In "A Good Man is Hard to Find", Flannery O'Connor highlights a challenging family relationship within a chaotic and changing world. The grandmother is the most animated member of the family and is constantly reminiscing about the past and lamenting about the current state of mankind. Her life is in constant contrast with the lives of the rest of her family; her aloof son Bailey and especially, the disrespectful grandchildren. In her is the embodiment of southern values and respect, even a sense of piety. She worries about the loss of values that others obviously disregard and dismiss. She makes an ominous statement about the character "the Misfit", who embodies all that is bad in the world that would later make a connection with the setting of the deaths of the family. In this final setting, the true face of human nature shines through, as the grandmother attempts to reason with the Misfit, to no avail, and then tries to save only her own life and not the lives of the family. It is here that it becomes obvious that reasoning with people, in this case the family and the murderer, is impossible in a world of chaos. More importantly, the human condition is presented to show that each person cares more for him or herself than their fellowman. .
The characters of the mother, baby, and the Misfit's friends are very peripheral and offer little or nothing to analyze. The couple at the barbecue place do illustrate turmoil in their lives that is easily connected to the family in the story. Red Sammy is an interesting character, who laments about the dangers of the world, as does his wife and their obvious disconnection with each other in their conversations, point to the parallel nature of an individual in a family. The grandmother seems to not be moved by the way that the woman is dismissed by Red Sammy and this reflects the grandmother's views of people. The grandmother constantly says that she is "a lady", so the treatment of Red Sammy's wife may be looked at by her as fine, because the wife was not as special as she.
