Please provide several passages that illustrate how O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a Southern Gothic story.

Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to
Find," is an example of Southern Gothic fiction. In fact, O'Connor is closely associated
with this literary movement. Francis Russell Hart describes this genre
as…

...fiction
evocative of a sublime and picturesque landscape … depict(ing) a world in
ruins...

These stories give
the audience a chance to "vicariously experience horrifying realities." O'Connor's story
is one of these.

A common aspect of the gothic story
includes, among others, a "good versus evil polarity in the characters," which is seen
in "A Good Man is Hard to Find," but…

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...Southern Gothic fiction focuses largely on
themes of terror, death, and social
interaction.

Social
interaction is first seen in the disrespectful behavior of the grandchildren toward
their grandmother, for which the children are not corrected by their parents. When the
grandmother suggests they not go to Florida on their trip because a depraved killer (the
Misfit) is on the loose (foreshadowing), the grandson is belligerent. His name, John
Wesley, is ironic in that this is the name of the man who is noted for founding the
Methodist movement, but the boy is barely civil let alone Christ-like. The child's
response is, "If you don't want to go to Florida, why dontcha stay home?" June star, his
sister, is not much better. They further demonstrate their rudeness at Red
Sammy's.

We see the aspect of social interaction again as
John Wesley complains about the state of Georgia (their home state) and Tennessee. The
grandmother stands up for the two places, but George Wesley considers Tennessee a
"hillbilly dumping ground" and Georgia not much better. His father's mother
says,

In my
time…children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and
everything else. People did right
then."

Ironically,
contradicting everything she has just said, she sees a black child on the side of the
road and makes a racial comment, which she thinks nothing of—but it shows that
her idea of doing "right" is
skewed:

Oh
look at the cute little pickaninny!…Wouldn't that make a picture,
now?

The occupants of the
backseat turn and look; the child waves, and June Star notes he had no pants. The
grandmother explains that "little n***rs in the country" don't have as much as they do.
But without feeling sad about this, she declares that if she could paint she would paint
a picture of it, as if this poverty was worth saving on canvas. She hasn't a
clue.

The parents are oblivious, and perhaps they are as
much to blame as the grandmother for what happens. When the children have a tantrum in
wanting to go "the house with the secret panel," the dad gives in,
saying...

This
is the only time we are going to stop for anything like
this.

This is quite true,
and foreshadowing. They will never again stop for
anything, for soon after the accident, a "black, battered
hearse-like automobile" (this is more foreshadowing) heads toward them, with three men
inside.

Another element of the Southern Gothic is terror;
we feel it when the grandmother foolishly announces the one man's
identity:

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"You're the Misfit!" she said. "I recognized you
at once!"

"Yes'm" the man said…, "but it would have been
better for all of you, lady, you hadn't of reckernized
me."

Death is inferred when
the Misfit speaks of how they got new clothes after escaping from
jail:

We
borrowed these from some folks we
met.

We can be sure they
weren't borrowed, but that they are
dead.