A Good Man Is Hard To Find: Review

​“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by Flannery O’Connor is a chilling tale of a cold-blooded murder of a family. A good, old-fashioned, traditional American family sets out on a trip to Florida when it comes across the Misfit - an escaped convict. He appears with two younger men, all of them carrying guns. After exchanging some dialogue, the younger men take the family members into the woods to shoot them, and the Misfit shoots the grandmother three times in the chest. This all reads like a completely senseless event with cruelty and coldness of blood that seems to have no purpose. And it is true - sometimes no purpose exists for the evil that people commit. This makes up the main theme of the story: “Evil does not have to have a reason. It just happens.” It is possible to argue that the Misfit might not have killed the family if the grandmother had not recognized him. However, it sure looks like he would have done it anyway. The three men came out with guns, approached the family, and began ordering them around - all before the grandmother recognized the Misfit and gave away the recognition. Misfit’s last words about the old lady show that he hated her from the first moment. Her good nature angered him. So he shot her three times in the chest. No need for a motive. Senseless evil simply exists, roams about, and will kill without pleasure or guilt.