A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Flannery OConnor
Character List

The Grandmother - An irksome woman who lives with Bailey and his family. During the familys
journey to Florida, the grandmother suggests that they visit an old house she remembers, an idea
that leads to a car accident and the murder of everyone in the group. Before she is killed, the
grandmother remembers that the house is actually in Tennessee, nowhere near where she said it
was. She tries to reason with the Misfit but only enrages him. She experiences a moment of grace
right before the Misfit shoots her.

The Misfit - A wanted criminal who stumbles upon the family when they crash their car in the
woods. The Misfit lives by a moral code that involves murder and remorselessness, but he also
spends time wondering about Jesus. Because he doesnt know for sure whether Jesus really raised
the dead, he has opted for meanness as a way of giving his life meaning. He doesnt see himself as
a terrible person. His two henchmen kill the entire family, and the Misfit shoots the grandmother
himself.

Bailey - The frazzled head of the family. Bailey seems to love his mother, but her needling behavior
sometimes gets the best of him. He gives in to the grandmothers request to visit the old plantation
house that she remembers only because the children are driving him crazy. When the grandmothers
cat jumps onto his shoulder, he wrecks the car. He tries to quiet the grandmother and stop her from
provoking the three criminals, but he is ineffective. He and John Wesley are the first to be killed by
the Misfit.

John Wesley - A loud, obnoxious, eight-year-old boy. John Wesley wants to visit the house the
grandmother talks about because she says it has a secret panel.

June Star - An obnoxious young girl. June Star loudly speaks her mind and makes cutting
observations about those around her.

The Mother - Baileys wife and the mother of John Wesley, June Star, and a baby. The mother
breaks her shoulder in the car crash and is eventually killed by the Misfits henchmen.

Red Sammy Butts - The owner of the Tower restaurant. Red Sammy is a good man according to the
grandmother, trusting and even gullible to a fault.

Bobby Lee - One of the escaped criminals. Bobby Lee is fat and, according to June Star, looks like a
pig.

Hiram - One of the escaped criminals. Hiram wears a gray hat and inspects the familys car.

Plot Overview
The grandmother tries to convince her son, Bailey, and his wife to take the family to east Tennessee
for vacation instead of Florida. She points out an article about the Misfit, an escaped convict heading
toward Florida, and adds that the children have already been there. John Wesley, eight years old,
suggests that the grandmother stay home, and his sister, June Star, says nastily that his grandmother
would never do that.

On the day of the trip, the grandmother hides her cat, Pitty Sing, in a basket in the car. She wears a
dress and hat with flowers on it so that people will know she is a lady if theres an accident. In the
car, John Wesley says he doesnt like Georgia, and the grandmother chastises him for not respecting
his home state. When they pass a cotton field, she says there are graves in the middle of it that
belonged to the plantation and jokes that the plantation has Gone with the Wind. Later, she tells a
story about an old suitor, Edgar Atkins Teagarden. Edgar brought her a watermelon every week, into
which he carved his initials, E. A. T. Once he left it on the porch and a black child ate it because he
thought it said eat.

The family stops at a restaurant called the Tower, owned by Red Sammy Butts. Red Sammy
complains that people are untrustworthy, explaining that he recently let two men buy gasoline on
credit. The grandmother tells him hes a good man for doing it. Red Sams wife says she doesnt trust
anyone, including Red Sam. The grandmother asks her if shes heard about the Misfit, and the
woman worries that hell rob them. Red Sam says, A good man is hard to find. He and the
grandmother lament the state of the world.

Back in the car, the grandmother wakes from a nap and realizes that a plantation she once visited is
nearby. She says that the house had six white columns and was at the end of an oak treelined
driveway. She lies that the house had a secret panel to make the house seem more interesting.
Excited, the children beg to go to the house until Bailey angrily gives in. The grandmother points him
to a dirt road.

The family drives deep into the woods. The grandmother suddenly remembers that the house was in
Tennessee, not in Georgia. Horrified at her mistake, she jerks her feet. Pitty Sing escapes from the
basket and startles Bailey, who wrecks the car. The childrens mother breaks her shoulder, but no
one else is hurt. The grandmother decides not to tell Bailey about her mistake.

A passing car stops, and three men get out, carrying guns. The grandmother thinks she recognizes
one of them. One of the men, wearing glasses and no shirt, descends into the ditch. He tells the
childrens mother to make the children sit down because they make him nervous. The grandmother
suddenly screams because she realizes that hes the Misfit. The man says its not good that she
recognized him. Bailey curses violently, upsetting the grandmother. The grandmother asks the Misfit
whether hed shoot a lady, and the Misfit says he wouldnt like to. The grandmother claims that she
can tell hes a good man and that he comes from nice people. The Misfit agrees and praises his
parents.

The grandmother continues telling him hes a good man. The Misfit tells the other two men, Hiram
and Bobby Lee, to take Bailey and John Wesley into the woods. The grandmother adjusts her hat,
but the brim breaks off. The Misfit says he knows he isnt good but that he isnt the worst man
either. He apologizes to the grandmother and the childrens mother for not wearing a shirt and says
that he and the other men had to bury their clothes after they escaped. He says they borrowed the
clothes theyre wearing from some people they met.

The grandmother asks the Misfit whether he ever prays. Just as he says no, she hears two gunshots.
The Misfit says he used to be a gospel singer, and the grandmother chants, pray, pray. He says he
wasnt a bad child but that at one point he went to prison for a crime he cant remember
committing. He says a psychiatrist told him hed killed his father. The grandmother tells the Misfit to
pray so that Jesus will help him. The Misfit says hes fine on his own.

Bobby Lee and Hiram come back from the woods, and Bobby Lee gives the Misfit the shirt Bailey had
been wearing, but the grandmother doesnt realize its Baileys. The Misfit tells the childrens mother
to take the baby and June Star and go with Bobby Lee and Hiram into the woods. Bobby Lee tries to
hold June Stars hand, but she says he looks like a pig.

The grandmother starts chanting, Jesus, Jesus. The Misfit says hes like Jesus, except Jesus hadnt
committed a crime. He says he gave himself this name because his punishment doesnt seem to fit
the crime people said he committed. A gunshot comes from the woods. The grandmother begs the
Misfit not to shoot a lady. Two more gunshots come from the woods, and the grandmother cries out
for Bailey.

The Misfit says that Jesus confused everything by raising the dead. He says that if what Jesus did is
true, then everyone must follow him. But if he didnt actually raise the dead, then all anyone can do
is enjoy their time on earth by indulging in meanness. The grandmother agrees that perhaps Jesus
didnt raise the dead. The Misfit says he wishes he had been there so he could know for sure. The
grandmother calls the Misfit one of my own children, and the Misfit shoots her in the chest three
times.

Bobby Lee and Hiram return, and they all look at the grandmother. The Misfit observes that the
grandmother could have been a good woman if someone had been around to shoot her every
minute of her life. The Misfit says life has no true pleasure.