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Dawson Bartlett

Mrs. Rutan

A.P Literature

26 September 2016

Word Count (1170)

O'Connor Takes On Fosters Theories

Literature is is like an iceberg; although simple at first glance, there is much more than

what meets the eye. Similarly Author Thomas C. Foster argues that there is more than what lies

at the surface of literature, and urges you to take a dive into analytical reading. His book -- How

to Read Literature Like a Professor -- grasps the concepts of literature and exposes otherwise

complacent ideas providing a much more critical view of short stories, poems, and other

literature work we study. Many of Fosters claims can be applied to Flannery OConnors short

story, A Good Man Is Hard To Find, in which a dreaded vacation turns out for the worst with

ubiquitously symbolic meanings.

Foster has many theories but one that really jumped off the page was his idea on

Vampirism. Foster explains that ghosts and vampires are never only about ghosts and vampires

(Foster, 17). He means that to be a vampire, a character does not have to physically suck the

blood out of anothers body, but that he/she only has to suck away their life -- at least

metaphorically speaking. In OConnors short story, she designates a very specific person as the

Vampire right off the bat -- the grandmother. The grandmother ventures off on a family vacation

with her son, Bailey, and his wife and two children. The first line in the story reads, the

grandmother did not want to go to Florida (446). Therefore, the first sentence we read tells us
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that she is being selfish.That line illustrates the pompous grandmothers selfishness by showing

that she doesnt really care about where anyone else wants to go, but only where she wants to go.

Near the end of the story, as The Misfit picks off the grandmothers family, the grandmother

becomes very self-centered. She only cares to see her own life be saved; in her desperate attempt

to stay alive she even offers Baileys extra shirt in his suitcase (456) to the nihilistic Misfit just

after her own son had been murdered by him. OConnor wrote her character to be perceived as a

vampire - sucking away at the life of others.

You never really know what will happen in a story because irony trumps everything

(Foster, 235). OConnor was very artistic using irony in A Good Man Is Hard To Find because

he demonstrated irony within the weather. Usually when a reader hears it was a dark and stormy

night, they immediately think horror. Well Foster opens up the minds of his readers when he

says that authors can twist the normal weather protocols and make them ironic. OConnor does

this numerous times throughout the short story. She wants it to initially come off a perfect day

however, the readers soon discover that is not the case. The characters quest begins off as a day

that is neither too hot nor too cold (447) and continues that way even past the ending. Since it

is such a perfect day outside the readers expect nothing but happiness and a great day -- even

though once again, they find that to be untrue. Even as the story comes to a close the weather is

still perfect when the grandmother dies and OConnor states, her face smiling up at the

cloudless sky (459). This is both ironic because of how it is a perfect day and she was smiling.

OConnor really did a wonderful job inserting this great technique of irony in his story.

Little did the grandmother and her family know but they would fall subject to Flannery

OConnors theory of Geography in A Good Man Is Hard To Find. Fosters theory about
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geography is ...when writers send characters down south, its so they can run amok (Foster,

17). The family becomes victims to geography, the south, when they climb inside their vehicle

and start their vacation to Florida little did they know that death hitched a ride as well. The

farther the family went south, the more terrible things began to occur. As they got to Georgia, the

most south you can go besides Florida, they reached trouble. They had been killed, along with

the grandmother who had been ...shot three times (459). OConnor certainly incorporated

Fosters theory of geography of the south in that truculent part of the story.

Another technique OConnor incorporated magnificently was geography of the

landscape. Throughout A Good Man Is Hard To Find, readers may notice they various

landscape references OConnor makes; believe it or not, they have meaning. Fosters theory is

that all landscape has meaning. These are just a few of the lows he listed: swamps, crowds,

fog, darkness, fields, heat, unpleasantness, people, life, death (Foster, 173). OConnors story

may start as a happy family vacation, but not too much later readers see the storys tone shift by

the lows OConnor gives within his writing. The Misfit makes the grandmothers family all

sit down in a ditch (OConnor, 453). By doing this, OConnor symbolizes the low point in

their families lives and how they are coming to an end.

Speaking of symbols, that happens to be another theory of Fosters. He states that if you

think a character, object, or place might have a secret, it probably means something (Foster,

107). Throughout the short story readers read numerous times about the grandmother and her

grandchildren arguing about silly things. The author purposefully incorporated these small

disputes to symbolize the clash of generations between the two distinct ages. One of the many

clashes they had were when the grandmother referenced Gone With the Wind and the kids just
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looked at her with googly eyes, not having a clue as to what she was talking about. (OConnor,

448). In the end, because of the huge clash of generations, it is very hard for the grandmother to

feel empathetic for her grandchildren because she isnt able to relate to them in any sense.

Foster is able to crack open that enormous mysterious iceberg and demonstrate the true

content within literature and bring about its true meanings. His theories can be applied and

interpreted in all works and it was quite evident in OConnors A Good Man Is Hard To Find.

OConnor used Fosters theories to make the story an experience and not just a read. It just goes

to show that there is more than what meets the eyes and literature can bring you numerous ways

of perception.
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Works Cited

Foster, Thomas C. How To Read Literature Like A Professor. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.

Print.

O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." Perrine's Literature Structure, Sound &

Sense. 11th ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage, 2012. 446-60. Print.