Character Analysis of the Grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find and Mrs. May in the Greenleaf - Essay Example

Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is a story about a family that is going to Florida on vacation. However, on the way, they have an accident and end up meeting an escaped convict and his posse, who end up killing the whole family. “Greenleaf” by Flannery O’Connor is a story about a widow, Mrs. May, who has singlehandedly, and without the help of her two adult sons, run a farm for fifteen years. She does not like her employee Greenleaf, nor his family. The story conveys her contempt and enviousness at seeing her employee’s sons succeed when hers have not, at least according to her standards. There is a definite sense in both stories that the protagonists are very aware and conscious of their social standing. What is more, they seem to revel in it, to the point where they think that they are not “common” folk, so to speak.

The grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” while going with her family on vacation, appears to be very conscious of the sort of clothes she has worn. It is explained that the reason for her to have done so is that in case they are involved in an accident, she wants others to know that she was a lady (422), and not a common woman. To keep up that appearance, she does not even allow her grandchildren to throw an empty sandwich box and paper napkins out of the car window after they had a snack during the car ride. Mrs. May, in “Greenleaf,” also seems to harbor such ideas about herself.

She does not like the idea that her son has become an insurance man to African-Americans, or a “nigger insurance man” as she calls it (451). One of her biggest fears is that her unmarried sons will marry “trash,” thereby ruining everything she had sought to achieve, which is of course her social standing, or what she deems it to be. Another similarity between the two protagonists is that both of them are quite controlling. The grandmother wants her son to change her plan of vacation because she wants to go somewhere else, and for that, she uses the excuse of The Misfit, the renegade convict right when the story starts.

What is more, during the trip when she wants to visit her old house, she makes up a story to entice her grandchildren who, as expected by her, make clamor till the father agrees to take them there (425). Mrs. May, similarly, seems to have a very controlling attitude. Even though throughout she has a feeling that she is the victim as nobody would help her, however, it is clear that she is the controlling one in the family – she does not want to let go of the control she has over her sons. This is apparent from the way she gets her will changed so that even after her death her sons would not opt to marry, what she deems to be, low born girls, by putting in a proviso that if they do so, their wives would not inherit any money from them (451).

Lastly, both protagonists had complicated relationships with their children. Bailey seems to be quite reluctant to listen to his mother, the grandmother of “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” What is more, he does not associate with her much. Throughout the story, he seems aloof from her. Mrs. May’s sons, also, do not have a close relationship with their mother. They do not follow in her footsteps to take over the farm, instead, both of them go out and seek other professions.

What is more, they do not appear sympathetic to their mother’s pleas either. This is perhaps because she is controlling and feigns her victimization too much for their taste.