SOURCE: Fike, Matthew. “The Timothy Allusion in ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find.’” Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 52, no. 4 (summer 2000) 311-22

In the following essay, Fike explores the moral and spiritual significance of O'Connor's allusion to Paul's epistles to Timothy in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” as well as demonstrates how the evangelist's related experiences enhance a reading of the story's climax.

In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the family stops at Red Sammy Butts's place “for barbecued sandwiches.” “The Tower,” as Flannery O'Connor calls his establishment, “was a part stucco and part wood filling station and dance hall set in a clearing outside Timothy” (120). Critics have long dealt with O'Connor's place names, including the fictional town of Timothy. Robert H. Woodward was the first to speculate on the significance of the allusion to 1 Timothy, and later Hallman B. Bryant published his...