Talk about irony! The title and the fact that in the diner the grandmother was saying how hard it was to find a good man. It seems like in her day things were different and she wants to go back to that point in time.
I have read this story before, I think it was in high school, and wasn't satisfied with it then. The second time around I still didn't really like it; I mean, the family is having a good time going on a road trip, then boom! They're in a ditch. They could've been killed in the accident, but no that wasn't exciting enough for O'Connor, she has to have them murdered.
The first couple of pages totally foreshadow that they will eventually meet up with The Misfit, but you don't know how. And then the mentioning of the grandmother's cat tells you that something not good is going to happen there. The fact that she sneaks it into the car the morning that they are leaving, shows that there is something else going on.
Also when O'Connor tells us the way that the grandmother dresses before going on this trip, like a lady in case of an accident, is very telling, so that when you get to the accident, and she is trying to be a lady and save The Misfit you're not really surprised. Truly, the only thing that was surprising was how willing the rest of the family went off unto their deaths. I mean honestly, how did Bailey not know that when the boys walked off into the woods with the other two criminals that they were going to be shot? And then once they heard the gun shots in the distance, how did the mother take June Star off into the woods without any protest? How did they, as parents, lead their children off to die? And then there is the grandmother who is just sitting there talking to her family's killer to calmly? Some elements of this story are just off a little, but I guess it is a valid entry into literary cannons.
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Irony seems to be a common theme here, huh? I agree that O'Connor uses irony as a literary device in many of her stories, but I wonder...does she use irony in the "typical" or "traditional" way? How might we consider her style of writing different from, say, Faulker's "Rose for Emily," which also employs irony?
I think you raise some good questions, which I hope we have time to discuss in our next class. It is interesting to imagine what the characters might have been thinking...such as, "How did they, as parents, lead their children off to die? And then there is the grandmother who is just sitting there talking to her family's killer to calmly?" Let's try to find some answers to these!
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