A mystery has always been how people can respect themselves even when they despise and humiliate other humans. Imagine knowing someone forever and seeing their manufactured character rather than their authentic character. Imagine being raised by someone you think is a great person, but you find out who they really are. Finally, imagine losing family members because of another person's destructive actions. Good and evil are not always what they seem. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get an Original EssayIn "A Good Man is Hard to Find," a gothic short story written by Flannery O'Conner, Bailey's mother considers herself being superior to all those around her. Everyone in her family sees her as fake rather than her true self. Even Bailey's mother doesn't know who she really is. She believes she has many positive traits. Some of the traits that the grandmother believes herself to have are that she is a decent, wise, well-mannered, and wonderful woman. Although the story reveals her to be a very hypocritical woman in many approaches and scenes. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” begins with a family planning a trip but there are many disagreements. Bailey, the grandmother's father and son, wants to take his family to Florida. His family insists on his wife, mother, baby, and two other children named John and June Star. John is a rowdy and ignorant young boy, and June is an obnoxious young girl. Then the grandmother says she doesn't think the family should go to Florida. The reason she says this is because there is a dangerous killer who has escaped to Florida, whose name is the Misfit. The Misfit is a criminal who escaped from prison and is murdering innocent people. He is unsure of the meaning of Jesus, so he tries to make sense of his life by being cruel. The family ignores what the grandmother has to say and leaves the next morning for Florida. The grandmother decides to hide her cat, Pitty Sing, and take him in the car to accompany her on the trip. During the trip, the grandmother plays games with the children, then they make a quick stop at The Tower restaurant. The grandmother has a conversation with Red Sammy, who is the owner of the restaurant, and tells him what a good man he is. They then continue talking about the Misfit. After leaving the restaurant, the grandmother tells the children about an old plantation she saw when she was a child that was nearby, at the end of a dirt road. The narrator states, “The children began to shout and shout that they wanted to see the house with the secret panel” (342). Because of their screams, the children convinced Bailey to go to the plantation. The family is driving down a dirt road and there is nothing to see. Then the grandmother understands that the plantation was in Tennessee and not Florida. The narrator states, “The thought was so embarrassing that she turned red in the face, her eyes dilated, and her feet jumped, knocking her suitcase over in the corner” (343). She is scared and pulls her purse, causing her cat to jump out of her purse, directly at Bailey. Bailey rolls the car into the ditch, but no one is killed. Patiently, the family waits for a car to arrive. Finally, a car approaches. However, the car was not a car with ordinary people. In the car are the Misfit and two of his friends. The grandmother notices this, which reduces her family's chances of survival. The narrator said: “The grandmother screamed. Shegot up and stood there staring. “You are the outsider!” » she said. 'I recognized you straight away!' » (344). The Misfit then sends John and Bailey into the woods to have his friends shoot them, and not far behind them June, the mother and baby. The grandmother tries to convince the Misfit to pray and find Jesus, but it doesn't work. The narrator states, “Pray, pray,” the grandmother began, “pray, pray…”” (347). The Misfit prepares his gun, shoots the grandmother several times and tells his friends to dispose of her body. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the grandmother appears to have acts of pettiness. His family may not realize it, but as the public, more of his negative actions stand out. Some people may view bringing your cat into the car for a road trip as a traditional grandmother's action, even though bringing the cat has a huge impact at the end of the story. In the article "One of My Babies: The Misfit and the Grandma", Stephen Bandy states: "Many critiques of the story seem to take a sentimental view of the Grandma, largely because she is a grandmother” (109). Grandma doesn't listen when Bailey tells her not to bring the cat, and she does it anyway. She doesn't care what others say as long as she gets her way, thus taking the cat with her. It's a petty act, because taking her cat with her caused Bailey to get into a car accident. The car accident could have been avoided if the grandmother had listened to Bailey when he said no. Bandy says, “Anyone who has traveled a long time with a cat might marvel at the fact that Pitty Sing managed to stay in his basket undetected for all that time” (113). This quote shows the audience that the grandmother was well aware of her petty act since she tried to hide the cat. Since she knew about this act, it only further shows her pettiness. The grandmother also has many manipulation techniques. The first sign of manipulation that the grandmother shows is wanting to go to Tennessee instead of Florida. She claims she has family in Tennessee, so she wants to go there. Bailey says no, so she goes on to say that there's a killer on the loose so they shouldn't go there. Bandy declares: “To achieve this goal, she does not hesitate to dangle before her eyes the horrible prospect of the death of her children” (113). Bailey once again says no and she uses her manipulation to continue to harass him. She goes on to say that the kids have already been to Florida so they shouldn't have to go back. She finds every excuse in the book to keep them from going to Florida. Writer Robert Rea states, "The story opens with the grandmother harassing her son, Bailey, for taking the family on vacation to Florida, where a serial killer is 'released from federal prison'" ( 170). The grandmother is constantly trying to get what she wants by using many scandalous tricks that make her seem innocent. The grandmother is determined to do whatever it takes to get what she wants, when she wants it. Another way the audience can perceive manipulation is how the grandmother makes things up. The narrator states, "'There was a secret panel in that house,' she said shrewdly, not telling the truth but wishing she were" (342). The grandmother lies about them being on a panel, just so the kids pester Bailey into letting them go. She is very intelligent and secretive with her manipulation methods. Another way the audience sees the grandmother's evil and wrong actions is the way she presents herself.