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What motivates the characters in "A Good Man is Hard to Find"?
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Each character has different motivations in Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." These differences become clear as three generations of one family set off on vacation together. The grandmother is interested in traditional societal standards and values. She considers herself a Christian, and she longs for a time when children were respectful to their elders. She believes that the world has gotten worse since she was younger and nowadays, "a good man is hard to find." The grandmother's son Bailey attempts to assert his authority over the family. He decides—against his mother's wishes—where the family will go. His children, however, are able to divert the group to an old house their grandmother has mentioned.
Each character has different motivations in Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." These differences become clear as three generations of one family set off on vacation together.
The grandmother is interested in traditional societal standards and values. She considers herself a Christian, and she longs for a time when children were respectful to their elders. She believes that the world has gotten worse since she was younger and nowadays, "a good man is hard to find."
The grandmother's son Bailey attempts to assert his authority over the family. He decides—against his mother's wishes—where the family will go. His children, however, are able to divert the group to an old house their grandmother has mentioned. They accomplish this through bad behavior, which includes yelling and kicking the backs of the front seats of the car.
The children, John Wesley and June Star, do not respect the adults...
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they encounter. They roll their eyes at their grandmother, and they make rude and disrespectful comments to the proprietress at Red Sammy's cafe. All the members of the family want to control the others.
When the family becomes lost and encounters an escaped criminal called The Misfit, however, they find out that they have absolutely no control over the situation. The Misfit and his companions exert the ultimate control over the family by taking them to the woods and ending their lives.
It's probably easiest to focus on the more main characters of the story: the grandmother, Bailey, the two children and, the Misfit.
Flannery O'Connor writes the grandmother as someone who adheres to the moral and traditional values of the south. One of these values is that elders are always listened to and always right. While it may seem like she whining at times, she is asserting what she believes is her right: as the eldest, she should be making the decisions in the family.
Bailey, her son, as the oldest adult male, feels he should be the one in charge. He is the head of the household, and while he wants peace and quiet, he wants to be the one in charge and the one making the decisions. He certainly wants his family to see he is in charge. It's hard for him to do since his mother is there.
The children represent a direct opposition to both the grandmother and Bailey. They are disrespectful to both their grandmother and their father. They don't seem to care about anyone but themselves, and only want some sort of adventure or excitement in their lives.
The Misfit's motivation for acting the way he does comes from the story he tells about his past. He was put in jail for murdering his father, something he doesn't remember doing, but the police insist he did. The Misfit figured that if he was going to be labeled as a criminal or a "misfit", he'd better fulfill the role. His character shows the danger of labelling others before getting to know them.