"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" (4-8)

Pichu Little: "Look, brother! It's Pikachu! I wonder what he's reading?"
Pichu Big: "Hi Pikachu! What are you doing at Scripps Ranch High?"
Pikachu: "I wanted to read with the students today. 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find' is a great story. They are also going to read many other stories too. Why don't you join me?"
Pichu Brothers: "Sure!"


Text:

4) asphyxiate

• Source 1: "She didn't intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because ... she was afraid he might brush against one of the gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself" (O'Conner 115).

• Definition: v.t. "to become asphyxiated", which is caused by " a lack of oxygen or excess of carbon dioxide in the body that results in unconsciousness and often death and is usually caused by interruption of breathing or inadequate oxygen supply" (Merriam Webster).

• Source 2:"He said it's possible for someone to be asphyxiated without a struggle, especially if the attacker is larger than the victim."
• White, E. D. "Man's DNA Linked to 1 of 4 Slain Suspected Escorts." Man's DNA Linked to 1 of 4 Slain Suspected Escorts. U-T San Diego, 09 Jan. 2013. Web. 09 Jan. 2013.

• Commentary: Of the many situations in which the cat could have injured or killed himself, the grandmother is worried about him asphyxiating himself. It leads the audience to realize her callow behavior, making peculiar excuses in order to bring him with her. The chances of the cat suffocating himself is not particularly high. Ironically, it was her actions and the cat's reaction to them that inevitably lead to the family's death.

Study Guide:

5) cohorts

• Source 1: "After The Misfit arrives and orders his cohorts to take her son and grandson into the woods, the old woman begins to reject her selfish image of herself, symbolized by her hat: 'The grandmother reached up to adjust her hat brim as if she were going to the woods with him [Bailey] but it came off in her hand. She stood staring at it and after a second she let it fall on the ground' (paragraph 96)" (Cummings).

• Definition: n. "band, group" (Merriam-Webster).

• Source 2: "By analysis of the FY 2006-2007 cohort of successful completers at 12 months post completion, Teen Court has proven to be a very effective program in reducing juvenile recidivism" (5).
• Hayes, Linda W. Teen Court Annual Evaluation File March 2009. N.p.: Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Mar. 2009. PDF.

• Commentary: Although the word cohort has multiple meanings with different connotations, it is often times presented negatively. This variance in connotation is displayed by the two sources, where it is stated negatively in the study guide but is displayed neutrally in the second source. While it can refer to a group of criminals, it can also represent any congregation of people with something in common, such as age or membership.

6) guilelessness

• Source 1: "This simile, together with the words before it, stresses the mother's guilelessness and callowness, making it easy for others in her family to manipulate her" (Cummings).

• Definition: n. "innocent, naive" (Merriam-Webster).

•  Source 2: "This is because the slyness of the serpent ought to make the guilelessness of the dove more intense in the hearts of the elect, just as the guilessness of the dove ought to hold the sylness of a serpent in check" (112).
• Moorhead, John. Gregory the Great. N.p.: Psychology Press, 2005. Digital file.

• Commentary: Mothers represent security and familiarity, but Cummings describes one as guileless, which suggests that she is naive. This naivety supports Cumming's claim that the mother was easily influenced by her family, but it also reveals the vulnerability of the security found in familiarity.

7) callowness

• Source 1: "This simile, together with the words before it, stresses the mother's guilelessness and callowness, making it easy for others in her family to manipulate her" (Cummings).

• Definition: n. "lacking adult sophistication : immature " (Merriam-Webster).

• Source 2: "It advertised his callowness--a callowness sheer and unutterable" (38)
• London, Jack. The Call of the Wild. N.p.: Arc Manor, 2009. Digital file.

• Commentary: Callow has a negative connotation and when paired with "sheer and unutterable", as used by London, becomes almost insulting. London utilizes this description to more effectively express his distaste for Hal and Charles. In addition to describing Hal as callow, he portrays his partner, Charles, as one with distasteful abnormalities, such as a drooping lip. 

8) belie

• Source 1: "'A Good Man Is Hard to Find' is a short story with opening comic episodes that belie and foreshadow a tragic ending" (Cumming).

• Definition: v.t. "to give a false impression of" (Merriam-Webster).

• Source 2: "Thou dost belie him[Mortimer], Percy, thou dost belie him" (Shakespeare 14).
• Shakespeare, William. Henry IV,. N.p.: Hayes Barton, 1992. Digital file.

• Commentary: I did not know the meaning of belie upon first encounter, but I noted that it consisted of the prefix "be-" and the the word "lie". Although "be-" has many different meanings, "lie" suggested the word had to do with a falsity. After looking up the definition, the meaning of the word parts matched its definition. In Henry IV, The king employs the word belie to stress his belief that Percy spoke wrongly of Mortimer, who had not done the wrongs that Percy claimed.

Works Cited

Cummings, Michael. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find": A Study Guide. N.p.: n.p., 2008. Web. 08 Jan. 2013.

"Definitions and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2013.

O'Conner, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Reading for Writers. 11th ed. Cambridge: Heinle & Heinle, 2004. 113-125. Print.