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MLA
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Literature & Language
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Research Paper
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Flannery O'Conner, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" Literature Paper

Research Paper Instructions:

For this essay, you'll be combining your own analysis of a literary work with research from scholarly, secondary sources that you find via the GSU library.
For this essay, you will need to read and analyze one of the following stories:
Flannery O'Conner, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find"
Requirements
All essays must contain the primary source AND three to five scholarly secondary sources from the library's Galileo collection.
All essays must use at least ONE of the secondary sources provided by the instructor.
All essays must contain internal citations and a corresponding Works Cited page in MLA format.
All essays should be 1000-1500 words - not including the Works Cited page or title.
All essays must be submitted via Achieve.
Select one of the topics below for an essay using scholarly, secondary sources to build your argument. You must use at least one of the sources provided by the instructor.
1. Analyze the use of place names in "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Not only should you geographically locate the places on a Georgia map, but explain how their names connect to their function in the story. The one place you won't find on a map is Timothy which is a reference to I Timothy in the Bible. Explain how that Biblical source influences the story.
2. Analyze Southern stereotypes in the story; the language, the characters, perhaps even the violence. Does O'Connor present a realistic portrait of a certain element of the South in the 1950s?
3. O'Connor has stated that her stories always deal with conversion, changes in a character, and, more specifically, the action of grace on a character who is unwilling to receive it. Write an essay which compares how "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "Greenleaf" deal with sin, grace, and redemption by analyzing their themes, settings, and characterizations. (Remember this will be a compare and contrast essay and should use a block or alternating method of organization.)
You must use at least ONE of these in your essay, but you are allowed to use more. All other sources must come from the GSU library.
Bryant, Hallman. "Reading the Map in 'A Good Man is Hard to Find.'" Studies in Short Fiction, no. 18, 1981, pp. 301-107.
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Fike, Matthew. "The Timothy Allusion in 'A Good Man is Hard to Find.'" Renascence, vol, 42, no 4, pp. 311-322.
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Bonney, William. "The Moral Structure of Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find," Studies in Short Fiction , vol 27, no 3, summer 1990, 347-357.
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Gleeson-White, Sarah. "A Peculiarly Southern Form of Ugliness: Eudora Welty, Carson McCullers, and Flannery O'Connor." Southern Literary Journal vol. 36, no. 1, fall 2003, pp. 46-57.
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Ochshorn, Kathleen G. "A Cloak of Grace: Contradictions in 'A Good Man is Hard to Find.'" Studies in American Fiction vol. 18, no. 1, spring 1990, 113-117.
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Flannery O’Conner, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
The American South has often been depicted with various stereotypes that focuses on several aspects of Southerners while portraying them as illiterate and uneducated. These stereotypical beliefs are often supported by several cultural forms, such as music, movies, and literature. Flannery O’Conner’s "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" contains various stereotypical beliefs about the South during the 1950s, and at the same time, it provides a realistic portrait of the female body as it is represented in the south.
Background
The story is an accurate portrayal of the 1950s since it is set in the state of Georgia. The initial chapters focus on an Atlanta family who are arguing about vacation plans (Bryant 301). The grandmother does not support the idea of traveling to Florida since there is an escaped convict by the name Misfit who is free in the state and heading towards Florida (Bryant 301). The grandmother has a superficial perspective about values that morally underscored the conversations the grandmother had with the child about old suitors, plantation days, and the expected behavior from children.
The story is realistic since it relies on a trip even though the character followed U.S. 78 North when going to stone Mountain, an unlikely option if the final destination in Florida. The grandmother was quick to point out exciting things during the trip, and a significant occurrence was when she pointed out at a graveyard that had five to six graves, and it was located in the middle of the cotton filed (Bryant 302). This was an obvious foreshadowing about the fate that awaited the characters. The grandmother’s failure to learn while being silent is the case of the tragic deaths of all family members. Soon after their car overturns in a ditch, a bespectacled individual approach them and the grandmother begins to feel that he is someone familiar, only to realize later that it is the Misfit. She quickly informs the criminal that she knows who he is, and this forced him to kill everyone.
Stereotypes
O’Connor created female characters to portray the horror and comedy that is life. Their experiences are used to dramatize O’Connor’s perspective that terror and comedy are the same things. The women are not stereotyped based on the maternal tradition of American popular culture. Red Sammy and the grandmother agree that it is difficult to find a good man, and the grandmother suggesting that Europe is the cause of the misfortune (O’Connor 15). Red Sammy, his wife, and pet monkey are presented as unattractive creatures, even though their link with heaven is created since they are in The Tower.
The white woman has also been regarded as a privileged human body that resembles the best creations of masculine art. White men considered the female body as being pure and pf white patriarchal lineage (Gleeson-White 47). Even though the white woman focused on the value invested in her body, she was also disembodied. She is in a tortured position, split between reality and image. Historians often acknowledge that the region’s relationship to race influences the standards of southern womanhood.
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