A Good Metadrama Is Hard to FInd

"Meta" comes from the Greek prefix meaning "a level beyond." Metatheatre is typically described as a work that allows the audience to feel happiness and sadness at the same time. Metadramas allow us to feel sympathy for the characters, as well as be able to laugh at their circumstances. In a twisted sort of way, Flannery O'Connor's short story, A Good Man Is Hard to Find, can be seem as a metadrama. The story ends tragically with an entire family being killed by a murdered called the "misfit," yet at the same time, it's hard not to find the ending of the story a bit funny because each person in the family showed absolutely zero redeeming qualities. The character who seemed to have the purest heart, turns out to be the one who murders a family in cold blood.