Essay On Misfit And Grandmother

For him life has not a point and there is no real right or wrong. The idea that by following Jesus arrives at salvation and eternal life might be important to The Misfit. It may be why he speaks of “the few minutes you got left.” Without eternal life, lie is short, and ends in death.

A grandmother and her family planned a trip to Florida and on their trip to Florida, the grandmother convinces her son to take a small detour. On the way there, the grandmother's smuggled cat jumps out and attaches itself to her son's shoulder, resulting them to crash into a ditch. There the family meets the criminal, the Misfit, and his crew. The Misfit has his crew kill the grandmother's family as the grandmother tries to sway the Misfit's decision of killing her. In her last attempt, the Misfit kills her. In O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the Misfit is an unlikely savior to the grandmother. The Misfit shows himself as an unlikely savior through his lack of faith, his and the grandmothers contrasting yet similar personalities, in the final moment of before and after the grandmother's death.

I feel that the Grandmother in the story 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' suffers from psychological conditions. She does not care at all about anyone but herself. I feel that she may even be narcissistic. It is ironic because she would be expected to look out for her family. The Cambridge Dictionary defines narcissism as 'too much interest in and admiration for your own physical appearance and/or your own abilities' It is ironic because she would be expected to look out for her family, however in reality she only really looks out for herself. She shows how self centered she really is many times throughout the story. She displays a complete lack of regard for what anyone else

O'Connor does the same thing here; the grandmother's first action was to convince her son, Bailey, into going were she wanted to go, a selfish act, not a trait that we see a grandmother having. Also she thought out a plan to get what she wanted by acting as if she cared about her family's safety. "Now looks here, Bailey........ see here, read this...Here this fellow that calls himself the Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed towards Florida and you read here what is says he did to these people(328)." The grandmother's relationship right away to the reader is one that can not be trusted. Throughout the story you now question the grandmother's intentions, are they honest or selfish.

Bailey, the son of the character known as the Grandmother, decides to go to Florida anyway. Along their way to Florida with Bailey’s wife, the baby, and the two disobedient children; June Starr and John Wesley, the Grandmother is characterized as a senile, racist woman of bad judgment. This can be seen when along the ride she sees an African-American young boy and states, “Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!...Little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do. “ (O’Connor 12). The climax of the story occurs as the family leaves Red Sammy’s Famous Barbecue and gets in a car accident with the Misfit himself. It is then safe to say that the assumption of the senile Grandmother is accurate due to the thought that runs through her mind, “A horrible thought came to her…the house that she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia, but Tennessee,” (19). The Grandmother’s forgetfulness is in turn the direct cause of the accident and run-in with the Misfit.

The grandmother is an old woman who likes it her way or no way. She does this by being talkative and manipulating others to do what she wants. As said on page 860, "You wouldn't shoot a lady, would you?" the Grandmother said and removed a clean handkerchief from

First of all the grandma specifically states she would never bring her children near the Misfit that is on the loose. She basically says she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if the unthinkable did happen. One could expect them not to run into him, and if they did the grandma would be able to get them out of the unfortunate situation, “The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest” (O’Connor 13). This is especially ironic because the family did come in contact with the Misfit and the ended up all getting killed. This way she didn’t have to deal with her conscience, because she was soon dead after meeting up with the dangerous Misfit.

When I first read the title of this short story, I thought it was going to be about a heartbroken woman who cannot seem to find a man to stay with her. It ends up being quite the opposite. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is one of many stories by Flannery O’Connor that have a dark ending. The main characters in this story are the grandmother, Red Sammy, and the Misfit. They each play a very different role but are compared very similarly.

She observes that the expression on his face was “close to her own,” as if “he were going to cry”; the good man in The Misfit came out for a second, and she acknowledges it. A sudden twist of events occurs after what would seem to be a moment which would cause The Misfit to reconsider his intentions; he recoils when the grandmother reaches out to him and proceeds to shoot her three times, killing her. This can

Right off the bat we get the sense that the grandmother is very self-centered and conniving. She mentions the Misfit for one reason only- to get what she wants, rather than being genuinely concerned about her family. “‘…See here, read this,’ and she stood with one hand on her thin hip and the other rattling the newspaper at his bald head. ‘Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and head toward Florida… I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did’”. (O’Connor 705) This indicates the grandmother’s selfish focus and her willingness to manipulate others to attain her own desires. She puts a lot of effort in making sure she is well

According to the narrative, The Grandmother still loves and cares for The Misfit. At the beginning of the story, The Grandmother worries and is much concerned about her family, including The Misfit, whose accounts she has been reading in the dailies. The misfit found the grandmother to be quite bothersome. The Misfit is a brutal killer who has ran away from the prison and his whereabouts are not known. When the car she was travelling in flips over and lands in a ditch and the approaching car appears to have The Misfit on board, The Grandmother quickly recognizes The Misfit.

After lying and manipulating her family to take a detour, then failing to own up to her mistake, her smuggled cat causes an accident landing the family in a gulch on the side of the road. It is here that the grandmother’s antagonist appears as a possible savior to the family’s predicament. The grandmother’s pride, however, causes her to shriek stating, “You’re The Misfit… I recognized you at once” (O’Connor para. 82),

The grandmother is so focused on the escape of the Misfit that she recognizes him as soon as he is out of the car and looking at them. "You're The Misfit!" she said. "I recognized you at once!". The main conflict between the grandmother and the Misfit revolves around Jesus.

The irony of the story is that it is under the directions of the Grandmother that leads the family into a run in with The Misfit, which is what she told her son she would never do. Throughout the trip we are given examples of the racism that was present during this period. The Grandmother makes multiple racist innuendos such as her observation of the “cute little pickaninny,” and her statement that “little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do” (O’Conner 2). During the ride, The Grandmother convinces Bailey to take a detour down an old, dirt road which supposedly leads to an old southern plantation home she once visited. The road leads them deep into the woods where an accident is caused by The Grandmothers cat, which leaves the car upturned and the family stranded. It is then the family encounters The Misfit, whom discovers them stranded as he was passing by. He approaches the family with two young men and shortly after The Grandmother lets out a scream as she realizes him. During their encounter, the readers are given a small glimpse into the deranged mind of The Misfit. It is apparent that he has an upturned moral compass. He gains pleasure from committing crimes and the meanness that goes along with it. During his conversation with the Grandmother, he slowly has his men take members of the family out

The Grandmother wants the Misfit to receive salvation from God, so that he can be forgiven for his sins. Even though the Grandmother got the family into this mess, she can still be viewed as the hero.