Blog Assignment #4: Southern Grotesque

Both the characters and the plot of O' Connor's, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" can be considered grotesque or obscene in various ways without the reader having to dive to horribly deep. From the very beginning O'Connor begins his story with what seems to be a typical family grandma included out on vacations, the kids seem rude and unruly, grandma upholds her self appointed patriarchal with the out most nagging, and mother and father seem to play along as if conducting daily routine on a road trip. Right off the bat, the grandma brings up an article about a killer in the area towards Florida and how it would be horrible to go there because something could happen to the family and she would be crossed to see it happen while subconsciously steers the direction of the vacation from Florida to Tennessee, all to see through with her way. About half way through their trip the family decides to stop in at a restaurant called The Tower owned by Red Sammy Butt, his shop is very odd between the monkey and the oddly shaped tables. At one point the grandmother and Red Sammy Butt begin to talk about the old days when people had the right kind of manners, and about how hard it is to find a good many anymore these days. This passage itself seems/feels fairly grotesque for how the older generations expect the world to mold and envelope the old and dying. Just because things took place a certain way years ago does not mean that the inhabitants of the current century should have to abide by the same ways.  Taking longer than it should begins to worry the grandmother and frustrate her son, then suddenly the car roles, throwing the family around and the readers mind. What could possibly go wrong with such a pleasant story? A beat up looking black vehicle appears with three men in it two younger and a middle aged man who just so happens to me the misfit, this of course is horrifying because from the beginning the family’s fate has been told, making readers hearts sink. On the flip side of the coin however the overwhelming grotesqueness of the family is finally halted by the grotesque (though possibly needed) of the misfits. Granted two grotesques do not make an ordinary  or non-grotesque one knows that only grotesque can prevail. Grandma begs, telling him he must be a good man, that this can’t be the path for him, and that Jesus loves him, the misfit turns around and spits it all back at her along with three bullets to her chest and three to her family. In the end it leaves the reader shocked and appalled on how fast the events of the story turned into such a gruesome tell of misjudgment, punishment, and hurt.