The answer to this question is certainly not in the short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor. To me the title suggested that a girl would truly find a good man after many previous attempts. Once I read the story I realized my prediction was wrong.
In fact the story was about a terrible man, the Misfit, who with the aid of a few others kills a grandmother and her family. Pleading for her life the grandmother says, "you shouldn't call yourself The Misfit because I know you're a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell." The grandmother may have just been complementing the Misfit because he held her life in his hands, but I found that the statement had a lot of truth in it.
Most people look on a person's outward appearance to judge how good or bad the person is. The problem is someone can't just look and tell whether the person would act a certain way and no one really knows the heart of man except the Lord. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 16:7, "for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
Who wouldn't like a built, good looking man? Sure good looks and hygiene are usually on the top of any woman's list of what a good man should look like, but we should consider his heart. If we don't we might end up like the grandmother--dead or broken hearted.
To find a good man one must define what a good man is. Of course each individual has their own personal opinion of the characteristics of a good man. To me a good man is loving, honest, caring, considerate, truthful, and loves the Lord. As I look over my list I think Wow this is going to be hard! I do not know many men out there who has these qualities and those that are are already taken.
The best way to resolve the anticipation is to wait. Waiting on the right guy with a good heart is better than jumping into a relationship with a guy with a decietful heart.
I am right there with you about the title of the story being completely misleading. And I also agree with what you said about looking at the heart. The grandmother says she can tell by looking at him that he is a good man, but I would think she should judge him by his actions and heart. No man who kills can be considered a good man, even if he looks like he is from a family of high social class. And I also agree on it being hard to wait for a guy like that. I have not found one like that who isn't taken!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that the title contradicts the story. I had originally chosen the story to present to the class because I thought it would be about a love story. It wasn’t even close to that. The way the story turned out was kind of upsetting. I do agree with the fact that you say to look at the heart but sometimes I think the term “heart-less” can define some people. Someone who can murder a family has no heart. They may have been a “good” person at one point in time but at one point the lost that “good” quality about them. Truthfully a good man is extremely hard to find! It’s hard to find someone with the same value and morals. I think though no person is perfect so even if you might think their “good” one thing could change that but you also have to remember after we are in a relationship, we tend to forgive our lover for things we wouldn’t normally think is right because we love them.
ReplyDeleteI believe the title "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is the irony of the killer himself. Is a good man hard to find, I wouldn't know because I'm interested in girls. So the killer is a man not a good man but a killer so if a women was to marry him she be dead sooner or later. I would like to think myself as a good man trying to live an honest life.
ReplyDeleteI think ladies chase the impossible sometimes(no offense), but everyone knows guys are not perfect neither are girls. Best way to go about this is don't have expectations they sometimes tend to overate when they have expectations.
This was a unusual story. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" was so ironic. I thought that story was about a woman having trouble finding a good man. But I was extremely wrong.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, a good man is a man who has his heart after the Lord. If he has this, everything above is already conquered.
This story, I wish would have ended better. The killing and the symbolism in it were very disturbing. Also, I found it quite funny how the grandmother wears a hat so that if she does die (which she does) she will be recognized as a lady.
A good man is most definetly hard to find. So many of them are so mean and cruel, that the good ones are a rareity. This story was a surprise at the end, because I too thought that this was a story about a woman finding that one special guy, but i was wrong. In a way though, the title of the story was't too misleading, because the grandmother thought that the Misfit was a good guy, but she was wrong in the end. Good men are hard to find, and hopefully Ill be lucky enough to find one.
ReplyDeleteI am in complete agreement with you. We should not judge a person's character by their physical appearance. It is whats in the heart that truly makes the man. This is something I have always believed in and will use when it comes to choosing a man for myself.
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