In O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find", both external and internal conflicts abound. Both the grandmother and the Misfit have conflicts raging within themselves, but at first glance the external conflict between The Misfit and the family would seem to be the more prevalent. It wasn't until I read the story for the third time that I began to realize that the internal struggles in each character is the more prominent conflict. In a way, the external conflict is just a product of the internal conflict.
The grandmother's internal conflict opens the story with the very first line. She "didn't want to go to Florida". It wasn't even her trip. She was just tagging along with her son and his family, but she would rather got to Tennessee to visit some of her friends. This initial internal conflict drove her to try to convince her son that they would be better off not going to Florida, suggesting that if they did they might run into The Misfit, an escape from the Federal Pen. Her son, Bailey, just ignored her and proceeded to go to Florida. Trying to seize some sense of control from this situation, the grandmother resorted to try to convince them to stop off at an old plantation house with a supposed secret panel. After getting she got the kids excited about the chance of peeking inside a secret panel, Bailey was forced to submit to her desires and go look for the plantation. Travelling down a deserted road, Bailey lost control of the vehicle after the cat jumped on him. The family found themselves stranded, all because Granny's desire for control. This detour led them to the greatest external conflict of all, The Misfit.
The Misfit is a unique character, complicated yet simple. Reading just a few lines of his dialogue reveals that the internal conflict within him is great. He knows that he isn't a good man, but also reveals that he "ain't the worst in the world neither". He came from good parents, calling his mother a "fine woman" and that his...