A Good Man is Hard to Find Short Story
- What character do you find most interesting in the story? Why? Point to specific parts of the text to discuss this.
While reading this bizarre story, I found the grandmother in the first chapter to be the most interesting. Her thought process was very odd, and slightly graphic. For example, before they go on their road trip, she decides to bring along her cat Pitty Sing: “She didn’t intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for 3 days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might brush up against one of the gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself.” You can see why the author’s writing has been described as grotesque and apocalyptic. Another example is when her outfit is described. “Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady.” It seems like heavy foreshadowing. I also found the storyline surprising. With a predictable plot: they read about a serial killer in the paper, take a bad detour, and lo-and-behold meet this Misfit killer only to be killed by him. But the way she led up to their deaths was very unexpected as they would have been let go, yet because the grandmother recognized the Misfit, they were murdered.
Good point, I didn't realize at first how so much description around The Grandma pointed to the family's morbid death.
ReplyDeleteThe way you used quotes form early points in the story to further explain why the ending was so predictable was also interesting.
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