A Good Man Is Hard To Find

     Flannery O'Connor is an author of mentioned is the title A Good Man Is Hard To Find novel. The story is about the following: location where everything is happening is on the south of Georgia. Father wants to take his children, an 8-year old John, June and his wife with their child at the breast and his mother to Florida. But Bailey`s mother, a grandmother of his children, is trying to persuade him from going there. First of all, they have already been there last summer; secondly, what is the most important, there are news all over the newspapers that a criminal called Cast Away escaped from the federal prison who moves in Florida`s direction. However hard she tries, no one listens. The family take seats in the car and goes from Atlanta. The day is beautiful outside. Grandmother tells about her spring of life, about places of interest; everyone seems to be happy about the journey. 

     They stopped by the roadside café to grab a snack. Everyone seems to feel even higher putting a coin into a jukebox and hearing Tennessean waltz and then June dances tap-dance to the sounds of some other music. The host of the café called Red Sam enters and joins the conversation complaining about his life, saying that however hard one tries, remains a fool anyway. For example, last week he borrowed a bit of gasoline to some crooks, they were gone on the car and he has never seen them ever since. Answering a rhetorical question why it always happens to him, the grandmother answers that the reason is probably in his kind nature. Red Sam agrees with grandmother and says that a good man is hard to find, no one can be trusted nowadays, it is no longer as it was before when one could leave home with a front door being open.

     Bailey`s family keeps going. The grandmother enjoys a balmy sleep on the back seat of the car, passing through Toomsboro, she wakes up and remembers all of a sudden that there is an old plantation nearby, a beautiful house, an oaken alley wit arbors. Though it has been awhile since the time she was there, back in the days of her spring of life, she says that she remembers the way well enough and that they should visit this place of interest for sure. Her son and daughter-in-law do not want to turn aside so no time was lost but grandmother manages to make the children interested and they persuade their father to go along the plantation through the country road.

     Bailey grumbles as long as the road is dusty and wavy and that no one has been here for a while is seen. Suddenly, the grandmother realizes that she was mistaken: the plantation is located not in Georgia but in Tennessee. All at once, the car turns upside down and falls headlong. No one dies but Bailey`s wife to break her shoulder and hurt her face. Bailey speechlessly and furiously looks at his mother. There is no one around. The cars most likely do not happen to pass by this road. Then, some car appears from afar, on the hill. The grandmother shouts for help waving her hands. There are three men in the car. The face of one of them looks familiar to the grandmother. Looking closer, she realizes this to be that very Cast Away she was reading of in the newspapers. She sees a gun one of the man to hold and asks Cast Away do them no harm. She says that he for sure is a good man at heart. Cast Away says one of the men to take Bailey and John to the woods. They leave. The grandmother being all worried keeps saying that he still can become a good man, can come to anchor if he prays to God. Two shots are heard and they escalate situation. Cast Away begins telling the grandmother of his rootless life. Meanwhile, Cast Away`s companions Bobby Lee and Hiram comes back from the woods with Bailey`s shirt in their hands. Cast Away asks Bailey`s wife and children to hold hands and follow his companions back to the woods where they would be able to see their family again. Being left alone, the grandmother tries to convince Cast Away to pray God again. when a desperate shout and then shooting are heard from the woods, the grandmother losing her senses asks Cast Away to let her go. And again she speak of Jesus Christ, which irritates the bandit even more. The grandmother touches Cast Away with her hand saying him to be her son, one of her children. Cast Away jumps back and shoots three times into an old ladies` chest. Then again, she tells his companions to take her body into the woods.      

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