one until it came time for the Grandmother to face the Misfit eye to eye, all by herself. After she tries to convince the Misfit that he was a good man and the name Misfit did not fit him at all she begins to refer to Jesus. Jesus was something the Misfit does not want to her about and as she leans to touch his shoulder he shoots the GrandmotherShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Poem Southern Gothic 1566 Words   |  7 PagesMyszkowski English 1102 17 April 2016 Southern Gothic Literature In the 19th century, the Southern Gothic genre quickly became popular after Edgar Allen Poe poems in the 18th century. Most writings were formed around the Civil War era, which plays an enormous part in the tone and setting in Southern Gothic writing styles. (O’Connell 63) Southern Gothic writing elements consist of â€Å"horror, romance and psychological and domestic dramas† (63). 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Without these similar yet inherentlyRead MoreQuestions for Critical Thinking1690 Words   |  7 PagesQuestions for Critical Thinking A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor 1) What is the grandmother’s attitude toward the South as opposed to the rest of her family’s attitude, particularly her grandson’s? How do you account for the difference? In the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† the grandmother’s attitude toward the South is that the â€Å"old South† was better than the current South. For example, in paragraph 14, John Wesley, the grandson, states â€Å"Let’s go through Georgia