A Good Man is Hard to Find:
I really enjoyed reading this short story in Engl 1102; however, I liked it even more when I read it the second time for this class. It's one of those stories that has so many details that it takes more than one reading to take them all in. This time when I read it, I noticed that O'Connor gave a very visual description of what each character was wearing. I thought it was interesting that the Misfit did not have on a shirt...maybe like he was misssing something that the rest of society seemed to have--something that is "ordinary" or "normal" was impossible for him to attain. He apologizes to the Grandmother for it, and then agrees to take one of Baily's shirts. As he puts it on, the grandmother "couldn't name what the shirt reminded her of," but then moments later exclaims, "Why you're one of my babies! You're one of my own children." I think this simple act of putting on Baily's shirt shirt made the Grandmother really able to see the Misfit as more like a person that she could relate to. This is an amazing use of a physical sign that has deeper meaning. There are countless other symbolic meanings in this short story, and that is one of the reasons that I enjoyed it so much.
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