A Good Man is Hard to Find: Teacher Summary

A Good Man is Hard to Find is a story of skepticism in the characters of people which explains the title why A Good Man is Hard to Find. Among the notable elements of skepticism about people’s character in the story is the grandmother who talked to her son Bailey in not pushing to Florida because of the news that an escaped convict named The Misfit who might do them harm. The irony is that the grandmother was the first to be seated in the car on their way to Florida and brought her cat with her in the back of the car. This served as an ideal backdrop of the two Gothic elements in the novel which are the presence of an omen which is the cat and the citing of the criminal The Misfit which came true and citing an ancient prophecy (Harris, 2013) which in this case is the miracle of Jesus raising the dead. These elements highlighted the thesis that people these days are not to be trusted that supported the title A Good Man is Hard to Find.

The skepticism about people character that supports the title A Good Man is Hard to Find was reflected between the conversation of the grandmother and Red Sammy, the owner of The Tower who prepared them barbecued sandwiches. This happened on their way to Florida after the grandmother dissuaded her son Bailey on not pushing to Florida because they might encounter the criminal The Misfit. They stopped for lunch where the grandmother talked with Red Sammy, the owner of the diner and agreed that A good man is indeed hard to find in the dialogue that went along the lines of “It isn’t a soul in this green world of Gods that you can trust,” she said. “And I don’t count nobody out of that, not nobody” reflecting her distrust and skepticism about people. This statement may have been prompted by the news of the escape of the criminal The Misfit of which the grandmother would like to capitalize to dissuade her son from going to Florida.

This statement however proved to be ominous (an element of Gothic literature) because it happened with the grandmother leading them to the criminal The Misfit unknowingly. Along the way the grandmother had been bothering the entire family with her stories and complaints until she succeeded in convincing her son not to push through Florida and that she would give the directions herself on where they are going. She however led them to a dirt road where they met an accident because the grandmother’s cat jumped out of the basket that made Bailey lost control of the car and made it to flip over (a bad omen of the cat perhaps). The grandmother hailed a car for help which ironically, contained the convicts The Misfit. It also happened that the grandmother also used The Misfits as an excuse to dissuade her son in not going to Florida and now she just hailed them.

Strangely and perhaps for being excessively feisty, the grandmother declared she knows the people in the car as The Misfits. This proved to be fatal to them because the convicts felt compelled to kill them when they realized that the family now knows them. The Misfits had to kill the family to remain anonymous. The convicts first shot her son and then the rest of the family. The grandmother perhaps sensing that its now her turn to be shot tried to appeal to the man and this time, using his elderly age by calling the man “Bailey Boy!” . . . “I just know you’re a good man,” she said desperately. “You’re not a bit common!” This statement was an attempt to appeal to the good side of the criminal but the grandmother’s skepticism about people’s character proved to be right that as the criminal replied “”Nome, I ain’t a good man,” The Misfit said after a second as if he had considered her statement carefully”. But still she tried harder for anything that would deter the man from killing her. She inadvertently cried “Jesus!”. . .You’ve got good blood!” but still this had no effect on the young man replying that “Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead, . . .and He shouldnt have done it”. This final reply from The Misfits proved the lady’s skepticism of people’s character because despite her pleading the mention of Jesus Christ, she was still shot three times in the chest and died.

Works Cited

Connor, Flanner. “A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND”. Web. 11 Jul 2014. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/OEM/Downloads/79.pdf
Harris, Robert . “Elements of the Gothic Novel.” Elements of the Gothic Novel. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 July 2014. .
The Holy Bible. King James Version