Preview

Character Analysis of The Misfit in A Good Man is Hard to Find

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
443 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Character Analysis of The Misfit in A Good Man is Hard to Find
The Misfit in the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is an interesting character. The Misfit was looked by others as if he was the violent character who truly didn't have any morals, but I disagree with that. The Misfit gave the story a lot more meaning. I don't think The Misfit cared about much because he simply didn't know what he was meant to do in life and his motivation was just finding what he wanted to do. I don't think he cared about killing people because he didn't care about life itself, "It's no real pleasure in life." pg.15,
The way The Misfit was interacting with other characters it's as if he always had his mind set, I feel like The Misfit was going to kill the grandmother no matter what because he didn't see the consequences as such a big deal, "I found out a crime don't matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you're going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it."pg.12 This somewhat reminded me of how lying is, first you tell a little lie and then another and another and another and you just forget about it and just maybe get punished. Maybe that's how he viewed killing. The grandmother acted like she did see something more inside of The Misfit, "You're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!" pg.13 I felt as if the grandmother brought in her religious views and tried to get sympathy out of him, but at the same time I think that made an impact on him. The Misfit didn't change throughout the story, The Misfit went by his own moral views and he kept them throughout the story and only questioned himself when the grandmother touched his shoulder. I think The Misfits is the symbol for someone who could have been better. The Misfit knew what his moral code was and he determined what was right and wrong in his life, but he also chose to kill for a living instead of doing something acceptable with his life. The Misfits purpose was to see someone who has

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    While waiting for help to come along, the first car to arrive happens to be The Misfit and his two partners. Now in the hands of a killer the family has no chance of getting away. The Misfit orders his two partners to take Bailey and John Wesley into the woods to be killed, the rest of the family will be next. The grandmother lies on the ground in shock trying to convince The Misfit that he is a good man and would never shoot a woman. The Misfit starts to explain his life and why he does not pray as the grandmother insisted him to. The grandmother then finds a moment of sympathy in which she reaches out and calls him one of her own children. The Misfit responds by shooting the grandmother in the chest multiple times. The story comes to an end after The Misfit states “She would have been a good woman…If it had been someone there to shoot her every minute of her life”. The two main characters in “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the grandmother and The Misfit share many differences although they become shockingly…

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Next, the Misfit comes to a strange realization: he wishes he could have been there, because if he had he “wouldn’t be like [he is] now” (14). It is as if the Misfit is becoming aware of the man he could have been as he speaks, and more importantly, he appears to desire the different life. The realization hits the reader awkwardly, coming across as out of place and unexpected. This sudden emotional response mimics that of the grandmother, who is able to sense the Misfit’s sudden vulnerability and use it to her advantage. At this moment, the grandmother does something unprecedented: she reaches out to the killer and calls him “one of my babies . . . one of my own children”…

    • 2190 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “A good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'Conner depicts a southern family, who is at odds about where they should go for a family vacation. They will eventually agree to head for Florida, once in the car the family will go through a series of events that will shapen each indivudal character. One of the main characters in the story, “The Grandmother”, who is known for her critical , savvy ways gives the audience her definition of what exactly it means to be a lady. The Grandmother and her family will be put to death by an escaped criminal by the name of the Misfit, who the grandmother warns the family of before there voyage to Florida. In the story one will see that although the Grandmother had not been a known convicted felon, like the Misfit, her way for thinking and immoral behavior was no different than that of the Misfit and that they were alike in many different ways. Although the Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to find”, tries to portray herself has a good role model and a Christian lady one will later see as story evolve that she was a woman contrary of her word and was indeed the ultimate “misfit”.…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mitchell, Professor of philosophy and political theory at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia compares The Misfit to Plato’s tyrant. Mitchell also compares the grandmother to Alexis de Tocqueville’s democrat, as equality has undermined her ability to see beyond the immediate and the physical (212). Mitchell believes that the grandmother has a vague memory of aristocratic ideals, which serve to turn the mind towards things that transcend one’s self (211), but she is living in a democratic age that is impairing her ability to believe in that transcendence (213). Mitchell sees The Misfit as Plato’s tyrant, a solitary figure who shuns meaningful relationships and blatantly rejects the Good (212). Mitchell calls upon the altercation between the grandmother and The Misfit, and sees his rejection of the grandmother’s gesture of love as a rejection of the Good (216). Mitchell states, “And it is at this moment that The Misfit is confronted with transcendent love: he must either accept and, in accepting, submit to its power and constraints, or he must reject and, in rejecting destroy. He chooses the latter (216).” According to Mitchell, the grandmother recognizes the transcendent value in The Misfit and acts upon it, in effect becoming better than she has ever been…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In addition it demonstrates the lack of compassion and fatherly representation he was given as a younger child. For most of his life he had been struggling with adapting to the values of the everyday society, and inevitably ends up killing more people as a way to survive the torment of “punishment”. His previous life, in the penitentiary, didn’t serve as a force of justice, but rather it provided a way for Misfit to undergo a disturbing transformation into a spiteful murder. In addition, Misfit’s dialect demonstrates how the hateful and misjudgment of our society can negatively affect the way a person carries on with their…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The grandmother had the capacity to be a good woman; she attained grace, at gunpoint, and was able to see who she truly was, and her true lack of superiority. Seeing The Misfit vulnerable and confused when he cries out,” if I had been there I would of known and I wouldn’t be like I am now”, the grandmother was able to clearly see that she and The Misfit are two of the same (554); they are both sinners who will suffer the ultimate punishment regardless of their moral standings. The grandmother attains truth that they are both humans who make mistakes and that she is no better than a criminal. Right before she dies, she forgives and then accepts The Misfit as one of her own –they are equals. The Misfit sees the clarity and grace that the grandmother receives through her redemption which strikes him and brings about a change of heart. “Without his glasses,” as a shield, we are able to see,” The Misfit’s eyes were red-rimmed,” as though he was fighting back the sentiments that were arising from the grandmother’s touch (554); The Misfit displays compassion, maybe even regret for his crime. The moment the grandmother reached God’s grace and cried out,” why you’re one of my babies. You are one of my own,” she is showing that she has found the ability to see others with kindness and understanding (554). The final words, ”it’s no real…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Misfit as an external force is the one that helps the Grandma realize how much of a conceited life she has lived. She uses the name of “Jesus” so often that the word itself seems “…as if she might be cursing,” which shows how she has tricked herself into believing she is a devout Christian (O’Connor 308). Minutes before her passing, her soul is redeemed from the fantasy she lived in, to the hard truth about her religion when the Misfit involves Jesus by saying “Maybe he didn’t raise the dead”…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Grace, an important theme to O'Connor, is given to both The Grandmother and The Misfit, neither of whom is particularly deserving. As she realizes what is happening, The Grandmother begins to beg The Misfit to pray so that Jesus will help him. Right before The Misfit kills her, The Grandmother calls him one of her own children, recognizing him as a fellow human capable of being saved by God's Grace. Even though he murders her, the Misfit is implied to have achieved some level of Grace as well when he ends the story by saying, "It's no real pleasure in life." Earlier in the story, he claimed the only pleasure in life was meanness. The glorification of the past is prevalent in this story through the character of The Grandmother, who expresses nostalgia for the way things used to be in the South. Her mistake about the "old plantation that she had visited in this…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Misfit replies to her outburst by shooting her three times in the chest, bringing the long awaited tragedy, the death of the grandmother, to a reality. Flannery O'Connor uses strong imagery and symbolism to foreshadow the tragic events that occur at the end of "A Good Man is Hard to Find. " She first gives her readers a taste of the ending by informing them of the evil ways of the mass murderer, the Misfit. She then proceeds to foreshadow many upcoming events through an epigraph, characterization, attention to details, sequence of events, and dialogue. But although informative in her writing, O'Connor remains careful not to give away the surprise ending too soon.…

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    His actions demonstrate his continual persistence in acting contrary to what is moral. His killing of the grandmother is indeed grave matter that he deliberately consents to. He fully knows what he is doing when he kills the grandmother; his past actions and words demonstrate that he knows his conscience has been malformed. His obstinate refusal to seek the truth and persist in error fulfill the third condition needed for his sin to be mortal. The Misfit must serve reminder that one’s past does not lessen one’s culpability for one’s…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Instead of killing all family members in plain sight he had Hiram and Bobby Lee take them into the woods and out of sight to kill them. They killed quickly without making them physically suffer. The Misfit did kill Grandma after she reached out to touch him but when Bobby Lee indicated it would be "some fun" to shoot Grandma everyday The Misfit told him in the last line to shut up and then said, "It's no real pleasure in life". He killed because he was "a different breed of…

    • 1148 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Misfit, is the criminal of the story, some people think that the Misfit, is only a killer, and has no morals, or thoughts of his own, but thought careful observation, we can see that the misfit is actually a man of morals, a good man, and a critical thinker. According to Gary Sloan the author of the article "O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find." He says that “…critics describe…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Misfit was in prison, he had this continue thought in this mind that he is not fairly treated. Which changed his definition of good. So, what is bad for other is good for him. Also when he has fired three bullets in the grandmother’s chest, he says she might have been “a good woman… if it had been somebody to shoot her every minute of her life.” (O’Conner 11). Thought, when the grandmother touches him in the end, it was a moment of grace for her, which comes to her through Misfit. The gesture of grandmother and her words to misfit “you are one of my babies” were completely misunderstood by the Misfit and he shot her. By killing her Misfit believes he is killing the most presumption of grandmother that he is any child of her. Because for Misfit being a child means accept anything without questioning it. When grandmother touched her, he thinks that she is trying to be sympathetic to him, but when she says “you are one of my babies” Misfit thinks that she is also talking for the society and telling him to understand everything without question (Hendricks 207).…

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Misfit

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Misfit. The Misfit, The Misfit, The Misfit. So many questions are raised about character called “The Misfit”. Was he born to be a killer? Was he a victim of childhood curiosity? Was he simply a good man turned bad over time? Or was his whole attitude a struggle of his true belief system? The Misfit stays on his own moral code regardless of the evil that he has committed. His morals are his own right, not by traditional standards, but by his steadfast and consistent actions. He’s an unlikely source, seeming to have not a moral fiber in his being, but demonstrates deep convictions that others in the story are not able to reveal. As deviant and depraved as The Misfit might have been, he still relied on his moral code to guide his actions. There are several parts of this story that show where The Misfit doesn’t actually take pleasure in his crimes. Was he simply a good man turned bad over time? When he first meets the family, The Misfit mentions that children make him nervous. If he is a strong, armed man and they pose no threat to him why is he so nervous? It seems to be that in his mind the children represent his own innocents, and in turn they could pose a threat to his conscience. The children make him nervous because he knows he will be taking their lives so possibly he feels like he is killing his own inner child, his innocents.…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    O’Connor uses the gun that The Misfit carries to symbolize fear. Until the climax, the family was enjoying their road trip to Tennessee. When The Misfit, Hiram, and Bobby Lee arrive with their guns, the characters in the family slowly begin to show symptoms of fear. “There was a pistol shot from the woods, followed closely by another”, (O’Connor 63). Even though the characters remaining with The Misfit don’t directly see who Hiram and Bobby shot at that moment, they start to fear. The children’s mother begins to make heaving noises as if she couldn’t breathe. When The Misfit asks if she would like to join her husband and son, she replies “‘Yes, thank you,’ the mother said faintly” (O’Connor 64). At that same situation, the grandmother also begins to fear. “‘Pray, pray,’ the grandmother began, ‘pray, pray…’” (O’Connor 63). The grandmother starts to fear even more when she hears the “pistol report” for the second time after the children’s mother and June Star were taken to the dark forest. “Pray! Jesus, you ought not shoot a lady. I’ll give you all the money I’ve got!” (O’Connor 65). She is so consumed by fear that she begins to negotiate for her life. The grandmother is the last member of the family to persist with The Misfit before she is killed. As a result of fear, her attitude has the most dramatic change from how she behaves when the story started. In contrast, Munro uses the gun to symbolize shame. The narrator quotes “I shot two rabid wolves who…

    • 1175 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics