Flannery O’Connor wrote “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” in 1953, and the southern setting adds an important dimension to the story. During this period, Jim Crow laws divided southern society along racial lines, and many whites still clung to an oppressive social structure that was in dire need of change.

The grandmother reflects these old, racist attitudes as she looks with amusement upon a Black child standing in the door of a shack, poverty shaping his reality. Instead of feeling compassion for this child, she treats him like a roadside attraction, calling him a “cute little pinkaninny” and commenting that the scene is so endearing that she would like to paint a picture of it. Soon thereafter, the grandmother alludes to Gone With the Wind, further highlights her yearning for the lost days of the Old South.

The grandmother’s prejudices are not just racial in nature; the grandmother is also class-conscious, priding herself on her heritage as a proper southern lady and making frequent references to "good blood." She takes care to dress the part, paying close attention to the details of her appearance before the family trip. She relies on this outward expression of class—indicated by her organdy cuffs and lace detailing—to differentiate herself from the “common” people of the world. And because of this distinction, she believes that she should receive preferential treatment.

We see evidence of the grandmother’s superficial values when she is faced with conflict; notably, her first attempt at flattering the Misfit is to remark, untruthfully, that she thinks he is of good stock, like herself:

You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people!

It does not seem to occur to her that the Misfit may not share her worldview or values, and indeed, it seems absurd that he would. That the grandmother fails to realize this demonstrates the depth of her prejudice and obliviousness. Eventually, the grandmother’s certainty in her own superiority vanishes in her final moments, and she manages to see the world clearly and without prejudice for one instant before she dies.