man is a great mystery essay

Writing Prompts

70 Mystery Writing Prompts That’ll Keep Your Readers Hooked

From whodunits to unsolved crimes, here are over 70 mystery writing prompts that will keep your readers hooked from beginning to end.

The mystery genre is all about gathering clues and evidence to solve a crime or mystery of some sort. Common mysteries to solve may include murder, kidnappings, theft and any other unsolved crimes. The thing that makes a mystery story so appealing is that no one knows who the true culprit is until the very end of the story. And the big reveal at the end is always shocking to the reader. The secret to a good mystery lies in the plot twist . You have to be two steps ahead of your readers – Get inside the head of your readers and think, “Who would your readers think the main culprit is?” Then switch it around, and pick someone who is highly unlikely to be the real baddie.

You can pick a random prompt from our mystery writing prompts generator below to practice your plot twist skills on:

In a mystery novel, characters are a huge part of the mystery. Common characters may include:

Street smart detective – They ask all the right questions, but are the answers to be trusted?
Bent cop – Known for planting fake evidence at crime scenes.
Mysterious guy – No one knows anything about them, and therefore they could be an easy suspect in the case.
The scapegoat – The one everyone is blaming.
The obvious suspect – All clues point to this person.
The unobvious suspect – No real evidence against this person, but somehow they link to the crime in question.

When writing your mystery story think about the characters you would include carefully before diving in. We even recommend creating character profiles for each character, and maybe even a mind map to show their connection to the crime in question.

Take a look at this collection of the best mystery books for teens for some more ideas!

70 Mystery Writing Prompts

List of over 70 mystery writing prompts, from unsolved murder cases to items that vanished into thin air:

The richest man on Earth has a hidden vault filled with millions of dollars, expensive jewellery and gems. One night he goes to add to his collection of gems and notices a sentimental piece of jewellery missing.
One-by-one random things keep on going missing in your house. First your watch, then a teapot. Who is taking them and why?
One of your classmates mysteriously stops coming to school. It’s been nearly 2 weeks since you last saw them. What could have happened to them?
A police officer finds a dead body at a barber’s shop in town. The cause of death was drowning. No one knows how the body got there and who did it.
A person takes a game of snakes and ladders too literally. In random locations around the city, snakes and ladders have been placed. Where do those ladders go? Why are snakes placed in these random places? Can you solve this strange mystery?
You wake up in a warehouse with no memory of how you got there. The warehouse office is filled with newspaper clippings of missing people from the past 20 years. Who is the kidnapper and why are you in this warehouse?
Last night a series of supermarkets and warehouses across the city were robbed. The thief or thieves only steal toilet paper. Can you solve this case?
Meet Benji, the cat detective. Benji is a feisty feline who is on a mission to capture the great tuna can thief.
At exactly 7.08 pm last night a scream was heard from 59 Pebble Lane. The neighbours knocked but no one was home. Later that night, the police arrived at approximately 2.13 am to find a cold dead body on the floor in a pool of spilt tea.
You are a reporter for the Imagine Forest Times newspaper, you are writing an article on the missing bird eggs in the local forest.
Imagine you are a security guard. It’s your first night shift at the local art Museum. The next morning a priceless painting goes missing, and you are blamed. You need to prove your innocence before you are sent to prison, but how?
Write a time travel mystery story where the main character keeps going back in time to find out who really murdered their parents.
You and your friends go to the fairground. You decide to ride the carousel. Round and round you go, and then the ride stops. When it stops you notice one of your friends is suddenly missing. Where did they go? (See our list of writing prompts about friendship for more ideas.)
The main character in your story is caught red-handed with the missing jewel in their hand. But did they really steal this jewel?
Write a diary from the perspective of a paranoid person who thinks their neighbour is stealing from them.
Write down an action scene where the main character trails the secondary character to an abandoned warehouse. What do you think will happen next?
Someone has been stealing mobile phones at your school. You think you know who it is, so you set up a try to catch the thief.
A bent police officer has been planting false evidence at crime scenes for years. Who are they protecting and why?
Write a script between two characters who are meeting in secret to discuss some new evidence in a murder trial.
Imagine you are a detective interviewing a suspect in the crime of jewellery theft. Write down some questions that you might ask the suspect. If you have time, you can also write the possible answers from the suspect’s point of view.
You discover a note in your bag. It says, “I know what YOU have done!” – Who can have left this note, and what are they talking about?
Write a story about a young police officer who is solving the murder case of his best friend from high school. The twist is that this police officer turns out to be the murderer.
For over 10 years, your twin sister was missing. But there she is – Suddenly walking in the middle of the street. Where has she been? What happened to her?
Imagine you are an investigator examining the scene of a murder crime. What types of clues would you look out for? Can you make a list of at least 10 possible clues you might find?
A police car is chasing a potential suspect in a murder trial. Halfway through the chase, the police car disappears. The suspect slows down their car, and wonders, “What happened? Why did they stop coming after me?”
You come home from school one day and notice that your mother’s things are gone. Your first thought is that she left you and your father. But the truth is that she was kidnapped by someone.
A mysterious person has stolen all your teddy bears and is holding them for ransom somewhere. Each day you get a cryptic riddle. If you can solve each riddle you will receive one teddy bear back each time.
It’s the year 3,000. Your main character is a lawyer for a robot. They must prove this robot’s innocence in a human murder trial. (See this list of sci-fi writing prompts for more inspiration.)
Someone keeps stealing textbooks from your school. One day you go to school and see a huge statement art piece outside the school made from the stolen textbooks. Can you find out who did this?
Cinderella has turned into a detective. She needs to solve the case of the stolen glass slippers. After all those glass slippers are super rare.
The main character in your story must prove their innocence in a murder trial. How would they do this? What evidence would they need?
The main character in your story discovers that their brother is the real killer. They then try to destroy all evidence linked to their brother to protect them.
“Poppy! Poppy! Where are you, buddy?” Mindy searched for her pet Labrador everywhere. But she was nowhere to be seen. It turns out all the dogs in town have been missing since last night. What could have possibly happened to them?
Someone has been leaving embarrassing photographs of various people all over town. Can you track down this person? Why are they posting these photos?
Write a mystery story titled, ‘Piece-by-Piece’ about a jigsaw puzzle thief who is stealing random puzzles pieces.
You notice some muddy footprints leading into a thick forest at your local park. You follow this trail of footprints to a secret hatch in the woods. The door of the hatch has been left open. When you go inside you discover something shocking.
Your dog digs up an old lunchbox in your backyard. Inside the lunchbox, you find a key, an address and some old newspaper clipping of missing people. You think you can solve this case of the missing people by just visiting that address. But things get a little more complicated…
This is a mystery story about a boy named Billy who’s home alone and is playing with a toy truck when he finds a strange box. His mother, a lady with a past, is suspicious of this mysterious box, so she calls the police. Billy’s mother is a detective, and they find that the box is really a trap, and Billy is kidnapped.
Write a crime mystery story about how a little girl’s dream of becoming a scientist led to her death. Why would anyone murder a young girl who wants to be a scientist? How did this happen?
A small-town sheriff gets caught up in the biggest robbery in history. When over a million dollars just vanish into thin air, people are quick to blame the shifty-eyed sheriff from out of town. But is he really the culprit in this crime?
When Sara was a young girl she was kidnapped by a strange man and woman who took care of her. But now Sara wants to know what happened to her real parents. Are they still alive? Are they still looking for her?
The clock is ticking. Somewhere in the city, a group of hostages are locked up. With every hour that goes by, one hostage will be killed. The main character, a street-smart detective must solve the clues to find the location of these hostages in time.
A police officer finds himself in a very unusual situation. It is just before 6 pm on a Friday night when police were called to a disturbance in the street. The call came from a man who was allegedly threatening a woman with a knife. The man was arrested at 6.05 pm and taken to the police station. However, it was later revealed that the woman left at home has been murdered by someone else, but who?
A murder mystery party takes a dark turn when one of the guests is murdered for real.
Write a mystery story titled, ‘Who Stole My Homework?’ The main character’s A* worthy English essay is stolen by someone, but who?
Use this sentence as inspiration: Inspector Robins pulls out his notebook and writes down two words: Green fingers.
“10 car windows broken in 10 days! What does it all mean? What does it mean?” Exclaimed Detective Riley.
During a stop and search, a police officer finds a dead body in the boot of a car. But is the car driver really to blame?
A lost bracelet ends up in your best friend’s locker at school, along with other precious items. Your best friend is wrongly accused of stealing these items.
One girl must find her stolen prom dress before the prom. In the days leading up to the prom, more and more of her accessories for prom night are being stolen. Who is this thief?
Write a mystery thriller titled, “Come and Get It”. It’s about an arrogant criminal who is stealing sentimental items from each police officer in the state, He leaves these items in random locations in the city, along with a note that says: Come and get it!
Every night the car alarms for every car on your street turn on at exactly 2.03 am. why is this happening, and who is responsible?
A mysterious hacker has hacked into the city’s power grid. They have the power to on and off electricity whenever they want. Can you catch them before they do any more damage?
A secret admirer is leaving expensive gifts for your main character. At first, these gifts seem great, but then they soon take a dark twist (see our Valentine’s Day Prompts for more inspiration).
Your main character is at their senior prom. Dancing the night away. Suddenly the lights go off. Pitch darkness for a minute. When the lights come on, your best friend is gone. And there’s a message in red paint on the wall: You’re next!
Your teacher gives back your English assignment, and you got an F! Looking closer, you realise that this is not your assignment at all! The same starts happening in your other classes. Someone has been swapping your assignments – But who?
For the past few days, you have been receiving anonymous emails from someone. The emails are telling you not to be friends with him. You don’t take any of these emails seriously until the police come knocking on your door.
A family picnic at the park becomes unbearable when you open up the basket to discover every family members untold secrets.
You are at a Chinese restaurant with your family. It’s time to open up the fortune cookies. When your mother opens up her fortune cookie, it says: “One of your children has been very naughty!”. Then your father opens his cookie up, it says: “Who’s been sneaking around behind mommy’s and daddy’s back?” All eyes at the table are on you. But what did you do?
Your main character is a bent cop. Trying to manipulate the course of justice, and helping real criminals get away with murder. One day, someone plants evidence that gets this bent cop arrested for a murder they did not commit.
Write down a scene between two characters. In this scene, the ‘real’ criminal is trying to convince a detective that someone else is guilty of the crime of stealing from a church.
There are three potential suspects in the murder case of Phillip Green. You are the lead detective on this case. What questions would you ask these suspects to find the real murderer? Make a list of at least 10 questions you may ask.
A health inspector arrives at a vegan restaurant to discover rotten vegetables, and raw, old meat. The owners know nothing about this and believe someone planted this as sabotage. Who can have sabotaged the vegan restaurant?
Write a short mystery story for kids titled, ‘Why is the sky blue?’ One child’s curiosity about the sky leads them to discover a secret playground in the park.
Your main character is a news reporter who is convinced that the killer of Rosie Moore is still out there. They know that the police have convicted the wrong person for this heinous crime. Can your main character find the real killer before the wrong person is sentenced to life in prison?
Someone has been replacing all shampoos around town with a hair removal solution. When half the town’s hair starts falling out, it is up to you, a top detective to solve this crime.
Write a mystery story set in the future where a secret cyber group called the ‘Merry Man’ are hacking the bank accounts of rich people and giving this money to the poor. Your main character is a police detective trying to hunt the members of this cyber group down.
A mysterious person is playing a nasty game of hide and seek with you. They have kidnapped your friends and family members and hid them in various locations within the city. You have exactly 1 hour to find each person before something bad happens to them.
Someone has left a note in your locker at school. The note reads: Help me, please! You ignore this note, but more notes start appearing in your notebooks, bag and even at home. Until eventually you get a package through the mail. You open this package and scream…
Write an animal mystery tale about a dog who wants to find the original owner of a doll he found in the park.
Can you solve this bonus mystery prompt: Someone has been stealing socks from the locals at night. Who could this be and why would they be doing this? (See video prompt below for more ideas.)

Did you find these mystery writing prompts useful when writing your own story? Let us know in the comments below!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

Comments loading...

A Summary and Analysis of Flannery O’Connor’s ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ is one of the best-known short stories by Flannery O’Connor (1925-64), who produced a string of powerful stories during her short life. First published in the collection A Good Man Is Hard to Find in 1955, the story is about an American family who run into an escaped murderer at a plantation.

Before we offer an analysis of some of the key details of the story, here’s a brief summary of its plot.

Plot summary

The story is about a grandmother, her son named Bailey, Bailey’s wife, and the couple’s three children, named June Star, John Wesley, and simply ‘the baby’. The family are going on holiday to Florida. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother points out to her son that a notorious criminal, known as the Misfit, is on the loose and she doesn’t think they should be going on vacation to Florida when the Misfit is rumoured to be heading there.

On their way to their destination, the grandmother tells the children a story of how she was courted by a wealthy man who used to leave her a watermelon every day with his initials, E. A. T., inscribed in it. However, one day a black boy saw the word ‘EAT’ on the watermelon and ate it. This story amuses the children.

The family then stop off for lunch a barbecue diner, The Tower, run by a man named Red Sammy, who talks to the grandmother about the Misfit. It is Red Sammy who remarks, ‘A good man is hard to find’, in reference to the dangerous convict on the loose.

When the family get back on the road, the grandmother persuades her son to take a detour to a plantation she remembers from her youth. She embellishes the story by inventing details, such as the idea that a secret panel concealed the family silver in the house.

However, she has misremembered where the plantation is: Tennessee, rather than Georgia (where the family are). When the grandmother’s cat escapes from his basket and frightens Bailey, he crashes the car into a ditch.

Another car approaches them. It contains three men, one of whom the grandmother recognises as the notorious Misfit. He seems familiar to her, as though she has known him for years.

When she blurts out that she recognises him, the Misfit tells them that it would have been better if she hadn’t recognised him. He talks to the grandmother while his two accomplices lead Bailey into the woods and shoot him. They then do the same with Bailey’s wife and the children. The grandmother tries to flatter the Misfit into sparing her life, telling him that she knows he’s a good man, but to no avail.

The story ends with the grandmother addressing the Misfit as one of her own ‘babies’ or ‘children’; the Misfit shoots her dead. The Misfit has the final word, observing that the grandmother would have been a good woman if she had had someone there ‘to shoot her every minute of her life.’

The character of the grandmother is central to the dramatic power of ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’. The first two words of the story are ‘The grandmother’; the story begins with her warning her son about the escaped Misfit and ends with her being shot dead by the Misfit; the story opens with the third-person narrator’s reference to Bailey as the grandmother’s ‘only boy’ but ends with her addressing the Misfit as one of her ‘own children’.

And although ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ is narrated by an impersonal third-person narrator, in terms of the story’s focalisation we remain close to the grandmother’s perspective on events, seeing things through her eyes and gaining access to her thoughts and feelings as the story approaches its shocking and dramatic climax.

The skill of O’Connor’s writing lies in her ability to shuttle rapidly between comedic moments poking gentle fun at the grandmother and darker plot developments. The point is not that the shift between these two very different modes seems awkward or out of place, but that O’Connor lends the already shocking moments at the end of the story an even more alarming element, through juxtaposing them with lighter comic interludes.

A central theme of O’Connor’s story is, as the title makes clear, goodness: note how the grandmother and Red Sammy’s repeated references to a ‘good man’ meet their match in the Misfit’s statement at the end of the story that the grandmother would have been a ‘good woman’ if someone had been there to (threaten to) shoot her at all times.

This statement of the Misfit’s also highlights another theme O’Connor is exploring: that of crime and punishment. The Misfit tells the grandmother that the punishments he has undergone don’t match with the crimes he has committed. But the story contains a religious angle, too, as exemplified by the grandmother’s epiphany at the end of the story, in which – when confronted with her own imminent death – she reaches out and acknowledges her killer as one of her ‘children’.

This blessing is in stark contrast to the Misfit, who – in almost Dostoevskian fashion – characterises Christianity as a case of either giving up anything and following Christ or rejecting him and doing as one pleases. Anything – murder, burning down someone’s house – is permissible and constitutes the only true pleasure one can get from life.

The grandmother’s final act of blessing (forgiveness, or a last desperate attempt to save her own life?) raises this petty, racially prejudiced, and comical old woman far above the level of the nihilistic Misfit and all he represents.

Of course, it may also be significant that the Misfit – who was accused by one of the prison psychiatrists of killing his own father – personally kills the grandmother, who represents an old and outmoded America. Flannery O’Connor’s story is about a changing America, and the text is marked by the Grandmother’s continual reminiscences about a better, simpler life when she was younger.

The story’s title, taken from Red Sammy’s conversation with the Grandmother in which they lament that the world has become debased and degraded during their lifetimes, places this mood and tone at the centre of the story.

In this connection, the grandmother’s attitude towards African-Americans is already outdated, even in 1955 when the story first appeared.

Her racial stereotypes , such as associating African-Americans with watermelons, the offensive words she uses to describe the black boy they pass in the car, and her casual presumptions about the lives of black people all mark her out as a representative of an older American outlook which is about to be entirely laid to rest with the onset of the US Civil Rights movement. (The Montgomery Bus Boycott , for example, occurred at the end of 1955, the year the story appeared.)

Final thoughts

Viewed this way, ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ might be productively analysed alongside a another key American text from the 1950s: Tennessee Williams’ play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof , also from 1955, similarly deals with the generational gap between an older America and the younger Americans who represent a new attitude, especially regarding race.

Discover more from Interesting Literature

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.

Type your email…

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Analysis of Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 25, 2021

Frequently anthologized, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” exemplifies Flannery O’Connor’s southern religious grounding. The story depicts the impact of Christ on the lives of two seemingly disparate characters. One is a grandmother joining her son’s family on a trip to Florida. Accompanied by a silent daughter-in-law, a baby, two unpleasant children, and her smuggled cat, she wheedles the son into making a detour to see a plantation that she remembers from an earlier time.

Moments of recognition and connection multiply as the seemingly foreordained meeting of the grandmother and the killer she has read about in the paper takes place. She upsets the basket in which she has hidden her cat; the cat lands on her son’s neck, causing an accident. Soon three men appear on the dirt road, and the grandmother recognizes one of them as the notorious killer the Misfit.

Flannery O’Connor/National Catholic Register

O’Connor weaves the notion of punishment and Christian love into the conversation between the Misfit and the grandmother while the grandmother’s family is being murdered. Referring to the similarity that he shares with Christ, the Misfit declares that “Jesus thrown everything off balance” (27), but he admits that unlike Christ, he must have committed a crime because there were papers to prove it. When the grandmother touches his shoulder because she sees him as one of her own children, she demonstrates a Christian love that causes him to shoot her.

This story typifies O’Connor’s mingling of comedy, goodness, banality, and violence in her vision of a world that, however imperfect, most readers inevitably recognize as part of their own. O’Connor views the world as a place where benevolence and good intentions conflict with perversity and evil, and her protagonists frequently learn too late that their lives can crumble in an instant when confronted by the very real powers of darkness.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Kessler, Edward. Flannery O’Connor and the Language of Apocalypse. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986. Orvell, Miles. Flannery O’Connor: An Introduction. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991

How to Write a Mystery Story

Last Updated: May 17, 2024 References

This article was co-authored by Lucy V. Hay . Lucy V. Hay is a Professional Writer based in London, England. With over 20 years of industry experience, Lucy is an author, script editor, and award-winning blogger who helps other writers through writing workshops, courses, and her blog Bang2Write. Lucy is the producer of two British thrillers, and Bang2Write has appeared in the Top 100 round-ups for Writer’s Digest & The Write Life and is a UK Blog Awards Finalist and Feedspot’s #1 Screenwriting blog in the UK. She received a B.A. in Scriptwriting for Film & Television from Bournemouth University. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 569,663 times.

A good mystery story will have fascinating characters, exciting suspense, and a puzzle that keeps you turning the pages. But it can be difficult to write an engaging mystery story, especially if you have never tried to before. With the right preparation, brainstorming, and outlining, you can create a page-turning mystery of your own.

Preparing to Write

Step 1 Understand the distinction between the mystery genre and the thriller genre.

When it comes to mystery, one of the key elements is tension and making the story compelling from the very beginning. [1] X Research source
In mystery stories, your reader does not know who committed the murder until the end of the novel. Mysteries are centered on the intellectual exercise of trying to figure out the motivations behind the crime, or the puzzle.
Mysteries tend to be written in the first person, while thrillers are often written in the third person and from multiple points of view. In mystery stories, there is usually a slower pace as the hero/detective/main character tries to solve the crime. There are also limited action sequences in mysteries than in thrillers.
Because mysteries are often slower paced, the characters are usually more in-depth and well rounded in a mystery story than in a thriller.

Step 2 Read examples of mystery stories.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. The 19th-century mystery novel was originally written in serial form, so the story moves forward in measured steps. Much of what became standard in crime fiction was done by Collins in this novel, so it is an engaging and instructive introduction to the genre.
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. Chandler is one of the genre’s greatest writers, creating engaging stories about the trials and tribulations of private detective Philip Marlowe. Marlowe is a tough, cynical, but honest P.I. who becomes entangled in a plot with a General, his daughter, and a blackmailing photographer. Chandler’s work is known for its sharp dialogue, great pacing, and riveting hero, Marlowe. [3] X Research source
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. One of the genre’s most famous detectives, along with his equally famous sleuthing partner Watson, solves a series of mysteries and crimes in this collection of stories. Holmes and Watson inject their unique character traits into the stories along the way. [4] X Research source
NANCY DREW by Carolyn Keene. The whole series is situated in the United States.Nancy Drew is a detective. Her close friends Helen Corning, Bess Marvin and George Fayne appear in some mysteries. Nancy is Carson Drew's daughter. Carson Drew is the most famous lawyer in River Heights, where they live.
"Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon.This is similar to Nancy Drew.It is about two brothers: Frank and Joe Hardy, who are talented detectives.They are the sons of a very famous detective, and they sometimes help in his cases.
A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne. This recent mystery novel is set in 1970s suburban Washington. It centers on the “crime” in the neighborhood, the murder of a young boy. Berne intersperses a coming of age story with the mystery of the death of the young boy in bland, boring suburbia, but manages to make the story anything but bland or boring. [5] X Research source

Step 3 Identify the main character in an example story.

For example, in The Big Sleep , Chandler’s first-person narrator describes himself through his clothing on the first page: “I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with the dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be."
With these opening sentences, Chandler makes the narrator distinct through his way of describing himself, his outfit, and his job (private detective).

Step 4 Note the setting or time period of an example story.

For example, in the second paragraph of the first page of The Big Sleep , Marlowe places the reader in the time and setting: “The main hallway of the Sternwood place was two stories high.”
The reader now knows Marlowe is in front of the home of the Sternwoods and it is a larger home, possibly wealthy.

Step 5 Consider the crime or mystery the main character needs to solve.

In The Big Sleep , Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood to “take care” of a photographer who has been blackmailing the General with scandalous pictures of the General’s daughter.

Step 6 Identify the obstacles or problems the main character encounters.

In The Big Sleep , Chandler complicates Marlowe’s pursuit of the photographer by having the photographer killed in the early chapters, followed by the suspicious suicide of the General’s chauffeur. So Chandler sets up the story with two crimes that Marlowe has to solve.

Step 7 Note the resolution of the mystery.

The resolution of the mystery should feel surprising to your reader, without confusing them. One of the benefits of a mystery is that you can pace the story so the solution unfolds gradually, rather than in a rushed or hurried manner.

Developing Your Main Character and Outlining the Story

Body size and shape, hair and eye color, and any other physical characteristics. For example, you may have a short female main character with dark hair, glasses, and green eyes. Or you may want a more typical detective character: tall with slicked-back hair and a five o’clock shadow.
Clothing and dress. Your character’s clothing will not only create a more detailed image for your reader, it can also indicate what time period your story is set in. For example, if your main character wears heavy armor and a helmet with a crest, your reader will realize your story is set in medieval times. If your character wears a hoodie, jeans, and a backpack, this will tip off your readers that the story is likely set in modern times.
What makes your main character unique. It’s important to create a main character who stands out to your reader and feels engaging enough to sustain many pages in a story or novel. Consider what your character likes and dislikes. Maybe your female sleuth is shy and awkward at parties, and has a secret love of reptiles. Or perhaps your detective is a complete klutz and doesn’t consider himself a strong or smart person. Focus on details that will help to create a unique main character and don’t be afraid to draw on details from your own life or your own preferences and tastes. [7] X Research source
What matters most is that your main character has a burning question or burning need to solve the mystery.

If you decide to set your story in a time period or location you are unfamiliar with, conduct research on the time period or location through your local library, online sources, or interviews with experts in a certain time period or location. Be specific with your research and during your interviews to ensure you get all the details of a setting or time period right.

An item is stolen from your main character or someone close to the main character.
A person close to the main character disappears.
The main character receives threatening or disturbing notes.
The main character witnesses a crime.
The main character is asked to help solve a crime.
The main character stumbles upon a mystery.
You can also combine several of these scenarios to create a more layered mystery. For example, an item may be stolen from your main character, a person close to the main character disappears, and then the main character witnesses a crime she is later asked to help solve.

Step 4 Decide how you are going to complicate the puzzle or mystery.

Create a list of possible suspects your main character may encounter throughout the story. You can use several suspects to point the detective and/or the reader in the wrong direction to build suspense and surprise. [8] X Research source
Write a list of clues. Red herrings are clues that are false or misleading. Your story will be stronger if you include several red herring clues in the story. For example, your main character may find a clue that points to one suspect, but it is later revealed the clue is actually tied to a different suspect. Or your detective may find a clue without realizing it is the key to unlocking the entire mystery. [9] X Research source
Red herrings are all about saying "follow this thread" when the "thread" in question is completely wrong. A good writer can put something in the way that stops readers from realizing what's going on.

Step 5 Use cliffhangers to keep the story entertaining.

The main character is investigating a possible lead alone and encounters the murderer or killer.
The main character begins to doubt his/her abilities and lets his/her guard down, allowing the murderer to kill again.
No one believes the main character and he/she ends up trying to solve the crime alone,and he/she ends up getting kidnapped.
The main character is injured and trapped in a dangerous place.
The main character is going to lose an important clue if he/she can’t get out of a certain location or situation.

Find continuous ways to engage the reader. "I end each chapter with a cliffhanger, resolution, a turn, a reveal, a new wrinkle ... something that will make you want to read the next chapter of that character."

The main character saves someone close to them, or an innocent person wrapped up in the mystery.
The main character saves himself/herself and is changed by his/her courage or smarts.
The main character exposes a bad character or organization.
The main character exposes the murderer or person responsible for the crime.

Introduction of main character and setting.
The inciting incident, or the crime.
The call to adventure: The main character gets involved in solving the crime.
Tests and trials: The main character finds clues, encounters potential suspects, and tries to stay alive as he/she pursues the truth. Close ones might be kidnapped as a threat
Ordeal: The main character thinks he/she has found a key clue or suspect and believes he/she has solved the crime. This is a false resolution, and is a good way to surprise your reader when it turns out the main character got it wrong.
Major setback: All seems lost for the main character. He/She found the wrong suspect or clue, someone else is killed or harmed, and all his/her allies have abandoned him/her. A major setback will amp up the tension in the story and keep the reader guessing.
The reveal: The main character gathers all interested parties together, lays out the clues, explains the false leads, and reveals who the murderer or guilty person is.

Writing the Story

Step 1 Use the five senses to describe the setting.

Think what your main character might see in a certain setting. For example, if your character lives in a home much like yours in a small town, you may describe his/her bedroom or his/her walk to school. If you are using a specific historical setting, like 70s California, you may describe your character standing on a street corner and looking at the unique architecture or the cars that drive by.
Consider what your main character might hear in a certain setting. Your sleuth may listen to the birds chirping and the sprinklers on the lawns on the way to school. Or your detective may hear the roaring of cars or the crashing of ocean waves.
Describe what your main character might smell in a certain setting. Your main character might wake up to the smell of coffee being made in the kitchen by his/her parents. Or your detective may be hit with the smell of the city: rotting garbage and body odor.
Describe what your character might feel. This could be a light breeze, a sharp pain, a sudden jolt, or a shiver down his/her spine. Focus on how your character’s body might react to a feeling.
Think about what your character might taste. Your main character may still taste the cereal she had for breakfast in his/her mouth, or the drink from the night before.

Think about being concise with your language and description. Most readers continue reading a good mystery because they are invested in the main character and want to see his/her succeed. Be brief but specific when describing the main character and his/her perspective on the world.
For example, Chandler’s The Big Sleep starts by situating the reader in a setting and gives the reader a sense of the main character’s perspective on the world. “It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.”
With this beginning, the story starts in action, with a specific time, date, and description of the setting. It then presents the main character’s physical description and job title. The section ends with the main character’s motivation: four million dollars. In three lines, Chandler has covered many of the essential details of the character, the setting, and the story.

Think about how you would react in a situation if you were angry or scared. Have your character react in ways that communicate angry or scared, without telling the reader about the character’s emotions. For example, rather than “Stephanie was angry,” you could write: “Stephanie slammed his/her water glass down on the table so hard his/her dinner plate rattled. She glared at him, and started ripping the thin, white napkin into shreds with his/her fingers.”
Showing, rather than telling also works well for descriptions of setting. For example, in The Big Sleep , rather than tell the reader the Sternwoods were wealthy, Chandler describes the luxurious details of the estate: “There were French doors at the back of the hall, beyond them a wide sweep of emerald grass to a white garage, in front of which a slim dark young chauffeur in shiny black leggings was dusting a maroon Packard convertible. Beyond the garage were some decorative trees trimmed as carefully as poodle dogs. Beyond them a large greenhouse with a domed roof. Then more trees and beyond everything the solid, uneven, comfortable line of the foothills.”

Step 4 Surprise your reader but don’t confuse her.

Plot. Ensure your story sticks to the outline and has a clear beginning, middle, and an ending. You should also confirm your main character shifts or changes at the end of the story.
Characters. Are your characters, including your main character, distinct and unique? Do all the characters sound and act the same or are they different from each other? Do your characters feel original and engaging?
Pacing. Pacing is how fast or how slow the action moves in the story. Good pacing will feel invisible to the reader. If the story feels like it is moving too fast, make the scenes longer to draw out the emotions of the characters. If it feels like the story gets bogged down or confusing, shorten the scenes to only include essential information. A good rule of thumb is to always end a scene earlier than you might think or want. This will keep the tension from scene to scene from dropping and keep the pace of the story moving.
The twist. The twist can either make or break a good mystery story. This is completely optional, but many of the best stories have a twist at the end. Make sure that a twist is not too "cheesy". The more unique a twist is, the easier it is to write. When writing an overused twist, such as "then they woke up", you'll need to be a very good writer to make it sound good. A good twist not only fools the audience, but fools the character(s) too. Consider hinting towards the twist during action scenes, so that when the reader looks back on the story, they'll wonder how they missed it. Try not to make the twist evident too early on.

Mystery Story Help

Community Q&A

Things You'll Need

Paper and pen and/or a computer with a word processor (like Word)
Mystery books/stories
An idea/plot for the story

↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/7-tips-writing-great-mystery-suspense-novels
↑ http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/59582-the-10-best-mystery-books.html
↑ http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bigsleep/summary.html
↑ http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1661/1661-h/1661-h.htm
↑ https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/20/reviews/970720.20careyt.html
↑ http://blog.karenwoodward.org/2013/10/how-to-write-murder-mystery.html
↑ http://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-a-mystery.html
↑ http://blog.karenwoodward.org/2014/03/how-to-write-murderously-good-mystery.html
↑ http://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-fiction.html
↑ http://blog.karenwoodward.org/2013/10/how-to-write-murder-mystery-part-two.html

About This Article

Before you write your mystery story you’ll want to create some characters and outline the plot. You might make your main character a detective or just a curious citizen who witnessed a crime. Once you have characters, choose a setting and a mystery such as a murder or a robbery of a precious artwork. If you want to make your story dramatic, add in cliffhangers and red herrings, or clues that lead to dead ends. When you’re ready to write your story, scroll down for tips from our Creative Writing reviewer on creating a well-paced and exciting narrative. Did this summary help you? Yes No

Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Skandr Sias

Aug 13, 2017

Did this article help you?

Asmaa Mahmoud

Mar 27, 2017

Apr 11, 2018

Anurag Bhuyan Bhuyan

Aug 3, 2016

Denna Weber

Aug 28, 2018

Featured Articles

The Top 12 Traits That Make a Person Unlikeable

Watch Articles

Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Do Not Sell or Share My Info
Not Selling Info

Don’t miss out! Sign up for

wikiHow’s newsletter

How to write mystery: 6 ways to create suspense

Learning how to write mystery is easy when you understand the ingredients of mystery and suspense. Every good story has unknowns readers want answered, yet a good mystery makes us need to know. Here are 6 ways to create suspense and build mystery:

Post author By Jordan
7 Comments on How to write mystery: 6 ways to create suspense

How to write mystery - 6 ways to create suspense | Now Novel

First, what are mystery and suspense?

‘Mystery’ itself has many meanings. As a literary genre, a mystery is ‘A novel, play, or film dealing with a puzzling crime, especially a murder’ ( Oxford English Dictionary ).

Mystery, more generally, means ‘secrecy or obscurity’ and ‘A person or thing whose identity or nature is puzzling or unknown’ ( OED ).

Thus while a classic murder mystery like an Agatha Christie novel involves the puzzling nature of solving crimes, any book may have elements of the puzzling and unknown.

In a fantasy novel, for example, a villain’s real identity (or the scope of their power) may be a mystery at first. In a romance novel, the identity of a mysterious, desirable stranger may be the central mystery to begin.

These unknowns, and how a story circles around these mysteries , create suspense . Suspense is ‘a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen’. This is an integral part of all storytelling. Suspense gives the question we ask most often as readers: What will happen next?

To create mysterious suspense, you may:

1. Conceal a character’s true identity

Fiction (and not only the mystery genre) is full of characters whose true identities are unknown.

The unknown, criminal perpetrator is one of the most obvious types of concealed identity. Yet concealment isn’t only reserved for criminals. In Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations , for example, a mystery benefactor leaves Pip, the protagonist, a small fortune, changing his life completely.

Dickens sets us up to believe that the benefactor is the wealthy Miss Havisham, but we later discover the real benefactor was another, more unsavoury character.

In this case, Dickens conceals the doer of a non-criminal deed, and the revelation makes us reconsider everything we (and Pip) assume about why he was given his fortune.

Another classic example of suspenseful concealed identity involves gender identity. In Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night , the protagonist Viola is separated from her twin brother Sebastian in a shipwreck on the coast of Illyria. She disguises herself as a man named ‘Cesario’ in order to serve a local Duke while seeking her brother.

This concealment creates suspense , as the audience wonders when Viola’s actual sex will be found out and her gender performance unmasked. A love triangle between the character, the Duke (whom Viola/Cesario falls in love with) and the woman the Duke himself loves (Olivia) complicates this narrative tension further.

Here, suspense is created by the audience knowing something about a character other characters don’t.

To create suspense by concealing identity you can thus:

Hide the identity behind an act: Whether a murderer or a generous giver (as in the Dickens’ example)
Have a character don a disguise or role to achieve their goals: The gap between the reader’s knowledge of the truth and other characters’ awareness of it creates suspense

[ Brainstorm characters and plot events using the step-by-step prompts in the Now Novel dashboard.]

2. Create chains of small revelations

Learning how to write mystery means learning to ‘drip out’ suspense. Drop small revelations like a trail of crumbs for readers. The murderer leaves a footprint and we know their shoe size, the pattern of their treads.

These small ‘giveaways’ are useful because you can milk them for further suspense and mystery. For example, perhaps the pattern of treads in a footprint suggest the wearer has unusually small feet for a male.

This could lead the detective to be distracted all the time by the size of suspects’ feet. Prior revelations load further action and encounters with meaning and possible significance.

This approach to creating plot points – planting information like puzzle pieces – is key to creating suspense. As you create incidents that reveal just a little, ask ‘why?’ Why is this revelation useful or important?

When your mystery is a character’s identity, revelations may include:

Physical remainders: What careless personal effects or trail (footprints, fingerprints, paperwork) does the character leave behind?
Giveaway behavioural patterns: For example, a killer who is a scout leader might tie elaborate knots and leave other signs of specialist knowledge
Tip-offs and rumours: In mystery, there’s always a character who knows more than they’re letting on. Even in books like J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, we find out characters have more knowledge than we assumed, later in the story

Think of chains of revelation and how they stack up. To take the footprint example above, a sequence could be:

Detective notices size of the print: Narrows down possible suspects
They notice details of the tread: Maybe it reveals a specific brand or style of shoe, giving something to look for
Errors behind assumptions: For example, perhaps the tread belongs to a witness who fled the scene

How to write mystery - 6 ways to create suspense - infographic | Now Novel

3. Sidetrack your sleuths

No discussion of how to write mystery is complete without the ‘red herring’ . A ‘red herring’ is an item of information that leads a character (and the reader) to false conclusions. It’s an object or action that we might perceive to have major significance initially. Yet later it turns out to have led us to false assumptions or suspicions. Solving a mystery depends on following signs and associations, and signs can point your reader down dead ends.

For example, a suspect may have a particular item in their possession belonging to a murder victim. This makes them appear more suspicious by association. Yet there could be an innocent reason why they possess said object.

You can sidetrack your sleuth (investigators and readers) and create suspense by:

Giving events misleading significance: A flashlight blinking on and off in a window at the same time every night might seem ominous at first. Yet we discover it’s two teens way to signal to each other to get on a Skype call to discuss a friend’s disappearance
Showing false assumptions: In a mystery romance, for example, a romantic lead could mistake a would-be lover’s close friend for a romantic rival. The reader wonders how this false assumption will play out
Creating sidetracking subplots : While investigating a crime, a detective may be roped into dealing with townspeople’s other personal problems. These may indirectly furnish further details helpful to solving the case, while also sidetracking and distracting

Once you have established the main unknown (e.g. a character’s disappearance), each little event or action may be loaded with meaning. From flashlights at night to sightings of strangers acting suspiciously near the scene of a crime, anything may provoke further uncertainty.

4. Show intriguing actions without immediate explanation

‘Show, don’t tell’ is often abused advice . Explanatory exposition is sometimes necessary and effective. Yet in mystery showing is vital.

When you show unusual or odd actions without explaining their significance to the reader immediately, you make your reader wonder why. Why this specific scene/action? What does it tell me?

Take, for example, the reboot of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s cult murder mystery TV show, Twin Peaks .

Near the start of the season, the viewer sees the local therapist Dr Lawrence Jacoby spray-painting shovels gold. The action is a little creepy and we wonder what this gesture means . In the context of a murder mystery, we might associate shovels themselves with suspicious activity (such as digging a hiding place or grave).

It turns out Jacoby is a conspiracy theorist who drums up fear about government and pharmaceutical companies on his regular podcast. He also sells his golden shovels to his followers, via an infomercial where he stands in mud holding one, telling viewers to buy a golden shovel so they can ‘dig’ themselves ‘out of the shit’. The build-up of the strange ritual of spray-painting shovels turns out to lead to absurd humour poking fun at hokey advertising.

Even though strange actions don’t lead to a revelation relevant to the show’s biggest mysteries, the writers milk a simple, strange action for great narrative suspense.

The example above shows the power of delaying explanation, sometimes. Remember to trust in your reader’s patience and imaginative ability to supply their own interpretation of events until you reveal the ‘real’ meaning.

5. Build suspense through sentence and scene construction

We could discuss how to write mystery purely in terms of genre and literary terms and devices. Yet how we use language itself is also key to creating suspense .

For example, putting the ‘a-ha’ moment of a sentence in the final clause makes the sentence build to this revelation. For example:

‘It was unusual (though there were one or two brands that used a similar design), and if it were not for the manufacturer’s logo (the letters barely legible) imprinted in the hardening mud just outside a back window, the detective may have had no idea what shoe type had left the footprint. But she knew exactly the type (gumboots, Another Day brand), and even the location of the supplier’s factory outlet – just a mile out of town. She could get there before closing if she hurried.’

If we read over the sentence and examine its structure, we see how it piles on questions before answering some. Each clause creates questions: A) What was unusual? B) There were several brands of what ? C) Why is the manufacturer’s logo important? Only by the time we get to ‘this particular print’ is it clear a character is trying to find further leads from a footprint.

A caveat to using suspenseful sentence construction

Delaying revelation in sentence construction and scenes is a simple yet effective way to keep your reader guessing. Yet balance building sentences like the one above with shorter, simpler ones. If we make every sentence long and climactic, the effect starts to tire. Keep this technique for moments of high intrigue (such as a detective caught in complex pondering, in piecing together evidence).

Similarly, when developing a mysterious scene, delay major revelations for final paragraphs and sentences, so your reader has every reason to turn the page.

How to write mystery - HP Lovecraft on suspense | Now Novel

6. Use mysterious, suspenseful dialogue

Dialogue is a great device for creating implications , mysteries and inferences.

For example take this scene: A detective visits a local dive bar. The owner inclines their head slightly towards a man sitting drinking alone in the corner, saying, “You want to keep an eye on that one.”

This brief exchange creates immediate suspense and curiosity. Why is the lone drinker a person of interest? Are they mixed up in dubious dealings? Or are they simply a troublemaker who might interfere in investigations?

Keep characters’ motives in mind when writing dialogue to create suspense. Perhaps, for example, the proprietor of the bar has personal grievances to the lone man. Great mysteries show how difficult it is to find the truth. Because everyone has a view, an agenda, a public life, a private one.

Cryptic words or phrases also help make dialogue mysterious or suspenseful. Yet don’t overdo it by making every sentence so obscure that your reader is totally lost.

In Lynch and Frost’s reboot of Twin Peaks , for example, we see a drug addict sitting at a table shouting ‘ONE ONE NINE!’ hysterically over and over. Although this isn’t explained and given any context, observant viewers noticed this is the North American emergency number ‘911’ backwards. Speaking backwards, in the world of Twin Peaks, is associated with paranormal portal-like locations called ‘lodges’ through which destructive spirits can enter our world. Thus these simple but mysterious shouts could indicate paranormal activity, or simply the character’s drug-induced ravings. Giving dialogue ‘double’ and elusive meaning at times makes it suspenseful and open to interpretation.

Need help developing suspense and mystery in your story? Join Now Novel for constructive feedback from the community or your own writing coach.

Writing a cozy mystery: 10 feel-good suspense tips
Suspense in books: 6 ways to grow anticipation
How to write suspense like The Hunger Games

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

7 replies on “How to write mystery: 6 ways to create suspense”

Excellent tips for most genre. I think mystery is the root of most stories and this is an excellent primmer for the everything from big-world-building science fiction to regency romance. Thanks for sharing.

It’s a pleasure, Elias, I’m glad you enjoyed reading this. You’re right – mystery is a key story ingredient in many genres besides mystery ‘proper’. Thanks for reading.

The writing style is amazing. I get great pleasure when I read and agree with what I read. I think mystery is the basis for most works. A huge number of people read books for this-they like mystery and mystery. Thanks for the great content.

Thank you for reading and for the kind feedback, Writer 🙂

Another amazing blog from Jordan. All you have shared in this article are useful that I can’t wait to apply these in real life.

Hi Patricia, thank you for reading our blog and for the feedback! I’m afraid I had to remove the blog link you shared as it said the target site was not secure.

Pin It on Pinterest

Flannery O’Connor on Why the Grotesque Appeals to Us, Plus a Rare Recording of Her Reading “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”

By maria popova.

In this rare recording, taped at the Dorothy Lamar Blount Lecture Series at Wesleyan College the year the essay was published, O’Connor reads a portion of an early draft of the piece. Highlights from the full final version, including the passage O’Connor reads, below.

I think that if there is any value in hearing writers talk, it will be in hearing what they can witness to and not what they can theorize about. My own approach to literary problems is very like the one Dr. Johnson’s blind housekeeper used when she poured tea — she put her finger inside the cup. These are not times when writers in this country can very well speak for one another. . . . Today each writer speaks for himself, even though he may not be sure that his work is important enough to justify his doing so. […] When we look at a good deal of serious modern fiction, and particularly Southern fiction, we find this quality about it that is generally described, in a pejorative sense, as grotesque. Of course, I have found that anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the Northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic. But for this occasion, we may leave such misapplications aside and consider the kind of fiction that may be called grotesque with good reason, because of a directed intention that way on the part of the author. In these grotesque works, we find that the writer has made alive some experience which we are not accustomed to observe every day, or which the ordinary man may never experience in his ordinary life. We find that connections which we would expect in the customary kind of realism have been ignored, that there are strange skips and gaps which anyone trying to describe manners and customs would certainly not have left. Yet the characters have an inner coherence, if not always a coherence to their social framework. Their fictional qualities lean away from typical social patterns, toward mystery and the unexpected. It is this kind of realism that I want to consider. All novelists are fundamentally seekers and describers of the real, but the realism of each novelist will depend on his view of the ultimate reaches of reality. […] Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one. To be able to recognize a freak, you have to have some conception of the whole man, and in the South the general conception of man is still, in the main, theological. That is a large statement, and it is dangerous to make it, for almost anything you say about Southern belief can be denied in the next breath with equal propriety. But approaching the subject from the standpoint of the writer, I think it is safe to say that while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted. The Southerner, who isn’t convinced of it, is very much afraid that he may have been formed in the image and likeness of God. Ghosts can be very fierce and instructive. They cast strange shadows, particularly in our literature. In any case, it is when the freak can be sensed as a figure for our essential displacement that he attains some depth in literature.

(More than half a century later, Neil Gaiman explored the grip of ghosts in a beautiful related meditation.)

O’Connor goes on to consider another explanation for the singular sensibility of the Southern writer:

There is another reason in the Southern situation that makes for a tendency toward the grotesque and this is the prevalence of good Southern writers. I think the writer is initially set going by literature more than by life. When there are many writers all employing the same idiom, all looking out on more or less the same social scene, the individual writer will have to be more than ever careful that he isn’t just doing badly what has already been done to completion. The presence alone of Faulkner in our midst makes a great difference in what the writer can and cannot permit himself to do. Nobody wants his mule and wagon stalled on the same track the Dixie Limited is roaring down. The Southern writer is forced from all sides to make his gaze extend beyond the surface, beyond mere problems, until it touches that realm which is the concern of prophets and poets. . . . For the kind of writer I have been describing, a literature which mirrors society would be no fit guide for it, and one which did manage, by sheer art, to do both these things would have to have recourse to more violent means than middlebrow subject matter and mere technical expertness.

She reflects on what amplifies the appeal of the grotesque in fiction:

The novelist must be characterized not by his function but by his vision, and we must remember that his vision has to be transmitted and that the limitations and blind spots of his audience will very definitely affect the way he is able to show what he sees.

O’Connor offers a broader meditation on why we read:

There is something in us, as storytellers and as listeners to stories, that demands the redemptive act, that demands that what falls at least be offered the chance to be restored. The reader of today looks for this motion, and rightly so, but what he has forgotten is the cost of it. His sense of evil is diluted or lacking altogether, and so he has forgotten the price of restoration. When he reads a novel, he wants either his senses tormented or his spirits raised. He wants to be transported, instantly, either to mock damnation or a mock innocence.

She follows this with a mirror-image question of why writers write and, echoing Eudora Welty on the poetic of place , ties this back to the regional roots of literature:

I am often told that the model of balance for the novelist should be Dante, who divided his territory up pretty evenly between hell, purgatory, and paradise. There can be no objection to this, but also there can be no reason to assume that the result of doing it in these times will give us the balanced picture that it gave in Dante’s. Dante lived in the thirteenth century, when that balance was achieved in the faith of his age. We live now in an age which doubts both fact and value, which is swept this way and that by momentary convictions. Instead of reflecting a balance from the world around him, the novelist now has to achieve one from a felt balance inside himself. […] The problem for such a novelist will be to know how far he can distort without destroying, and in order not to destroy, he will have to descend far enough into himself to reach those underground springs that give life to big work. This descent into himself will, at the same time, be a descent into his region.

And just for good measure, here is O’Connor reading the title story of her most celebrated collection, A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories , published in 1955. The recording, found on the Criterion Collection disc Wise Blood , was long believed to be the only recording of O’Connor reading, though the one above clearly disproves the case.

Mystery and Manners is a terrific tome in its entirety. Complement it with young O’Connor’s little-known satirical cartoons .

— Published March 25, 2014 — https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/03/25/flannery-o-connor-grotesque-reading/ —

www.themarginalian.org

PRINT ARTICLE

Email article, filed under, books culture flannery o'connor history literature psychology soundcloud writing, view full site.

The Marginalian participates in the Bookshop.org and Amazon.com affiliate programs, designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to books. In more human terms, this means that whenever you buy a book from a link here, I receive a small percentage of its price, which goes straight back into my own colossal biblioexpenses. Privacy policy . (TLDR: You're safe — there are no nefarious "third parties" lurking on my watch or shedding crumbs of the "cookies" the rest of the internet uses.)

A Good Man is Hard to Find

Flannery o’connor, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions, the misfit quotes in a good man is hard to find.

The car continued to come on slowly, disappeared around a bend and appeared again, moving even slower, on the top of the hill they had gone over. It was a big black battered hearse-like automobile.

His face was as familiar to her as if she had known him all her life but she could not recall who he was.

“I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people!”

“Nome, I ain’t a good man,” The Misfit said after a second as if he had considered her statement carefully, “but I ain’t the worst in the world neither. My daddy said I was a different breed from my brothers and sisters. ‘You know,’ Daddy said, ‘it’s some that can live their whole life out without asking about it and it’s other has to know why it is, and this boy is one of the latters. He’s going to be into everything!’”

Familial Conflict and Familial Love Theme Icon

“I was a gospel singer for a while,” The Misfit said. “I been most everything. Been in the arm service, both land and sea, at home and abroad, been twict married, been an undertaker, been with the railroads, plowed Mother Earth, been in a tornado, seen a man burnt alive oncet . . . I even seen a woman flogged.”

“I never was a bad boy that I remember of,” The Misfit said in an almost dreamy voice, “but somewhere along the line I done something wrong and got sent to the penitentiary. I was buried alive.”

“It was a head-doctor at the penitentiary said what I had done was kill my daddy but I known that for a lie. My daddy died in nineteen ought nineteen of the epidemic flu and I never had a thing to do with it.”

“Well then, why don’t you pray?” she asked trembling with delight suddenly.

“I don’t want no hep,” he said. “I’m doing all right by myself.

“I call myself The Misfit,” he said, “because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment.”

“Then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can—by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness.”

She saw the man’s face twisted closer to her own as if he were going to cry and she murmured, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” She reached out and touched him on the shoulder. The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest.

“She would have been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”

Entertainment
Environment
Information Science and Technology
Social Issues

Home Essay Samples Life

Essay Samples on Mystery

The myth of jack the ripper: an analytical essay.

During the late 1880s, a hysteria of panic, fear, and excitement overwhelmed the East End of London. Jack the Ripper, the notorious, yet mysterious man who took the lives of five vulnerable women, and possibly many more, has divided countless opinions since 1888. This essay...

Jack The Ripper

Bermuda Triangle as Resident Evil: Review

Many people think the devil's triangle is just myth or folklore, but it is far from it, especially to the people that have died in this watery hell. From the first incident/disappearance in 1492 to the most recent one in 2017 weird things have been...

Bermuda Triangle

The Legends of Bigfoot: Truth or Fiction

Dating back to 1958, Aspiring journalist Andrew Genzoil of the Humboldt Times has put the spotlight on an entertaining letter from a reader regarding loggers from northern California who sighted mysteriously large footprints. With that in mind, Genzoil imaged the absurdly large prints had the...

The Mystery of Stonehenge: A Famous Landmark of Britain

Of all the great monuments of the past Stonehenge is one of the most enduring and enigmatic a mystery which appears to present more puzzles the more we attempt to discover its secrets it stands on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire in the southern part of...

Great Britain

The Mysterious Identity of Jack the Ripper

It has been suspected that Jack the Ripper was single and suffered from insomnia. Jack the Ripper, the name given to an unknown man who murdered and cut up several prostitutes in Whitechapel, London, in 1888. The name was used in a letter by someone...

Serial Killer

Stressed out with your paper?

Consider using writing assistance:

100% unique papers
3 hrs deadline option

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The Mystery of a Prisoner

“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” is a book by J. K. Rowling that focuses on a teenage wizard named Harry Potter, a young teen muggle (half-human) who is about to embark on a new journey. There's a new challenge, a new killer that...

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban

The Legend of Existence of Bigfoot: Truth or Lie

Introduction Stories of a creature that defied logical explanation has been roaming people’s imagination for centuries. The Sasquatch or more commonly known as the “Bigfoot” has peaked everyone's curiosity. Thousands of years the Native Americans told stories of a wild man that roamed the woods....

The Mystery of God in the Production of Bruce Almighty

The mystery of God is something we do not have much information on. Over the years we have seen images of God or what we expect him to look like. It is still unknown to this day, but many producers have made movies about bible...

Existence of God

Mystery of Stonehenge and Gunung Padang

Abstract This paper contains the mystery of Stonehenge. Stonehenge was built on Salisbury Plain some time between 5,000 and 4,300 years ago. It is one of the most famous and mysterious archaeological sites in the world (O’Driscoll, 2009, p.15). The main focus of this paper...

Archaeology

The Journey and Fall of the Iceman in The Iceman Murder Mystery

The excavation and autopsy of the iceman has led to many new finds in the fields of anthropology, biology, and history. Even after having had discovered him 28+ years ago, we are still learning new things from him. The one thing that has eluded us...

Anthropology

Greatest Triumph - Unravelling the Mystery of Amelia Earhart

“The past is an unsolved mystery and the truth a moving target”(AZ Quotes). For years people have pondered what happened to Amelia Earhart. Did she live under a false identity as a Jersey housewife? Did she end up living on an island, stranded? Speculations along...

Amelia Earhart

The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle has long been shrouded in mystery and intrigue as records of strange occurrences in the area famously go back to Christopher Columbus. Many planes and ships have disappeared in the imaginary triangle which is outlined by Miami, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda. The...

The Origin of Mystery Religion in the Greek Civilization

Mystery religion is characterized by secret cults spanning a wide span of history. They originate in early Greece history and lasted for many centuries. They evolved in different cultures but still shared similarities with past cults. Reinhold Merkelbach (2010) listed one defining factor, “Mysteries were...

Lost In The Great Smokies: Mystery Surrounding Disappearance Of Three Boys

It was a fabulous common system that Dennis Martin, his brother and two other guys hatched. While five men and women watched and talked from a grassy area at Spence Field, the guys decided to see if they could sneak up on the old folks...

Best topics on Mystery

1. The Myth of Jack the Ripper: An Analytical Essay

2. Bermuda Triangle as Resident Evil: Review

3. The Legends of Bigfoot: Truth or Fiction

4. The Mystery of Stonehenge: A Famous Landmark of Britain

5. The Mysterious Identity of Jack the Ripper

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The Mystery of a Prisoner

7. The Legend of Existence of Bigfoot: Truth or Lie

8. The Mystery of God in the Production of Bruce Almighty

9. Mystery of Stonehenge and Gunung Padang

10. The Journey and Fall of the Iceman in The Iceman Murder Mystery

11. Greatest Triumph – Unravelling the Mystery of Amelia Earhart

12. The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle

13. The Origin of Mystery Religion in the Greek Civilization

14. Lost In The Great Smokies: Mystery Surrounding Disappearance Of Three Boys

Personal Experience
Personality
Perseverance
Affordable Housing
Foster Care

Need writing help?

You can always rely on us no matter what type of paper you need

*No hidden charges

100% Unique Essays

Absolutely Confidential

Money Back Guarantee

By clicking “Send Essay”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. We will occasionally send you account related emails

You can also get a UNIQUE essay on this or any other topic

Thank you! We’ll contact you as soon as possible.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Essay Prompts, Summary, & Analysis

Flannery O’Connor is one of the most famous American short story writers of the 20 th century. Her impactful writing pieces with memorable characters and multiple dimensions of meaning are often anthologized. If you are looking for A Good Man Is Hard to Find essay prompts, here is a detailed guide to help you out.

🔰 Short Summary
🔝 Top Essay Questions
📝 Essay Prompts
🎭 Character Analysis
🔍 Literary Analysis

🔗 References

🔰 a good man is hard to find short summary.

If you want A Good Man Is Hard to Find summary condensed to one sentence, it will be as follows: a family of six travels to Florida, gets into a car crash on their way, and gets killed by an escaped convict, The Misfit.

However, if you need more careful and insightful literary analysis , things are not as simple as that. A more attentive reader would summarize the short story as follows – we’ve presented it as a diagram for your convenience.

The picture contains A Good Man Is Hard to Find short summary.

🔝 A Good Man Is Hard to Find Essay Questions

Here are some research questions you can examine in a critical essay or research paper:

How are love and marriage negotiated in the story?
What are the main plot contradictions?
What is the secular meaning of the story?
How is individualism explored in the piece?
What are the traces of Protestantism in the short story?
How does A Good Man Is Hard to Find fit the concept of Catholic fiction?
Why does the story belong to the Southern gothic style ?
How does O’Connor approach forgiveness and religiosity in the story?
What is the role of the landscape in the story?
How does O’Connor question southern ladyhood in the story?
What are the traces of John Milton’s style in the short story?
How does O’Connor approach the degradation of values in her story?
What are the anagogical Biblical allusions in the short story?
How does O’Connor use grotesque to talk about the idyllic agrarian South?
What are the Civil War references in the story?

📝 A Good Man Is Hard to Find Essay Prompts

If assigned an essay about A Good Man Is Hard to Find , you may face the challenge of formulating an interesting, research-worthy topic. Indeed, there has been so much written and said about this short story that you may be clueless about a new angle. Here are a couple of essay prompts and thesis ideas our pros have prepared for your inspiration.

Means, meaning, and mediated space in A Good Man Is Hard to Find . Flannery O’Connor talked about the failures of the Southern gothic genre to depict Southernness and addressed those problems in the short story. The means of what, in your opinion, were the characters of The Grandmother and The Misfit? What meaning did the author associate with their encounter? What unique spatial rhetoric did O’Connor apply to juxtapose the Southern ideal and the modern American capitalist image?
Violence as a path to transformation. O’Connor used violence as a means of epiphany and transformation trajectory for its characters. How do her characters go through that path from the moment of a car crash?
The genesis of O’Connor’s story . Where did O’Connor source inspiration for her short stories, specifically A Good Man Is Hard to Find ? How does Bailey’s reading of the Atlanta Journal at the beginning of the story hint at its genesis and the materials on which it was based?
The ambiguity of goodness in O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find. What are the moral codes by which the story’s characters live? How do they differ? What does O’Connor associate with the “good man” concept voiced by different characters?
The Role of The Misfit in the story . What role does The Misfit play in Grandmother’s moral transformation? Does The Misfit help her recognize her sinful life? Trace the main character’s evolution and insights during her dialogue with the criminal.
Discussion of faith in the story. O’Connor dedicated an anthology of short stories to original sins and talked about Catholicism in her writings. How is the Catholic faith explored in A Good Man Is Hard to Find ? from which angle does the author approach the concept of Catholic mercy?
The role of foreshadowing in A Good Man Is Hard to Find. How is the foreshadowing technique used in the story? Which elements are used to predict the unfortunate outcome for The Grandmother’s family?
Plot analysis of A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Revisit the plot and identify the roles of every character in it. How does the story’s plot develop, and what are its major turning points?
Communication in A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Characters in the story get (or don’t get) what they want in communicating with each other. How does O’Connor approach politeness in her story, and what means and ends does politeness serve in characters’ interactions?
The depiction of selfishness in A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Selfishness is an outstanding feature of The Grandmother. In what contexts does she reveal her selfish nature? To what consequences does it lead?
Character analysis of The Grandmother in A Good Man Is Hard to Find. What are the main characters of O’Connor’s short story? How do they interact, and what purposes do they serve in the story’s plot?
O’Connor’s use of symbols and metaphors in A Good Man Is Hard to Find. The story is rich in symbols and metaphors as O’Connor’s favorite literary devices. What are the most prominent of them and what is the purpose of their use?
Dreams and reality in A Good Man Is Hard to Find . The Misfit’s character mysteriously confuses reality and dreams, unable to tell what is real and unreal in his life. What purpose does this element serve in the story? What is O’Connor’s literary goal behind the reality-dream fusion?
Literary devices in O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find. What literary devices does O’Connor use in the story? What function do they perform in it?
The characters’ moral codes in A Good Man Is Hard to Find. What are the different moral codes the story’s characters follow? How do they justify those codes?

🎭 A Good Man Is Hard to Find Character Analysis

Though the story is about a family of six and contains many other characters, the core roles are assigned to two characters – The Grandmother and The Misfit.

The picture lists the two main characters in A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

Here is the detailed character analysis to help you understand these personas better.

The Grandmother

The Grandmother is the story’s main character.

She is highly judgmental, selfish, and self-directed, wishing that everyone follows her whims and obeys. She lives with her son’s family and tries to get things her way, though facing disrespect and neglect from most family members.

Her numerous references to her youth, courting with young gentlemen before marriage, and her sophisticated dress for the trip hint at her superficial, indolent lifestyle and non-impressive intellectual ability.

The Grandmother also acts as an aristocrat and racist, behaving as if she is superior to everyone around her. She likes to talk about the good old times – probably because she used to enjoy popularity as a young lady and led an active social life devoid of spirituality and meaning.

A meeting with The Misfit brings her face to face with a lack of grace and religion in her own life. By begging him to pray and seek salvation, The Grandmother also seems to talk to herself and realize that she also needs to gain the divine grace, at least at the end of her life. However, even at this heartbreaking climax of the story, she acts selfishly and doesn’t think about her family, begging for remorse only for herself and finally getting killed.

The Misfit is the story’s antagonist – the one who kills The Grandmother and her family upon their encounter on a deserted Southern road. His enigmatic character is a sharp contradiction to the ordinary, even trivial characters of The Grandmother’s family.

The Misfit is well-bred and morally reasonable, but he is a cruel criminal, killing everyone, from an infant to an old lady. He talks positively about his family but simultaneously confesses to killing his father. He is a philosopher relentlessly engaged in soul-searching and pondering over the existence of God.

Upon more careful consideration, one can see that The Grandmother and The Misfit met to encourage the religious search for grace and divine meaning in each other. A desperate man with a complex of puzzling contradictions and a superficial, selfish woman both needed a life-changing encounter, and they received that chance. Following O’Connor’s logic, they both abandoned the chance for divine grace, but the transcendent event revealed the mystery of human encounters with the divine.

Minor Characters

The minor characters include the disinterested family members of The Grandmother – her frustrated and detached son Bailey, a speechless daughter-in-law, and rude little children getting things their way with screams and misbehavior. Other characters are Red Sammy Butts – a café owner fond of complaining and remembering old times, and his distrustful wife. The story also mentions two Misfit accomplices – Hiram and Bobby Lee.

🎵 A Good Man Is Hard to Find Themes

Here are the main themes O’Connor examined in her literary piece.

The Catholic religion theme is one of the main topics in the short story. O’Connor juxtaposes real religiosity with the shallow Catholic accessories that The Grandmother uses to go for a believer. Only an encounter with death makes her realize the sinful nature of her existence and seek salvation for herself.

Mentions of death have been woven into the story’s fabric since its beginning. The Grandmother talks about The Misfit as a murderer and insists on taking Pitty Sing with them, afraid of his death alone at home. The Grandmother dresses up to show everyone that she is a lady, even if her corpse is to be found after a car crash. Thus, death is the family’s companion throughout the story, coming in its ugly, tangible form upon encountering The Misfit. Death becomes the moment of The Grandmother’s revelation and enlightenment, as only the fear of death makes her sincere to herself.

In religious terms, divine grace is the moment of epiphany during which the believer comes face to face with their genuine nature and can achieve peace of mind and spiritual salvation. The Grandmother’s and The Misfit’s spiritual blindness are examined in the story as barriers to salvation and their inability to unite with God.

🗺️ A Good Man Is Hard to Find Setting

A Good Man Is Hard to Find was written in the best tradition of Southern gothic literature, which is evident from the typical description of the story’s setting. It was popular among Southern gothic writers to use the scenery of the American South as facilitating devices in their plots. Here, the reader also comes across such images like:

Lonely plantations
Aging and lonely Southerners (the figure of Red Sammy Butts and his small road café)
Dusty downtown
References to slavery past (a black child The Grandmother referred to as a “little nigger”)

Besides, the story complies with other conventions of the genre by featuring shallow, morally degrading characters that are “not quite right” in universal human terms. The main characters – The Grandmother and The Misfit – both have troubles with morality, though each in their own way.

🔍 A Good Man Is Hard to Find Literary Analysis

O’Connor also used many literary and stylistic means to enrich her short story with multiple levels of meaning. Here is the detailed literary analysis to guide your interpretation work.

Symbolism in A Good Man Is Hard to Find

The story is filled with many symbols , such as The Grandmother’s hat (the woman’s hypocrisy and self-centeredness), The Misfit’s automobile (a “black, battered hearse-like” vehicle signaling that only death awaits those who meet it).

There are also many symbolic references to animals in the story. The daughter-in-law’s headkerchief is compared to a rabbit’s ears, The Misfit presents himself as a “different breed of dog” from his siblings, and Bailey’s voice becomes “a snarl” when he blames his mother. Thus, O’Connor likened all characters to animals, unable to analyze their actions and living simple lives directed at survival.

Imagery in a Good Man Is Hard to Find

Besides the numerous symbols in A Good Man Is Hard to Find discussed above, the short story contains many allusions to people and cultural artifacts. For instance, the young boy’s name is John Wesley – an allusion to one of the first Anglican Church ministers in the USA. The cat’s name is an allusion to a comic opera, Mikado , featuring a character concerned about fitting the crime to the punishment (just like The Misfit). Gone with the Wind and The Tennessee Waltz both serve as metaphors for The Grandmother’s longing for her hilarious past, which becomes the source of her family’s problems.

Irony in a Good Man Is Hard to Find

Irony is used many times in the story to show how skillfully The Grandmother deceives the whole family and leads them to demise while being Bailey’s mom – a woman promising never to put her family at risk. In fact, all family troubles occur because of The Grandmother’s selfish whims and an absence of care for the rest of her family and their interests.

Another illustrative example of irony is The Grandmother’s repeated appeals to The Misfit as “a good man.” She tries to convince him not to kill her because she’s a lady, which is highly ironic, as she led the whole family to this tragedy and has never been a good person.

Foreshadowing in a Good Man Is Hard to Find

O’Connor used many elements of foreshadowing in the story.

The Misfit is mentioned in the first lines, dooming the family to an encounter with him. The family sees a graveyard and tombstones on their way – literal death artifacts. The Misfit’s automobile looks like a hearse, promising death to everyone.

Besides, the woods in which The Grandmother’s encounter with The Misfit foreshadowed the family’s death. O’Connor described them as “a dark open mouth” that would soon absorb everyone’s lives.

Tone in a Good Man Is Hard to Find

O’Connor used different tones to achieve the intended effect of the story’s reading. In some places, the narrative sounds humoristic, while in others, it is full of detachment and focuses only on recording events and family members’ actions.

The story is also full of irony, which gets bitter when the family encounters The Misfit. In most fragments, the author used a serious tone – especially after the family met with the criminals and the elevating tension of family members’ killings.

With these tips and suggestions, you’re sure to complete an essay about A Good Man Is Hard to Find without any trouble. Look through our prompts, follow the writing advice, and your professor will be impressed by the depth and insight of your literary analysis of O’Connor’s story.

❓ A Good Man Is Hard to Find FAQ

What is the main theme of a good man is hard to find.

The story’s main theme is the spiritual blindness of its main characters and their religious and moral transformation in the encounter between The Grandmother and The Misfit. They both lack spirituality and refuse each other’s help, losing the chance for salvation.

What is the message in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

The author’s central message is the power of human compassion and God’s grace in the transformation of shallow, non-religious creatures. The Misfit and The Grandmother receive a chance to understand genuine goodness during their life-changing encounter.

What is the moral of A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

O’Connor was an ardent Catholic, so her short stories mostly focused on religious vices and virtues. Her moral lesson in this story is the evil nature of selfishness and the person’s inability to attain divine grace from the position of selfishness and self-centeredness.

What is The Grandmother really like in A Good Man Is Hard to Find?

Though there is much irony in The Grandmother’s depiction, she still makes an impression of a selfish, egoistic person in the story. She talks the family into leaving their route for the sake of her whim; she never tries to save her family, and she is elitist and racist in her judgment.

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Summary & Analysis – Study.com
Analysis of the novel, ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’ – ThoughtCo
A Good Man Is Hard to Find | Sarah Hyun’s Portfolio
A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Themes – Custom-Writing.org
Share to Facebook
Share to Twitter X
Share to LinkedIn

Study guide on the epic of gilgamesh, essay topics & sample, the necklace: summary, themes, and a short story analysis, dulce et decorum est 101: summary, analysis, & questions and answers.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Essay Examples

Welcome to A Good Man Is Hard to Find Essay Samples page prepared by our editorial team! Here you’ll find a heap of excellent ideas for A Good Man Is Hard to Find essay. Absolutely free research papers and essay samples on the short story are collected here, on one page.

📝 A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Essay Samples List

Themes & Motifs in A Good Man Is Hard to Find Genre: Essay Words: 1665 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: themes Characters mentioned: the Grandmother, the Misfit, Bailey, the children’s mother. June Star, John Wesley
Dialogues in O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find Genre: Essay Words: 643 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: literary analysis Characters mentioned: the Grandmother, the Misfit
Qualities in A Good Man is Hard to Find by O’Connor Genre: Essay Words: 616 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: themes Characters mentioned: the Grandmother, the Misfit
A Rose for Emily and A Good Man is Hard to Find Genre: Essay Words: 1126 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: compare & contrast Characters mentioned: the Grandmother, the Misfit
The Grandmother in A Good Man Is Hard to Find Genre: Essay Words: 606 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: characters Characters mentioned: the Grandmother, the Misfit
Religion in A Good Man Is Hard to Find Genre: Essay Words: 950 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: themes Characters mentioned: The Grandmother, Bailey, John Wesley, June Star, Red Sam
The Old Age Concept in O’Connor’s A good man is hard to find Genre: Essay Words: 678 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: characters Characters mentioned: Bailey, Bobby Lee, The Grandmother, Hiram, John Wesley, June Star, The Misfit
Themes in A Good Man Is Hard to Find Genre: Essay Words: 1047 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: themes Characters mentioned: The Grandmother, The Misfit
The Message of Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard To Find Genre: Essay Words: 899 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: themes Characters mentioned: The Grandmother, The Misfit, Red Sam
Psychoanalytical Analysis of A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Revelation Genre: Essay Words: 1382 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: compare & contrast Characters mentioned: The Grandmother, The Misfit
A Good Man is Hard to Find: the Grandmother Genre: Essay Words: 617 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: characters Characters mentioned: The Grandmother, The Misfit, Bailey, Red Sam
Violence in A Good Man Is Hard To Find Genre: Essay Words: 822 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: themes Characters mentioned: The Grandmother, The Misfit, Bailey, John Wesley
A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Characterization Genre: Essay Words: 700 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: themes Characters mentioned: The Grandmother, The Misfit, Bailey
Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard To Find: Themes Genre: Essay Words: 826 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: themes Characters mentioned: The Grandmother, The Misfit, Red Sam, Bailey
A good man is hard to find: the Grandmother as a Character Genre: Essay Words: 681 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: characters Characters mentioned: The Grandmother, The Misfit, Bailey
Representation of Family in A Good Man is Hard to Find Genre: Essay Words: 561 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: themes Characters mentioned: The Grandmother, The Misfit, Bailey
A Good Man is Hard to Find: Literary Analysis Genre: Critical writing Words: 1106 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: analysis Characters mentioned: The Grandmother, The Misfit, Bailey
A Good Man Is Hard to Find vs Good Country People: Themes & Characters Analysis Genre: Research paper Words: 2321 Focused on: A Good Man Is Hard to Find: compare & contrast Characters mentioned: The Grandmother

Looking for an essay topic A Good Man Is Hard to Find? Take a look at our topic collection ! And don’t hesitate to use our topic generator if you need any help while formulating your essay title.

Share to Facebook
Share to Twitter
Share to LinkedIn
Share to email

Study Guide Menu

Short Summary
Summary & Analysis
Essay Examples
Essay Topics
Flannery O’Connor: Biography
Questions & Answers
Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, May 21). A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Essay Examples. https://ivypanda.com/lit/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find-study-guide/essay-examples/

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Essay Examples." IvyPanda , 21 May 2024, ivypanda.com/lit/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find-study-guide/essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Essay Examples'. 21 May.

IvyPanda . 2024. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Essay Examples." May 21, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/lit/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find-study-guide/essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Essay Examples." May 21, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/lit/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find-study-guide/essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Essay Examples." May 21, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/lit/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find-study-guide/essay-examples/.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Books — A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Essays on A Good Man is Hard to Find

Our curated selection of essay samples on "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" offers a wide range of perspectives on this seminal work. Each essay provides unique insights into the story's rich tapestry of characters, from the morally complex Grandmother to the enigmatic Misfit, whose interactions prompt readers to question the nature of true goodness and grace.

Themes Explored in Depth

Dive into essays that meticulously analyze the story's central themes, including the moral dilemmas faced by the characters, the role of grace and redemption, and the profound commentary on the human condition. Understand how O'Connor employs her narrative to challenge and redefine the concept of a "good" person in the context of her Southern Gothic setting.

Literary Devices and Symbolism Uncovered

Flannery O'Connor's use of literary devices and symbolism is pivotal to the depth and resonance of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Our essay samples explore how irony, foreshadowing, and vivid imagery enhance the narrative's impact, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of O'Connor's storytelling prowess.

Fuel Your Academic Success

Whether you're crafting an essay, conducting research, or seeking inspiration for your writing, our database provides invaluable resources to support your academic journey. Explore essays that dissect the story's complex narrative structure, character development, and thematic undertones to enrich your analysis and critical thinking skills.

Join Our Community of Literature Enthusiasts

Embark on your literary exploration with our "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" essay samples and become part of a vibrant community passionate about delving into the intricacies of Flannery O'Connor's work. Let our essays inspire your academic endeavors and deepen your appreciation for one of the most influential stories in American literature.

Explore. Analyze. Inspire.

Your journey into the heart of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" begins here. Unravel the layers of Flannery O'Connor's narrative and discover the boundless possibilities of literary exploration and academic excellence.

An Analysis of Flannery O'connor’s Story, a Good Man is Hard to Find

The analysis of life and soul in "a good man is hard to find", made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences

+ experts online

Analysis of John Desmond’s Review of a Good Man is Hard to Find

Review of flannery o'connor’s book, a good man is hard to find, the summary of the short story "a good man is hard to find", literary elements in flannery o'connor's "a good man is hard to find", let us write you an essay from scratch.

450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

The Theme of Conformation to Moral Standards and Thinking before Acting in a Good Man is Hard to Find, a Short Story by Flannery O'connor

Analysis of misfit character in a good man is hard to find, existential problems in 'a good man is hard to find', analysis of the role of grandmother in a good man is hard to find, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

Expert-written essays crafted with your exact needs in mind

A Look at The Family Setting in The Book, a Good Man is Hard to Find

Flannery o'connor's view of the representation of fallacy behind uprightness as depicted in his story, a good man is hard to find, agent of grace in flannery o'connor's "a good man is hard to find", analysis of dysfunctional family in o’connor's story, gothic elements in "a good man is hard to find" and "the lottery, time flies: or how hospitable the south is, analysis of differences in "a rose for emily" and "a good man is hard to find", human imperfection in o'connor and marquez's tales, evaluation of a good man is hard to find vs. cathedral, pride goes before the fall: analysis of a good man is hard to find and the necklace, humanity in "a good man is hard to find", the theme of religion in o'connor's works, the essence of man in o'connor's story, morality in in flannery o'connor's a good man is hard to find, a good man is hard to find and the lottery: symbolism and irony, a good man is hard to find: symbolism of redemption, a good man is hard to find: symbolism and theme of violence, character analysis: the grandmother and anders, a good man is hard to find analysis.

Flannery O'Connor

Short Story, Southern Gothic

Bailey, Bailey's wife, Grandmother, John Wesley, June Star, The Baby, Red Sammy Butts, Red Sammy's Wife, The Misfit, Hiram, Bobby Lee, Edgar Atkins Teagarden, Pitty Sing, Gray Monkey, The Negro child

Relevant topics

A Rose For Emily
The Things They Carried
Between The World and Me
Lord of The Flies
Into The Wild
A Long Way Gone
The Book Thief
All Quiet on The Western Front
Behind The Beautiful Forevers

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

Instructions Followed To The Letter
Deadlines Met At Every Stage
Unique And Plagiarism Free

Home / Essay Samples / Life / Mystery

Mystery Essay Examples

Bermuda triangle: the mysterious world.

Have you ever had visions or heard strange and otherworldly moments. We live in a world that’s full of mysteries. Throughout the time of man there have been many strange and mystifying happenings. For example, the Bermuda triangle is a much unknown area and is...

Analysis of the Literary Genre of Mystery Fiction

“Crime fiction satisfies in us a secret yearning for justice, the unappeasable appetite for a fair world, which begins in childhood and never leaves us. It satisfies our need for conclusions, both moral and narrative” (Nick Eliot). A mystery story is a genre of fiction,...

The Mystery Around Lady Alroy in the Sphinx Without a Secret

A Sphinx is known to be secretive and have mystery surrounding it, many questions and wonderings revolve around it such as why and how it came to be. In this story, two old friends reconnect and Lord Murchison explains how he is trying to figure...

Review of All Good Things: a Jack Hart Mystery by Rosemary Reeve

All Good Things: A Jack Hart Mystery by Rosemary Reeve is a suspenseful, action-packed mystery. Jack Hart is an associate at a prestigious law firm in Seattle. He has a warm friendship with (and secret crush on) his coworker, Harmony. When her dad (who is...

Eros, Mystery and Fantasy in Mircea Eliade’s Writings

My research topic focuses on predominant elements: Eros, mystery, and fantasy in “Șarpele” and “Domnișoara Christina”. These three elements are characteristic of Mircea Eliade and they can remark of Mihai Eminescu, in the writing “Cezara”, which is similar to “Șarpele”. Eros is a central theme...

History Mysteries - the Notorious Killer Jack the Ripper

There are some mysteries in history that will never be solved. Whether it is lack of information surrounding the mystery or sheer indifference toward discovering what really happened, some historical mysteries have not been solved till date and may never be solved in the future....

Literary Analysis of the X-files Episodes

The X-Files is always somewhat of a mystery for the viewer, always leaving behind some question to ponder as the credits roll. Whether its wondering how someone can survive being burned alive, raised from the dead, or survive a run in with a horde of...

Trying to find an excellent essay sample but no results?

Don’t waste your time and get a professional writer to help!