Paper 2: Flannery O’Connor – “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Please answer the following questions, in complete sentences, based on the Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” For each question, provide your answer and then provide specific evidence (with page numbers, if direct and citing) to support your answer. Please type your answers, and be complete in your support of each point. Please use the same format as with Paper 1: omit the numbers and questions for each response, making a new paragraph when answering a new question. This is due by 10/22/17, 12PM EST. Include a Works Cited page for any sources/citation in text, and use the correct in text citation format: (Author’s Last Name pg. #). You may use APA format if you wish. In your answers, it is important to pull in support from the story, but citation is not required. Given the amount of detail anticipated for each response, I’d expect at least three pages by the time of submission, so I’d just be wary of submitting anything too short of that in case it is under-detailed in its responses.
1. What kinds of behavior or ways of acting toward others do the characters in this story display? Name the characters and describe the behaviors they support and the the attitudes they do not. Provide reasoning and support for each (Grandmother, Misfit, each family member, Hiram, Bobby Lee, Red Sammy and his wife) character in terms of their beliefs.
2. Are there differences in your values and the values of the main characters in this short story (the two main characters are the grandmother and The Misfit)? Explain your similarities and/or differences.
3. What must the reader believe in to make this plot more believable? What kind of beliefs would a reader have to have to sympathize with any (pick two/three characters) of the characters? Explain your answers.
4. What role does Christianity or religious belief play in this story? Name any specific examples you can find to that references religion and the role it plays in the story. These may be obvious, implied, symbolic, interpreted, or spoken, etc.
5. What does the Misfit mean by the last set of words he speaks (very last words he speaks in the story)? How does it relate to the parable mentioning the mustard seed we read last week? Does the Grandmother have any redeeming qualities? What about the Misfit? Explain your answer.
6. In what ways does this story display questions or fears people have about faith in God, through what characters or actions they take (or don’t take) in the story?
Website for story
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/goodman.html
