Love in La, a Good Man Is Hard to Find

Jake is a self-absorbed, lazy, irresponsible, protagonist, who is driving along the freeway. He begins daydreaming about a car better than his 58’ Buick, with crushed velvet interior and an FM radio. His daydreaming causes him to hit the car in front of him. The driver of the other car is a naive, innocent women, named Mariana. Mariana is on her way to work, driving a car given to her by her father. Jake approaches Mariana with confidence and tries to smooth things over by flattering her and asking her for her phone number.

Jake is a very dishonest person looking to keep his freedom and willing to do whatever it takes to do so. He gives Mariana a fake phone number, address, and insurance information. Mariana is gullible in believing Jake’s lies. Jakes intentions are to walk away from his destruction with no consequences. The symbolism in this story is the freeway. The freeway makes Jake feel the freedom of the open road and allows himself to daydream, causing the accident. The theme of this story is lies, deception, and fantasy. Almost everything Jake says is a lie and Mariana believes it.

The authors tone reveals that he may see himself in the main character, Jake. The author may be a good guy that once strived for the persona of the “bad guy”. In this story he has a chance to portray himself in that light. I feel the irony in this title is the fact that someone is trying to find love in L. A. As an outsider we see Los Angeles as a very fake and shallow place, filled with fake and shallow people. This would make it hard to find true love. It is also irony that the setting is on a freeway, where many people are driving each and every day.

The chances of running into your soul mate are pretty slim. In my opinion, Jake has no moral code. He is willing to do whatever it takes to get away with the situation he has caused, including putting someone else at risk. Because of his actions of providing Mariana with false information and even having a stolen license plate from a junk yard, Mariana will have to foot the bill herself to fix her damaged car. He also lies to her about being a musician and an actor, trying to excite her and believe his stories. This story has not influenced my life, but has simply made me better understand literature.

I have never before analyzed literature like I did during this assignment and this story, and I look forward to analyzing more. For me, it has opened up a new meaning to literature. A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O’Conner The setting of this story takes place on the back roads of Georgia. The grandmother is a very enthusiastic Christian who enjoys telling stories. In the beginning of the story her motive is to visit friends in TN. Even though she does not get her way, she rides along on the road trip with her family to FL.

When they come across The Misfit that she read about in the newspaper she tries to save her and her family’s lives by making The Misfit realize his faith and she tries to make him believe he is a good person. Her son Bailey simply wants to take a smooth road trip to FL with his family, without any problems. When they come across The Misfit his motive is to be “the hero” and save his family by standing up to The Misfit. I feel the children’s mother did not play an important role in this story. She is just along for the ride and has no real motive.

The children John Wesley and June Star want to have fun on their family vacation. When their grandmother mentions this old house with secret doors and treasures they talk their father into taking a detour even though he is not happy about it. Red Sammy Butts is the owner of The Tower. He talks with the grandmother about what the world is coming to and how you cannot trust anyone these days. The 2 escapee criminals that are with The Misfit do all of The Misfit’s dirty work. They are the ones who murder the entire family except for the grandmother. I believe they have given their life to The Misfit in order to stay alive.

There are 3 symbolic pieces in this story: the grandmother’s hat, the town of Toomsboro, and The Misfits car. I believe the grandmother’s hat in this story symbolizes the old days. It symbolizes the lady she is and her beliefs. The town of Toomsboro symbolizes “Doomsboro”, because the family is doomed once they hit this town and run into The Misfit. I feel The Misfits car symbolizes death. It is described as hearse like, something you would see at a funeral. The theme of this story is trust. Throughout the entirety of the story the subject of trust is spoken about, and ultimately in the end the family could not trust The Misfit.

I believe the irony in this title is that the good man who is hard to find is Jesus. The grandmother speaks of Jesus multiple times and The Misfit could not find Jesus. The grandmother does have morals and is a Christian lady. She seems to have been raised by good people and her experiences tell her not to trust anyone. The Misfit does not seem to have morals as he is a killer, who has killed his own father. He says that his upbringing was good but I do not think he would have killed his father if it were. He seems to have no faith or religion and states that his pleasure in life is “meanness”.