English / Analysis Of &Quot;A Good Man Is Hard To Find&Quot;



Autor:  anton  04 March 2011
Tags:  Analysis
Words: 1257   |   Pages: 6
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Erica Lynch

October 24, 2005

English 113(03)

Research Project #1

â€œA Good Man Is Hard To Findâ€

Flannery Oâ€™Connor

Jackson Jeen Alves. â€œGood Manâ€. Racism Examples. Retrieved 20 October 2005.


In this short story â€œA Good Man Is A Hard to Findâ€ there is a lot of racism going on in it. The grandmother is racist because she is a Southern white old woman who does not like as she called them â€œNegros.â€ The grandmother is very much stuck in the old days and will not look at what is going on in life and how it has changed since she was growing up. The grandmother does not like any black people no matter what, whether they have done anything wrong to her or not. She does not want her children and grandchildren having anything to do with them either.

This old woman was so racist that even when she rode by black people she even started talking bad about them and not knowing anything about these people. She wants to raise her grandchildren to be the same way because she does not believe in equal treatment at all. She thinks that black people should not be treated as equal as well as white Americans in life. In todayâ€™s world, many people would call her a â€œred neckâ€ because that is what most people refer to people such as her.


In this story you find that Oâ€™Conner is a very racist person and is does not have pretty much any realism towards life and the changes that go on as time goes by. There were many changes that went on during the time this story was written but she was as you call it â€œstuck in the old days.â€

The grandmother is a racist and cold-hearted person. She is one that does not care whether she hurts anyoneâ€™s feelings or not. The grandmotherâ€™s attitude towards other races is very noticeable in the story. She thinks just like that of white Southerners that was back in the â€œold daysâ€ when there was segregation and all going on in the United States. During the time, the story was taken place there were many changes going on in society as a whole. During this change, black Americans were no longer slaves to the white people and no longer were owned by the whites. In addition, they were beginning to fight for equal rights because they were just as much of an American as the whites were during this time.

There are several racist remarks and comments made in the story that reflected that the grandmother was racist. First on the way to their trip to Florida, they drive by a little black child playing outside of his parents shack. She looks out the window and states: â€œOh look at the cute little pickaninny!â€In addition, â€œwouldnâ€™t that make a picture, now?â€ The word pickaninny was very much used back in slavery, which was another term for slaves in a numbers as if they were little animals running around doing things. The grandmother is well aware that slavery is no longer going on but she does not care because she still uses the words for black Americans from slavery time.

The most terrible and interrupting thing about the phrase she said is because pickaninny spelled like that as she refers to is something that is little or no value so in other words she is referring to the child as little or no value. The grandmother would rather to refer to the black children this way instead of thinking of them being just as equal as she is. She thinks that black Americans should not have as many rights as the white Americans like herself. She does not think that black Americans should receive just as much respect as the white southern Americans like herself. She does not care about any other race and she is actually excited that these black Americans that she see as they are on their way to Florida is very poor because it is like she says they have what they deserve and more.

The grandmother is very happy that the child is very poor and is not as fortunate as her and her family is. What is so terrible about the situation she wants to take a picture of it, paint it, and display the child and his misfortune on the walls for everyone to see? She surely displays a lot of things that white American Southerners displayed which was a true hatred toward black Americans and thought that they should always remain as slaves with no rights at all. She discusses how the child does not have any pants on at all, the grandchildren ask why, and she states, â€œHe probably doesnâ€™t have any.â€ Also in this story, Oâ€™Conner refers to the black Americans as â€œniggersâ€ instead of black Americans knowing that term was a negative reference to black Americans.

This story was taken place also when black Americans were set free from slavery and had just as much equal rights as any other white American did. They were preferred to not be called â€œniggersâ€ but be called black Americans. During this time no matter what was said, she would not let go of the term â€œniggerâ€ referring to black Americans because she thought that they did not deserve as many equal rights because she thought that they could do no better if they were turned from under the power of white Americans.

The grandmother even goes on to tell her grandchildren a story about this little black boy who saw the letter â€œE.A.T.â€ and could not tell the difference between the word â€œeatâ€ and a persons initials. That is how terrible she would even put down someone of the black race. That told her grandchildren out of that story that black Americans are stupid and they cannot do any better for themselves or for others. The little boy John Wesley thinks the story is so funny because the little boy was so called â€œso stupidâ€ that he could not tell the difference between these three letters. June Star does not think the story if funny but not because it is racist but because she does not participate in funny stories.

In conclusion, I think that the author herself is racist towards the black Americans. She chooses to pick at the black Americans in this story as if they had done wrong to her but they had not. Yes, the author does achieve her purpose by stating facts and ideas of how the grandmother is so racist. The author was obviously racist by the way, this story is written and discussing race, and how the very black Americans should be treated in the United States. I do not agree with Oâ€™Conner of how racist she is because I think that everyone is to be treated equal whether they are Black, White, Native American, Arabian or whatever their race is. Everyone should be entitled to equal rights because there is no one who deserves to left out of things that they like to do and enjoy. I think that everyone should have just as equal opportunity at things as any other person does.

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