Definition of a "Good"

            In the story of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’ Conner, I find that it shows an elusive definition of “good.” Grandmother, who lives with Bailey and his family, strongly depicts the appliance of its meaning in which she indiscriminately labels “good” toward certain person. She also further points out one man as being “good” man and eventually leads to a point where it loses the meaning entirely. Finding this story to be ironical, there are clues provided by the author in regards to this complexity.

            In the middle of the trip, the family stops at a restaurant called the Tower, owned by Red Sammy Butts. Red Sammy complains that people are untrustworthy, explaining that he had been swindled by letting two men buy gasoline on credit. However, grandmother responds to his consequence, “‘because you’re a good man’” (O’ Conner 122)! Here, we can see that she applies the word “good,” though it seems that her usage of word unfits in this situation. Rather, in this case, “good” would mean such as poor judgment, blind faith, and the state of foolishness, in which none of meanings inherently fit to the true meaning of “good.”

            Another significant scene to look at is when family encounters with the Misfit. Recognizing that one of the men is the Misfit, grandmother asks him if he’d shoot a lady, and the he says he wouldn’t like to. Grandmother responds back, “’Listen,’ the grandmother almost screamed, ‘I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people” (O’ Conner 127)! Here, she refers “good” person to the misfit, but this meaning of “good” implies that there is a contradiction in moral code that grandmother and the Misfit adheres. On one hand, grandmother thinks he shares commonality of what it means to be “good” by her definition, but in response, the Misfit denies this. Although grandmother appeals her underlying value of “good” to the Misfit, her definition of “good” is entirely diminished, suggesting her claim that he doesn’t have “common blood” as her. Ironically, at the end, the Misfit, who is labeled as a “good” man, shoots and kills the grandmother.

            Grandmother’s usage of “good” is not necessarily tied with the actual meaning of its word, but it is solely based on values aligned with her own. She considers Red Sammy to be “good” because he takes trust on people and she finds that she can relate to this. Then She calls Misfit as a “good” man because she reasons, he won’t shoot a lady, in which this is a part of value of her own moral code. Essentially, in the mind of the grandmother, the concept of the men that is “good” is defined as someone who takes similar values of personality and morality means as herself, not based on the actual context of its meaning.