Lam 1

Beverly Lam
English 220; 36
Essay #1; Final
03/03/14
Critiques of Society in A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Writers can express their views and thoughts on events or moments that they have
experienced in their writings. In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery O'Connor expresses
her critiques on classism in the Southern society of American culture using characterization and
symbolism, along with the textual evidence in the story. In O'Connor's story, she critiques how
the upper class in the Southern society of American culture believes themselves to be above
everyone else who are in the lower classes. O'Connor also critiques the upper class for being
ignorant of the fact that their class does not affect one's morals to be better than those of lower
class.
Characterization is a literary element that is used by writers to enable readers to
understand the character. Throughout O'Connor's story, characterization is heavily used to
critique society. As the grandmother symbolizes the ignorant upper class of the Southern society
in American culture, O'Connor also uses characterization to present how the upper class are seen
as. The story starts off by describing the grandmother's personality. Although the grandmother
seems caring of her grandchildren by stating that the trip should be changed because a criminal
had escaped from prison in Florida, but in actuality, the grandmother had wanted to go to
Tennessee to visit some of her connections(O'Connor 117). Not only does this show that the
grandmother is dishonest and selfish, she also tries uses her class to tell her family what to do
because she would know best as an upper class character. This emphasizes that being in the
upper class does not make their morals and decisions to be better than the lower class in society.

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O'Connor describes the grandmother's outfit before the road trip begins and notes that anyone
seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady(118). This presents
how important the grandmother sees class, she was worried about how she was presented when
she was found dead than the fact that she was already dead. O'Connor characterizes the
grandmother with the use of the grandchildren, who symbolize the new generation in society,
showing barely any respect to the grandmother as they talk back to her and criticize her. The
grandchildren constantly show their dislike towards their grandmother, especially when June Star
shows disappointment when her grandmother survived the accident and limped out of the
car (125).
Throughout the story, O'Connor frequently critiques how important classes are viewed in
upper class society with the characterization of the grandmother. June Star says she would refuse
a man's hand in marriage if he only sent a watermelon each week to her, after her grandmother
had told the children about the story of being pursued by the man and his watermelons. The
grandmother then informs June Star that he was a gentleman and had brought Coca-Cola stock
when it had first came out, and the grandmother would have also done well to marry the man,
a very wealthy man(120). This states the grandmother saw Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden as an
object who could help her keep her status. This meant that the grandmother would rather have
located herself in a permanent position in the upper class, than finding someone she loved. The
grandmother telling June Star, who is still too young to consider marriage, to find a wealthy man
to wed to succeed in society, rather than getting a job to earn her own status and class. This also
shows how the grandmother had probably grew up to think of class as being fairly important
factor in society. O'Connor criticizes how the grandmother found that Mr. Teagarden's death was

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less important as the grandmother dwells on how wealthy Mr. Teagarden was. Although the
grandmother may remain in the upper class society if she marries Mr. Teagarden, she does not
have better morals than others as O' Connor characterizes the grandmother in the story.
Another point in the story that O'Connor uses to critique society of it's classism is when
the grandmother tries to persuade the Misfit from killing her. She tells him that he does not have
common blood, indicating that he comes from a good upper class family. Following this
statement, she states that he is a good man at heart(128) The grandmother believes that
because the Misfit comes from the upper class, he would not kill her and that he means no harm.
O'Connor also uses the Misfit to show how people from the upper class can be murder or act as
criminals when the grandmother believes that the upper class have good morals. Since the
grandmother is blinded by the importance of class and status, she did not understand that the
misfit had stopped depending on his class and believing in religion. The Misfit understood that
even though he was from the upper class, because there were papers that accused him of
murdering his father, he was imprisoned. In the end, the grandmother is still killed no matter
what she tries to persuade him with. Here, O'Connor criticizes that the upper class society in
American culture seem to find class to be an important factor in all situations and even protect
them, but American culture had changed, while the older generation of upper class were ignorant
and still in their nostalgic tales. The misfit's story of why he was jailed, shows that people in the
upper class could still be summoned if there were any papers on [them] (131). A Good Man is
Hard to Find, also shows how society in America has changed. The American society has
changed classism from having the upper class escape from the law enforcements to getting rid of
classism and enforcing the laws on the upper class. As O'Connor characterizes the misfit, she

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also uses the misfit as a symbol of the new generation of upper class society. The misfit is
characterized as a nervous and well-mannered man from an upper class family, who symbolizes
new generation of upper class that struggles from the change in the government system.
Using both characterization and symbolism, an object that tends to represent a significant
factor, O'Connor effectively critiques society in American culture. Flannery O'Connor uses
objects to symbolize what O'Connor critiques. While the grandmother shows how O'Connor uses
characterization to critique classism, the grandmother's hat is used to symbolize the
grandmother's thoughts of class. When the grandmother's outfit is described for the drive, the
grandmother's hat was decorated with white violets. The hat at the beginning, holds the
importance of class, a decorated idea., similar to the decorated hat. After the car crashes, the hat
is described to be on the grandmother's head , but broken and the violet spray hanging off the
side(125). This is the hat's first damage, but the hat is still on the grandmother, symbolizing the
first confrontation the grandmother has to face about class. Similar to the violets and decorations
that have fallen out of her hat, the grandmother's views of class that was always decorated is
gone. The grandmother realizes that classism does not matter in society, also symbolizing that
the older upper class generation realizes that classism does not affect American culture. After the
Misfit has the ladies and boys separated, the grandmother adjusts her hat, but the hat came off in
her hand and she let if fall on the ground(128). When the grandmother tries again to tell the
Misfit that he is a good man, she is as if she is trying to control her hat, but the hat still comes
off, and the Misfit, similar to the hat, can not be persuaded by the grandmother and she can not
dies, similar to the hat that falls on the ground(128). The hat is not the symbolism used in the
story, O'Connor also has characters to symbolize the different classes in society in American

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culture. While the grandmother symbolizes the older generation of upper class society, the misfit
symbolizes the new generation of upper class society, and the children, June Star and John
Wesley symbolizes the new young generation in society in American culture. The grandmother
would symbolize the upper class as she is characterized to dress well and act selfishly. June Star
and John Wesley were characterized to disrespect the state they are from, and show little respect
to the grandmother, or rather the upper class society, as they symbolize the new society in
America. The new young society sees the upper class society as laughable and the least
important in the current American society.
As Flannery O'Connor critiques classism in the Southern society of American culture, she
uses textual evidence, characterization and symbolism to express these critiques. While the
grandmother could represent both characterization and symbolism, she was a character that
heavily represented characterization and the grandmother's hat symbolizes the grandmother's
thoughts on class. Flannery O'Connor critiques the older generation of upper class to be ignorant
of the current American society that has changed, which holds the society back as the upper class
wants to hold on to their views of how important class is. From this, the new upper class society
is suffering from trying to capture the new society.

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Works Cited
O'Connor, Flannery. A Good Man Is Hard To Find. The Complete Stories of Flannery
O'Connor. 1953. Print.