Children By The Grandmother During The Trip example essay topic

 Outline Thesis Statement: The world is not now, what is was yesterday. People, as a society, are continually changing. Some for the better of all man kind, and some for the worse. Once upon a time, life was simplistic. Today, however, life is full of dangers. We as people, must not take these changes for granted. I. The ever-changing society II.

The grandmother's symbolic traits. The parents and children's lifestyle are representative of the new era IV. Lunch at Red Sammy's diner V. The encounter with the main evil character, The Misfit. A product of the new society. His immoral and evil nature. VI.

How O? Conner's concern of her future generation is important to us today Life as we know it today, may seem rather simplistic to the average man. However, there was a time when people grew there own food and built their own homes. This was a time when churches, became a main part in every town.

Entertainment, in general, was few and far between for most families. They used the church to host celebrations of local, religious and national events. This interaction between people built a certain trust and morals in one another. It also created some peaceful ora throughout the town.

I think we can all agree. Life today is very different from the? old? days. The story begins with a typical family preparing for a vacation. The destination is Florida. The husband's mother lives with the family, and does not want to go to Florida. She uses an article out of the local newspaper to try and persuade the family to go to her old town in Tennessee.

The article states that convicts have escaped, and are headed for Florida. The family ignores her, and they depart the next morning, Florida bound. O? Conner describes the grandmother's outfit in great detail.? The grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot of print. Her collars and cuffs were white ordinary trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet?

(382). This description symbolizes the grandmother's preparation of dying; as one would expect to be dressed for burial (El-Haggai 2). The grandmother represents the older, simplistic life. O? Conner re-enforces this by the watermelon story that is told to the children by the grandmother, during the trip. Woven in the story, it hints of trust of your fellow man.

The grandmother is constantly reflecting on days passed. As the family passes an old style family graveyard, the grandmother is sure to point it out to the children. The grandmother explained to the children that in her time, this was the way that families buried the dead. This is a form of both symbolism and foreshadowing.

The graves symbolize the old customs and practices, but the number of tombstones, is O? conners way of foreshadowing. The number of tombstones matches exactly the number of people in the family. As the trip progresses, the family stops to eat lunch. During lunch, Red Sammy is introduced to the story. He is the owner of the diner the family has chosen to eat at.

His conversations show that he is one who symbolizes the older traditions, and beliefs. He tells the family a story about a young couple of guys that lied to him about where they are employed; Sammy allowed them to charge gasoline based on their story, and got stiffed.? These days you just don? t know who to trust, ? says Sammy. The grandmother replies; ? There isn? t a soul in this green world of God's that you can trust? (384).

O? Conner is emphasizing the changing of the times, in relation to the grandmother and Sammy's era. While at the diner, one of the children gets up and dances to the music in the background. Afterwards, Sammy's wife compliments her on her dancing abilities. The child has no manners, and makes rude remarks that stifle the grandmother. Bailey, the husband and mother do nothing to discipline the child, in the diner or anywhere else, for that matter.

The child's attitude, and the parent's lack of interest seem to depict more of what is seen in the present day and age. O? Conner uses the parents and children to symbolize this era in time. Finally, the grandmother leads the family down a road seldom traveled, to explore an old house that she had once seen regularly.

The family had an accident, and was left on a lonely dirt road. As luck would have it, and unknowingly to the family, hell is on the way. The family can see them in the far away distance. The car eventually reaches the wrecked car and injured family. The convicts stepped out of the car to find an easy target.

Violence strikes, the entire family is killed with only the grandmother left facing the Misfit.? The grandmother recognized the shirt the convict had on. It was her sons? Upon observing this image, she realizes that to be truly Christlike, she is going to have to forgive the Misfit and accept him as a child of God? (Brown 1). As the Misfit feels her Godly words of advice and sympathy, he shoots her as well.

O? Conner, as well as, people today, realize the importance of teaching good morals, values and practices to our children.? A Good Man is Hard to Find? is representative of O? conners concern for the priorities and values of her time (2). The story also alerts us to some of the common dangers our families are likely to encounter daily. We as? Good People? should encourage others to follow these good morals and values, but at the very least, instill them in our children.