Grotesque Tendencies: An Analysis of Flannery O'Connor's Misfit in the Short Story "A Good Man Is Hard To Find"

The grotesque writing published in American short stories in the 50's rarely stand up to some of the outrageous, sickening, complex and downright distasteful characters seen in today's literature. However Flannery O'Connor's tale "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" shows distinctly morbid ideas, which are on par with some of today's storytellers. The Misfit in O'Connor's tale is grotesque in his politeness and consideration for his potential victims before he sentences them to death …

…Hard to Find" speaks of the violent gothic nature of this tale. The Misfit's pronouncements of murderous intentions and his civility as he plays with his projected victims prior to killing them show his grotesque tendencies. O'Connor seems to have known a lot about violence in the grotesque form, and her storytelling was ahead of her time allowing her to put a story like this together to equal any of today's multifaceted and repugnant tales.