Southern Grotesque

       A Good Man Is Hard to Find is definitely a prime example of grotesque Southern literature. The first thing I noticed about the stories incongruous characteristics was the grandmother of the family. She is a professional manipulator, and the author focuses on that flaw from the beginning. She rarely has any dialogue in the story that comes without some self-profiting motivation. It becomes more than just a trait, we quickly identify her solely by that personality flaw and it is very annoying and frustrating to the reader. Secondly, you get the sense that they are driving through small towns. The grandmother talks about the mountain formations and the plantations she sees, never is any type of urban setting mentioned. This gives the reader a scene of a stereotypical Southern rural area. I believe what the author is trying to do in the story is depict the grandma as a flaw that the South has with religion. The entire story, the grandmother ignores God. She is very disrespectful to people, demanding of her family, and she is definitely only concerned with her own wants and desires. At the end of the story, when she is facing her demise, she finally calls out to Jesus to save her. I believe the author is trying to symbolize the hypocrisy of many people in the South, who constantly preach their faith, but their actions aren't conducive to a good relationship with God. The author has probably witnessed many people of strong Christian faith who live lives full of sin and then call on God when things go wrong for them.