Copy of RL.KID.1: A Good Man is Hard to FInd (9/2/2025)

Excerpt from "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O' Connor

The grandmother didn't want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and she was seizing at every chance to change Bailey's mind. Bailey was the son she lived with, her only boy. He was sitting on the edge of his chair at the table, bent over the orange sports section of the Journal. "Now look here, Bailey," she said, "see here, read this," and she stood with one hand on her thin hip and the other rattling the newspaper at his bald head. "Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did."

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1. What is the grandmother's primary motivation for not wanting to go to Florida?

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How does the grandmother attempt to persuade Bailey?

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What detail suggests Bailey is not particularly engaged with his mother's concerns?

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The narrative perspective in this passage functions to:

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1. What is the grandmother's primary motivation for not wanting to go to Florida?

How does the grandmother attempt to persuade Bailey?

What detail suggests Bailey is not particularly engaged with his mother's concerns?

The narrative perspective in this passage functions to:

How does the juxtaposition between Bailey's focus on sports and the grandmother's concerns about The Misfit reflect their relationship?