A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND

A LATE ENCOUNTER WITH THE ENEMY

CHARACTERS

General Sash

Major George Poker Sash, renamed General Tennessee Flintlock Sash twelve years ago by a motion picture company, is a 104-year- old survivor of the Civil War. He is barely in his senses. He can't remember much of the past, but knows that he likes pretty girls and parades, and can't stand history--which people are always wanting him to represent. He is in a wheelchair and is very cranky.

Sally Poker Sash

The General's granddaughter is about to graduate from college with an elementary teaching degree. She is in her thirties, and has only gone to college because she had to--she started teaching before such measures were necessary. She is fatalistic--all things go against her--and her greatest desire is to get her grandfather on stage at her graduation ceremony.

John Wesley

Sally's nephew, who is enlisted to wheel the old man onto stage at the graduation ceremony. He is a boyscout, and also a bit of a ham, and he mostly likes drinking coke.

CONFLICT

The story revolves around the question of whether General Sash will live long enough to attend Sally's graduation and if he will embarrass her terribly if he does attend. The general does not care for public appearances, unless they involve parades and pretty girls--for him, a graduation ceremony sounds deathly grim. Sally is determined to get him there, because his presence will bring her some honor, and that's about all she cares about.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist might be General Sash, the antagonist Sally--or the other way around! They are pitted against each other, not overtly, but by circumstance and personality. Sally is rather selfish in her desire for his presence on stage no matter what, and the old man has a one-track mind: pretty girls. He doesn't want to represent history. He can't even remember it.

Climax

John Wesley finally wheels the old man on stage, but the weather is hot and the old man feels a hole opening up in his head. He only vaguely realizes what is going on around him, as the whole widens and he tries to "run" from the approaching black figures in the ceremony.

Outcome

When John Wesley wheels the old man off stage, and directly over to the coke machine, he is wheeling only a corpse: the old man has died on stage.

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