Good man is not easy to find

The story takes place in the south of the USA in the state of Georgia . The head of the family Bailey wants to take his children - the eight-year-old son John, daughter Jun, his wife with a baby and his mother to Florida. At this time, they learn that a criminal by the name of Rogue, who is also heading to Florida, escaped from federal prison. The grandmother persuades the family not to go, but the whole family sits in the car and drives out of Atlanta. On the way, they stop to have a snack at a roadside cafe. The cafe owner, nicknamed Red-haired Sam, enters into a conversation and, complaining about his life, says that no matter how hard you try, you are still in the cold. To the rhetorical question of why it is always the case with him, the grandmother answers that, apparently, the reason is that he is a good person. Red Sam agrees with his grandmother and said that now a good man is not easy to find, no one can be trusted.

After visiting the cafe, the Bailey family continues on their way. Grandmother sleeps in the back seat, but when they drive through the city of Tumsboro, she wakes up and remembers that somewhere in the neighborhood there is an old plantation, a beautiful house, an oak alley with gazebos. Although she was there for a long time, the grandmother claims that she remembers the road well and insists on visiting this landmark. Son and daughter-in-law do not want to turn aside so as not to waste time, but grandma manages to get an agreement to turn back and drive to the plantation along a country road. Bailey grumbles, because the road is very dusty and uneven, it is clear that no one has driven along it for a long time. Suddenly, the grandmother realizes that she was mistaken: the plantation is not in Georgia, but in Tennessee . Suddenly the car rolls over and falls down a slope. Bailey's wife broke her shoulder and hurt her face. Bailey looks at his mother silently and fiercely. Some car appears in the distance. In the car, drove up to the victims, sit three men. The face of one of them seems familiar to her grandmother, she realizes that this is the same Outcast whom she read about in the newspaper. Seeing the pistol of one of the men, the grandmother begs the Outcast to do nothing wrong with them. She says that in his heart he is most certainly a good man. Outlaw orders a man with a revolver to lead Bailey and John into the woods. They are going away. Grandmother assures Outcast that he can still become an honest person, he can settle down if he only prays to God . Two shots rang out in the woods, further intensify the situation. Outcast begins to tell her grandmother about his restless life. Meanwhile, Outlaw companions, Bobby Lee and Hyrum, emerge from the forest with a Bailey shirt in their hands. Outcast asks his wife Bailey and the children to hold hands and follow the returned men into the woods, where they can see their relatives who have gone there. Left alone, the grandmother tries again to convince the Outcast, that he prayed to God. When a desperate scream is heard from the forest, followed by shots, the grandmother, frantic, asks Outcast not to kill her. She again cries out to Jesus Christ , which infuriates the gangster even more. Grandmother touches the Outcast hand, saying: “You're a son to me. You are one of my children. ” Outcast bounces and three times shoots the old woman in the chest. And then orders his partners to take her body to the forest ^{[2] [3] [4]} .

The behavior of the grandmother on the last page of the story got completely mutually exclusive interpretations in American literary criticism. According to one point of view, it was the selfishness of the grandmother who forced her son to change the route of the trip, took the cat with her (causing the accident) and, when killing her relatives, tried to bribe an Outcast to save her life and caused the tragedy. It was her grandmother who did not hold her tongue and told the gangster that she recognized him. Her words “You are my son, one of my children,” in this context, are just as false as the previous manipulation of grandchildren through fables about fictional treasures.

According to another point of view, in the face of death (as in the characters of many other O'Connor stories), genuine grace descends from above, and with its attempt to cuddle Outcast, she redeems her previous sins. The gangster is aware of her spiritual transformation, sarcastically noticing that she could be a good person if a gun were aimed at her every day.