This blog is specifically designed for Hanover High School students in Ms. Piro's English 9 course.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Question of the Week (9/11/09)
Using evidence from the provided text, A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor, find examples of the role that fate or chance plays in the story. Post your comments and your response to a fellow classmate's comments by Sunday, September 13.
One example of fate is when the grandmother is complaining about going to Florida, she brings up the fact that there is a Misfit headed south towards FL, and she asks the kids: "What would you do if this fellow, The Misfit caught you?" They both come up with violent defenses and it isn't really brought up again. But then as if it were the families fate, they run into the Misfit in Georgia. Going back to discussions we've had on other book having humor in them, this story has a bit of dark humor because when I was reading it and reading about them all dying, the thought that came to me was- of course they ran into the misfit and died after the grandmother saying she didn't want to run into him. I think that's just chance, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Chances are they could have left the house a few hours later and gotten to georgia a few hours later and never even had to run into the misfit. I also Agree with Aidan, Fate does play a big role obviously and random changes down the line change history.
I think fate and chance were very important parts of this story. For one thing, the grandma caused the family to die, and it mostly happened by fate and chance. The story said, "The horrible thought she had had before the accident was that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee." If she had remembered that a little sooner, they would not have gone down the dirt road, gotten into the accident and therefore would not have been found by the Misfit and killed. This is just an example of how fate played a part in this story. I found that fate was a big part of what happened, because there were so many times that something could have been just the slightest bit different and the grandma and her family wouldn't have met that end. However, chance is not just a part of this story. Fate and chance play a huge role in everyday life. Even one little detail can alter history, and big things happen all the time because of that. Another time in the story where chance and fate came in was when the family decided to go to Florida instead of Tennessee. In the beginning of the story, the text reads, "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." Because Bailey, her son, ultimately decided to go to Florida anyway, the story ended up the way it did. Chance and fate really played a large part in this story.
I agree with what Giulia said about how the grandma was commenting to the kids that the Misfit was heading to Florida also, and I think that was the perfect example of how fate played a part in this story. It really was ironic that the grandma would say that right before they ran into the Misfit, and I think that Flannery O'Conner was foreshadowing what was to come in that part of the story. The family was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time, like Giulia said. If even a small thing had been done differently, like one of the kids forgetting their comic books at home and they had to turn back, they wouldn't have met the Misfit and been killed the way they were thanks to fate and chance.
I agree with Giulia 100% about her quote. I was going to post the exact same thing. I also feel that fate and chance played a big role when they went onto the dirt road to try to find the house that ended up not being in the sate that they were in, but in Tennessee. What are the chances that the minute they get onto the road they go off it, crash into a ditch and murdered by the misfit. This all wouldn't have happened if they all moved to Tennessee with the rest of their family. They should have listened to the Grandma, even though the chances of them getting killed by a misfit were slim to none. ~Henry
I agree with Henry I was going to use the same example of when they went onto the dirt road and fell into a dich and died. I also agree with Giulia and her quote. I mean what are the chances of not knowing what state you are in and then going down the wrong dirt road to then go into a dich and getting kill.
I think that fate and chance plays a very apparent role in this story. Irony also plays a role in this story. In the beginning the grandmother makes a quote about going to Florida and how the misfit will be there. All of her family ignores her and when I first read that I thought that they were being mean to her and I felt bad. However, in the end, her wanting to go to Georgia is what caused all their deaths. The liklihood of her not remembering the right state is not very high, and since she "had remembered so vividly" that house, I think it was purely fate and chance that brought them to Georgia, not Tennessee. It was the little details in the story that altered it so much. If they hadn't listened to her that one time, then they all wouldn't have ended up dead. I find it ironic that in the beginning they didn't listen to her when she wanted to go to Tennessee, but they did when she wanted to go to that house. That ONE time they listened to her, was the time it lead them to their death. Another big example of fate and chance is when after their accident they are trying to flag down someone to help them. There is such a slight chance that the misfit would be the one to come "help" them. Also, at first their car keeps going. Then, fate comes into play, and they turn back around to come down. I think that this story greatly expresses how little details and fate can change things and play such a huge role in people's lives. They could have not listened to the grandma and kept going to Florida, the misfit could have kept going and not seen the family, and so many other little details could have changed the ending of the story drastically.
I agree with Jesse when she said that little details in this story, and in general can change the outcome of a situation very drastically. The grandma or anyone else could have made one small different choice and the whole ending of the story may have been different and better. So, I think that Jesse makes a very good point when she said that. It's true that fate and chance aren't just in this story, but in everyday life. And the smallest of details can change life everyday.
I agree with both Giulia, and Dewey. I think that it was fate that after the family ignored the grandma when she was saying that they shouldn't go to Florida because the misfit is there, they ran into the misfit and were killed. Also, I agree with Dewey when she said that the one time the family listened to the grandma - to see the house - they wound up in a lot of trouble. It was fate that they listened to the grandma at the wrong time, which led them to their deaths. The grandma definitely shouldn't have said they should go to the house if she didn't know exactly where it was. When she lied to the children and said, "'There was a secret panel in this house,' she said craftily, not telling the truth but wishing that she were," she made the children want to see the house more therefore leading them to their deaths. It was just chance that the misfit was there, though and the grandma definitely didn't know that any harm would come of her wanting to see this old house. None of the family is really to blame for this, because who could know that the one killer in the whole state is within a couple miles of them.
These are really great comments, but don't forget to use the text to support your claims. Also, even if someone has written what you were going to write, go ahead and state your claim to ensure you receive full credit. There are many more instances of fate in the story to which you could refer. Use those and again, don't forget to ALWAYS cite the text to support your evidence or claim.
There are many times in this story that chance and fate comes into play. For one thing, it is chance that they crash and the people that show up are the Misfit. Another is when they are at the restaurant and the man that they are talking to brings it up. The man's wife says, "If he hears that it's a two cent in the cash register, I wouldn't be a tall surprised if he..." And then her husband cuts her off. What I think that she was going to say was that she wouldn't be surprised if the Misfit just showed up. I think that that just goes to show that the local police or authority weren't doing anything much about having a killer on the loose. Another time when fate or chance comes up is when they are about to leave on their trip and the grandmother asks the kids, what would you do if you got caught by the Misfit? And the bay answers, "I'd smack his face." That show that they weren't concerned that they might have gotten caught by him. Overall, it doesn't seem as though they weren't concerned enough about getting caught by a killer and that it was a lot of chance in that the events unfolded as they did.
I also agree with Jesse. It is ironic that they entire time she was wining and complaining and then she tried to sidetrack them for something she knew didn't exist, and then got them all killed. I also agree with Giulia in that the kids bring up violent defenses and then it isn't brought up again in the rest of the story.
Fate- the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural. Chance- a possibility of something happening. Both of those play a big role in the story. No matter what you can't change your fate, no matter how hard you try, it is your fate, it is going to happen. The family's fate is simply what happened. Chance plays a role because, if you think about it, what is the chance of even being in the same state as the misfit, but having the misfit be on the same road almost at the same time. It's almost impossible. Also what is the chance of them crashing on that road at that time. I also agree with Jesse about having chance and fate in everybody's life, all the time and it is really weird because we don't notice. It isn't something that we really can notice.
I agree with Giulia and Dewey, because "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a twist of irony and dark fate. For example, of all the people that the Misfit could have killed, it had to be this family who were at the wrong place at the wrong time.Fate is a string of small events that effect our lives in very big ways. If the family hadn't stopped stopped for lunch, if the grandmother had remembered that the plantation had been in Tennessee, or even if the cat hadn't gotten out, then the family could have been alive. Irony is slipped in with forshadowing in the quote, "I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that on the loose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did." It's horrible how the Grandmother convinced the father to turn onto an old dirt road, and find out that the Misfit was there. So in actuality the grandmother had to face her conscience in the few minutes before she died,and find that it had been her fault that the family was dead.
I agree with katherine, giulia, and dewey. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is a mix between fate and chance on how a random family who happened to be in the wrong place at the worst possible time. As an example, the grandmother had to forget that the house she was talking about was not in georgia, but in Tennessee. When the car flipped over and the misfit happened to be watching and he decided to come and "help" it was pure chance that something as terrible as that could have happened. The grandmother made it worse when she told everyone that it was the misfit who had seen them crash, it just made it worse on the family. In the beginning when the boy said, "I'd smack his face," as an answer to a question asked by the grandmother it showed how much of a joke and an impossibility the family though the misfit finding them was.
fate plays a big role in history because most things in history happen through a random chain of events, that dont always make much sense
ReplyDeleteOne example of fate is when the grandmother is complaining about going to Florida, she brings up the fact that there is a Misfit headed south towards FL, and she asks the kids: "What would you do if this fellow, The Misfit caught you?" They both come up with violent defenses and it isn't really brought up again. But then as if it were the families fate, they run into the Misfit in Georgia. Going back to discussions we've had on other book having humor in them, this story has a bit of dark humor because when I was reading it and reading about them all dying, the thought that came to me was- of course they ran into the misfit and died after the grandmother saying she didn't want to run into him. I think that's just chance, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Chances are they could have left the house a few hours later and gotten to georgia a few hours later and never even had to run into the misfit. I also Agree with Aidan, Fate does play a big role obviously and random changes down the line change history.
ReplyDeleteI think fate and chance were very important parts of this story. For one thing, the grandma caused the family to die, and it mostly happened by fate and chance. The story said, "The horrible thought she had had before the accident was that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee." If she had remembered that a little sooner, they would not have gone down the dirt road, gotten into the accident and therefore would not have been found by the Misfit and killed.
ReplyDeleteThis is just an example of how fate played a part in this story. I found that fate was a big part of what happened, because there were so many times that something could have been just the slightest bit different and the grandma and her family wouldn't have met that end. However, chance is not just a part of this story. Fate and chance play a huge role in everyday life. Even one little detail can alter history, and big things happen all the time because of that.
Another time in the story where chance and fate came in was when the family decided to go to Florida instead of Tennessee. In the beginning of the story, the text reads, "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." Because Bailey, her son, ultimately decided to go to Florida anyway, the story ended up the way it did. Chance and fate really played a large part in this story.
I agree with what Giulia said about how the grandma was commenting to the kids that the Misfit was heading to Florida also, and I think that was the perfect example of how fate played a part in this story. It really was ironic that the grandma would say that right before they ran into the Misfit, and I think that Flannery O'Conner was foreshadowing what was to come in that part of the story. The family was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time, like Giulia said. If even a small thing had been done differently, like one of the kids forgetting their comic books at home and they had to turn back, they wouldn't have met the Misfit and been killed the way they were thanks to fate and chance.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Giulia 100% about her quote. I was going to post the exact same thing. I also feel that fate and chance played a big role when they went onto the dirt road to try to find the house that ended up not being in the sate that they were in, but in Tennessee. What are the chances that the minute they get onto the road they go off it, crash into a ditch and murdered by the misfit. This all wouldn't have happened if they all moved to Tennessee with the rest of their family. They should have listened to the Grandma, even though the chances of them getting killed by a misfit were slim to none.
ReplyDelete~Henry
I agree with Henry I was going to use the same example of when they went onto the dirt road and fell into a dich and died. I also agree with Giulia and her quote. I mean what are the chances of not knowing what state you are in and then going down the wrong dirt road to then go into a dich and getting kill.
ReplyDeleteI think that fate and chance plays a very apparent role in this story. Irony also plays a role in this story. In the beginning the grandmother makes a quote about going to Florida and how the misfit will be there. All of her family ignores her and when I first read that I thought that they were being mean to her and I felt bad. However, in the end, her wanting to go to Georgia is what caused all their deaths.
ReplyDeleteThe liklihood of her not remembering the right state is not very high, and since she "had remembered so vividly" that house, I think it was purely fate and chance that brought them to Georgia, not Tennessee. It was the little details in the story that altered it so much. If they hadn't listened to her that one time, then they all wouldn't have ended up dead. I find it ironic that in the beginning they didn't listen to her when she wanted to go to Tennessee, but they did when she wanted to go to that house. That ONE time they listened to her, was the time it lead them to their death.
Another big example of fate and chance is when after their accident they are trying to flag down someone to help them. There is such a slight chance that the misfit would be the one to come "help" them. Also, at first their car keeps going. Then, fate comes into play, and they turn back around to come down.
I think that this story greatly expresses how little details and fate can change things and play such a huge role in people's lives. They could have not listened to the grandma and kept going to Florida, the misfit could have kept going and not seen the family, and so many other little details could have changed the ending of the story drastically.
I agree with Jesse when she said that little details in this story, and in general can change the outcome of a situation very drastically. The grandma or anyone else could have made one small different choice and the whole ending of the story may have been different and better. So, I think that Jesse makes a very good point when she said that. It's true that fate and chance aren't just in this story, but in everyday life. And the smallest of details can change life everyday.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Giulia, and Dewey. I think that it was fate that after the family ignored the grandma when she was saying that they shouldn't go to Florida because the misfit is there, they ran into the misfit and were killed. Also, I agree with Dewey when she said that the one time the family listened to the grandma - to see the house - they wound up in a lot of trouble. It was fate that they listened to the grandma at the wrong time, which led them to their deaths.
ReplyDeleteThe grandma definitely shouldn't have said they should go to the house if she didn't know exactly where it was. When she lied to the children and said, "'There was a secret panel in this house,' she said craftily, not telling the truth but wishing that she were," she made the children want to see the house more therefore leading them to their deaths. It was just chance that the misfit was there, though and the grandma definitely didn't know that any harm would come of her wanting to see this old house. None of the family is really to blame for this, because who could know that the one killer in the whole state is within a couple miles of them.
These are really great comments, but don't forget to use the text to support your claims. Also, even if someone has written what you were going to write, go ahead and state your claim to ensure you receive full credit. There are many more instances of fate in the story to which you could refer. Use those and again, don't forget to ALWAYS cite the text to support your evidence or claim.
ReplyDeleteThere are many times in this story that chance and fate comes into play. For one thing, it is chance that they crash and the people that show up are the Misfit. Another is when they are at the restaurant and the man that they are talking to brings it up. The man's wife says, "If he hears that it's a two cent in the cash register, I wouldn't be a tall surprised if he..." And then her husband cuts her off.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think that she was going to say was that she wouldn't be surprised if the Misfit just showed up. I think that that just goes to show that the local police or authority weren't doing anything much about having a killer on the loose.
Another time when fate or chance comes up is when they are about to leave on their trip and the grandmother asks the kids, what would you do if you got caught by the Misfit? And the bay answers, "I'd smack his face." That show that they weren't concerned that they might have gotten caught by him.
Overall, it doesn't seem as though they weren't concerned enough about getting caught by a killer and that it was a lot of chance in that the events unfolded as they did.
I also agree with Jesse. It is ironic that they entire time she was wining and complaining and then she tried to sidetrack them for something she knew didn't exist, and then got them all killed. I also agree with Giulia in that the kids bring up violent defenses and then it isn't brought up again in the rest of the story.
ReplyDeleteFate- the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural.
ReplyDeleteChance- a possibility of something happening.
Both of those play a big role in the story. No matter what you can't change your fate, no matter how hard you try, it is your fate, it is going to happen. The family's fate is simply what happened. Chance plays a role because, if you think about it, what is the chance of even being in the same state as the misfit, but having the misfit be on the same road almost at the same time. It's almost impossible. Also what is the chance of them crashing on that road at that time.
I also agree with Jesse about having chance and fate in everybody's life, all the time and it is really weird because we don't notice. It isn't something that we really can notice.
I agree with Giulia and Dewey, because "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a twist of irony and dark fate. For example, of all the people that the Misfit could have killed, it had to be this family who were at the wrong place at the wrong time.Fate is a string of small events that effect our lives in very big ways. If the family hadn't stopped stopped for lunch, if the grandmother had remembered that the plantation had been in Tennessee, or even if the cat hadn't gotten out, then the family could have been alive.
ReplyDeleteIrony is slipped in with forshadowing in the quote, "I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that on the loose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did." It's horrible how the Grandmother convinced the father to turn onto an old dirt road, and find out that the Misfit was there. So in actuality the grandmother had to face her conscience in the few minutes before she died,and find that it had been her fault that the family was dead.
I agree with katherine, giulia, and dewey. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is a mix between fate and chance on how a random family who happened to be in the wrong place at the worst possible time. As an example, the grandmother had to forget that the house she was talking about was not in georgia, but in Tennessee. When the car flipped over and the misfit happened to be watching and he decided to come and "help" it was pure chance that something as terrible as that could have happened. The grandmother made it worse when she told everyone that it was the misfit who had seen them crash, it just made it worse on the family. In the beginning when the boy said, "I'd smack his face," as an answer to a question asked by the grandmother it showed how much of a joke and an impossibility the family though the misfit finding them was.
ReplyDelete