A thorough analysis of the events unfold from the moment the grandmother and her family seek help from The Misfit. The immediate turn of events portrays Misfit as a man who lacks any redeeming qualities. Nevertheless, his potential for good is far from any realization. Otherwise, he could have spared the innocent family and not murdered them in cold blood. From the onset of his conversations with the grandmother, he blames his woes because he was wrongly sentenced. He doesn’t understand why he was punished. He reckons, “I call myself The Misfit […] because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment” (O’Connor, 129). He tarnishes the claims of the doctor that insinuate that he was responsible for his father’s death: “It was ahead doctor who said what I had done was kill my daddy but I known that for a lie. My daddy died in nineteen ought nineteen of the epidemic flu, and I never had a thing to do with it. He was buried in the Mount Hopewell Baptist churchyard, and you can go there and see for yourself” (O’Connor, 117). It is for this reason that he plans his escape from prison with two other convicts. The Misfit’s action of denial of killing his father and proceeding on to murder an unarmed family wholesomely nullifies his quest for grace and redemption.
It becomes mysterious to justify whether Misfit is responsible for his father’s death by praising his parents. He claims his parents were the “finest people in the world” and goes on to add that his “daddy’s heart was pure gold” (O’Connor, 89). However, all this seems to portray a man who has lost any form of hope for grace and salvation. He is more sarcastic towards his parents’ traits and mode of upbringing. The Misfit compares his predicament to that of Jesus although his peril is deserved since the prosecution had papers on him: “It was the same case with Him as with me except He hadn’t committed any crime and they could prove I had committed one because they had the papers on me. Of course,” he said, “they never shown me my papers. That’s why I sign myself now” (O’Connor, 129). Regardless, he frames himself almost as if he did not believe he had committed any deserving offense sentencing. The Misfit feels his punishment is unmerited. Hence, justifying his actions of escaping jail term: “I never was a bad boy that I remember of,” The Misfit said in an almost dreamy voice, “but somewhere along the line I done something wrong and got sent to the penitentiary. I was buried alive.” He looked up and held her attention to him by a steady stare” (O’Connor, 111). The Misfit’s sympathy for self is nullified because he neither denies committing a crime and the evidence presented against him. Therefore, ultimately, he is a victim of his dealings.
It is hard to believe The Misfit could have any potential of good in him in the manner through which he mercilessly kills the entire family and, more specifically, the older woman. He lacks any form of conscience and makes him appear more guilty of the crimes against his father. Shooting an older woman three times on the chest depicts an individual used to murder. His utterances towards the end further portray someone who has previously engaged in more inhumane and criminal activities: “…then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can – by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness,” he said, and his voice had become almost a snarl (O’Connor, 134). The Misfit’s words present him as a man who takes pleasure in committing crimes. It is what gives him a sense of authority and power. He directs his colleagues to take Bailey and his family to the woods and shoot them one after the other. Arguably, the fact that he feels he did not deserve the punishment that was rendered to him makes him complacent about committing murder. The Misfit tends to justify his actions to the grandmother by stating a disconnect between punishment and crime: “I found out the crime doesn’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” (O’Connor, 123). He fails to acknowledge that there is a great difference between these two acts and that the life of a human being should be taken seriously. According to him, all forms of punishment are the same, and none is deserving of punishment.
The conversation that unfolds between the grandmother and The Misfit towards the end and, more specifically, after he shoots her seems to suggest a moment of a turning point in The Misfit’s life. He labels her a good woman who could have been selfless and more spiritually faithful if somebody had shown her the right path: “She would have been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (O’Connor, 141). This in essence, shows that he resented the grandmother’s moral code since she was unable to defend it the moment it was challenged. In contrast, The Misfit’s views were somehow untwisted though he had a steady view of life. His actions were directly motivated by his beliefs. Even though they were legally immoral, he projected them strongly and consistently, presenting a strength of conviction that the grandmother lacked. Therefore, ultimately, by choosing to take the redemption path, it is easily arguable that he will follow it to the latter. Consequently, this trait is why O’Connor describes him as a “prophet gone wrong” meaning that if his moral integrity was directed towards a humble and contented lifestyle, he would have turned out not only a true preacher but also a pillar or teacher. In addition, the last words by The Misfit towards Bobby Lee, who finds fun and pleasure in killing, also illustrate a character who might have transformed: “Shut up, Bobby Lee,” The Misfit said. “It’s no real pleasure in life.”( O’Connor, 141). He appears as a character who has developed an epiphany of some sort with the unexpected unfolding of events.
In her brief “moment of clarity,” the grandmother manifests her last wits of manipulation, which was clouded by selfishness. She only begs for her own life with the phrases “you’re a good man” and ‘you wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?”( O’Connor, 98). All this happens while the rest of her family is mercilessly murdered in the woods. Unfortunately, all her appeals to The Misfit so that he spares her life seem to fall on deaf ears as he sees her arguments as irrelevant and inappropriate. When she laments to The Misfit, “Why you’re one of my babies, you’re one of my children,” it can be seen as an act of seeking grace (O’Connor, 134). It was a realization of the hypocritical attitude and hollow religious beliefs which she and other believers held that had given rise to the likes of The Misfit. This is to mean that the hypocrisy displayed by the grandmother in her spiritual view of life, by only giving lip service to spiritual concepts and focusing more on material gratification, had bred the attitude embodied by The Misfit. The grandmother’s action of reaching out to The Misfit in a gesture of love and sympathy by touching his shoulder projects a changed soul to The Misfit. He culminates this changed condition of “salvation” by shooting her three times through the chest.
Work Cited
O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Rutgers UP, 1993.
