Literary critiques refer to O’Connor’s writing style as Southern Realism. She created a realistic narrative, adding features of irony, foreshadowing, and imagery. Through these literary techniques, she emphasized the traits of the modern generation.
Detailed answer:
A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a well-known story written in 1953. It describes the clashes between two generations and reveals human vices and prejudices. The author’s works relate to both modern and Gothic genres. She uses a sincere style saturated with polemic elements of Southern culture. O’Connor’s realistic writings consist of simple sentences. They include a subject, predicate, and several modifiers. There are not many descriptive words. There are some monosyllabic paragraphs without any dialogues. The structures are simple, but they complement the colorful characters’ speeches.
The author preserves local language to add humor to her narrative. These dialect varieties make the description realistic and relatable. She incorporates irony in her characters’ words. For instance, the grandmother looks like a respectable person. But later, O’Connor reveals her dishonesty and disregard. On the contrary, The Misfit displays all these qualities regardless of his crimes.
The author does not use many details, leaving a reader to their fantasy. She makes her characters speak more to understand the nature of their actions and unveil their true selves. The common themes in the story are honesty and redemption. It becomes clear why O’Connor uses a realistic style to deliver her message.