The Unfairly Accused Grandmother

825 Words
In A Good Man is Hard to Find the grandmother is treated with disrespect by her son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. The grandmother’s daughter-in-law is an inadequate mother without an ounce of a clue on how to discipline children and the grandmother’s son does not seem to care. The grandmother’s reckless grandchildren are named John and June. The grandmother’s family acts as if she is an annoyance and do not even try to be civil to her. Despite the family’s mistreatment towards the grandmother she still tries to create order and stability in the children’s life. I found it very interesting that some of my classmates thought that the grandmother did not deserve respect because they believed she was constantly nagging the family. I feel like the grandmother is trying to help the family unite and truly cares for them. There are many instances when she is involved with the children whether that be playing a game or telling a story. I feel she deliberately tries to get their attention to help them mature and behave properly. Although the grandmother leads the family to a tragic ending, I sense her intentions were good. I think the main reason she wanted to go to the old house is because she feels she deserves something that will make her feel happy since she is mistreated by her family.

At the beginning of the story the grandmother is working hard to get the attention and acceptance of her grandchildren. The grandmother desperately wants to go Tennessee to see an old home while the rest of the family wants to go once again to Florida. In order to convince her family that Tennessee is the better choice she warns her family about a killer on the loose called, “The Misfit.” She tries to persuade her family that he is on his way to Florida. The family paid not attention to her inquiries and they head off to Florida. On the car ride to Florida the grandmother tells the kids stories and plays games with them which shows that she wants to be accepted and cares for her grandchildren. On their journey they stop at a restaurant for lunch. Jane is obnoxiously rude to the waiter and declares that she would never “live in a broken-down place like this for a million bucks!” The grandmother is flabbergasted and felt the granddaughter should be ashamed of what she had said. Then she stated that “People are certainly not nice like they used to be.” There is not response by the children’s parents.

The grandmother is able to convince her grandchildren that Tennessee is the better destination through a story she told them about the house she wants to visit. The children decide that they want to see the house with the secret panels that their grandmother had told them about. John begins to whine and complain in order to make his parents stop at the house. The father screams at the children to “Shut up!” and gives in to their commands. On the way to the home, the family gets into a car accident and the car flipped over. Three men come over to the scene. The grandmother recognized “The Misfit” almost immediately. The families lives were taken after the grandmother struggled to convince the “The Misfit” not to harm anyone.

In class many people thought that the grandmother should be held responsible for the deaths. I feel that it is not entirely her fault. Before the story begins I feel there was tension within the family and the grandmother felt as if she was not included or wanted. Because of this she decided she wanted to go to Tennessee and she was going to try her hardest to get there for she felt it was finally time for her to have things her way instead of putting up with brat children and insignificant parents. If the family had not been so dismissive towards the grandmother I feel she would have been eager to go to Florida with them because it would be enjoyable if everyone got along. Unfortunately, the family never seemed to find a happy medium. The family ran in to some very bad luck when “The Misfit” and his crew spotted their accident. And though some believe that it was the grandmothers fault because of her requests and schemes to get the children excited to see the house she loved so much I feel that the rest of the family is more to blame. If the parents would have paid more attention to the children and set rules and discipline in the family, the structure of their household could have been entirely different. I do not deny that because of the grandmothers wish the family ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, but if the family would have communicated with one another and worked out their differences the situation could have ended up entirely different.