A Good Man is Hard to Find- Discussion

   I think I saw the roles of chance and fate when the family was eating dinner and the grandmother was talking to Red Sam. The stories he told were what made me notice that. I think the way The Misfit was is chance. He did not have to be like that, he could of grown up to be a kind, forgiving man. There was the chance that he would not become a good man, and that slight chance happened. I think it was fate when the family's car tipped over and the grandmother got to talk to The Misfit. It was fate when she talked to him, and told him what a good man he was. I do not think it changed him, though. If it did, I certainly could not tell. Maybe it changed him on the inside, and it would make him change someday.

   I think the grandmother's definition of a good man is someone who can change. It could also be someone who came from a good family and was good to begin with, even if they are not anymore. She also thinks a good man is someone who prays, and gets forgiven by God. In the story, the grandmother tells The Misfit over and over that he is a good man. I guess that I never thought of someone like that to be a good man, but the grandmother does. She also tells The Misfit that he needs to pray. She says that if he prays, he will get help; he does not want to. She still calls him a good man.
   By reading this story, I have realized that in life I try to view everyone as good people. I try to see the good in them. I have realized that I do not do this as much as I thought I tried to. I do not think that I could ever call a person who has broken out of jail and is running with two men and two guns a good man. I would not be able to see the good in them.
   I do agree when the grandmother says that there is good in everyone, and that she is trying very hard to see the good in The Misfit. I also agree when she says that if he prays, he could do better. I think that even if he does not believe in prayer, repenting and being sorry for the bad things he has done would be good for him.

   I wonder if the grandmother knew that The Misfit was going to shoot them all. When I came to that part, I noticed that it seemed like the grandmother knew he would, and was trying to convince him that he was a good man, and had no place going around and shooting people.
   I also wonder why the grandmother said he was one of her own children. I wonder if she meant that he was as good as one of her own children, or that he literally was.


   In the blogpost we read about Flannery O'Connor, I noticed something that I had never thought about before. The author of this blogpost got an opinion from another person about A Good Man is Hard to Find. The person said that grace was a part of the story, and that many of O'Connor's stories have grace in them. I stopped and thought about it, and realized that it is very much true. When the grandmother in the story just stopped and talked to the Misfit, telling him he was a good man and that things could get better and he could be forgiven, that was all grace. Having grace is what helped her to, in a way, forgive the Misfit.