Dramatic Irony in A Good Man is Hard to Find

Today we’re talking about a great story by Flannery O’Connor and the use of dramatic irony. This is an iconic tale and a fun read!

Flannery O’Connor uses dramatic irony in A Good Man is Hard to Find as a literary device to tell this shocking tale of how a family, through a wrong turn, poor memory, and a car accident caused by a cat, ends up being murdered in the woods by a hardened criminal. In the tradition of the Gift of the Magi and other short stories, the very thing that the grandmother fears, through her own ineptitude, comes right to life. This is a nice bit of irony, and it works because of how seemingly accidentally O’Connor makes the incident feel like a reading experience. 

This is the type of story where the irony only becomes evident about halfway through. The irony comes in that the grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida because the hardened criminal, the Misfit, was heading there. She wanted to go to east Tennessee to do her own thing. We never really find out why exactly she would instead go to East Tennessee. This sort of with-holding of detail is expected in the story. Then, she decides to convince the family to take a detour to this plantation house that isn’t even in Georgia, and thanks to her cat, they end up in an accident and are found by the Misfit anyway. The worst part is that she was afraid of getting killed by the Misfit, and that happens regardless. If she hadn’t sent the family on a wild goose chase for a house that was in the wrong state, they would have survived. Instead, they roll their car and happen to get found by the very thing they were afraid of in the first place. The irony works because what are the chances that the only passing on car on the road happens to be driven by a murderous criminal? However, in the world of literature, the chances are excellent. 

The way the author explains the murder unfolds in just a few paragraphs. Just like how the criminal shot the family in small groups rather than all together, O’Connor uses the dialogue between the grandmother and the Misfit to sort of distract the reader from the fact that his criminal gang is systematically shooting the family in the woods. O’Connor doesn’t draw attention to the killings and uses the mentions of the bullets being fired as a sort of “off-screen” effect. The scene unfolds slowly, and when the Grandmother recognizes the Misfit and his gang, that is when the dramatic irony really kicks in. She is confronted by the very thing she feared. 

It was interesting that the tension after the accident and the realization that they had been found by the criminals they were trying to avoid is virtually non-existent. There is no dramatic tension. In fact, the whole scene plays out like something very ordinary. The way the author uses the dialogue with the grandmother and the Misfit sort of diffuses any chance for tension. Rather than put her in fear, she instead makes her best attempt to befriend the criminal. She just keeps talking, and perhaps that is a sign of the fear. Rather than leaning into the tension, O’Connor leans into the irony. She never acknowledges the gunshots in the dialogue. The author puts them in the description, but it’s like the grandmother doesn’t understand what is going on until it far too late. We never see how the characters experience the irony of getting in an accident and being killed by the Misfit. The irony is only really evident to the reader who reads on in a particular horror. This method creates a compelling experience for the reader and works really well. 

Although I am writing a series of novels set in the South, I do find that the sort of literary devices and “off-screen” action in the story applies to my project as well. That is a device I already use and will continue to use. O’Connor often gives the reader slightly more information than the characters in a variety of his short stories from this collection, and that is something I like to do as well. In The Sweetgrass Saga, there are plenty of moments where certain people have information before other people, and the reader has a bird’s eye view that the characters do not. I do need to look for some moments to deploy dramatic irony as well, and I will keep an eye on them.