Anger and domination are a powerful defence. Men use these tools to protect themselves, similar to a turtle’s shell protecting their flesh. Red evokes emotional instability and subjugation. In the “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor uses red to symbolize this fragility in her characters. Red Sammy Butts protects his fragile soul by putting others below him. With The Misfit however, the colour red is paired with white to reflect the volatile anger underneath his respectful shell. Out of all the colours, O’Connor chose red as a prominent representative in men with their vices, and how they hide it.
The Misfit and his compatriots are fragile men. His anger, while powerful also shows his weakness. After The Misfit takes off his glasses, O’Connor describes his eyes as “red-rimmed and pale and defenceless-looking”. The color red in this case illustrates his passionate volatility. By using the color red with a descriptor of “pale”, the passion that red normally insinuates instead presents to us The Misfit 's emotional weakness. More on the Misfit’s frailty, when The Misfit is first introduced, his movements are rather timid and “He had on tan and white shoes and
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The name of Red Sam’s restaurant is The Tower. This name evokes a sense of superiority in the character is even introduced. By naming his restaurant The Tower, O’Connor puts Red Sam in a position higher than other people. Moreover, Red Sam has power over his wife. “Red Sam came in and told his wife to quit lounging on the counter and hurry up with these people’s order…. He came over and sat down at a table nearby and let out a combination sigh and yodel. "You can 't win," he said. "You can 't win," and he wiped his sweating red face off with a gray handkerchief “ (140). A sense of exhaustion is implied here with the use of red. However, red can also illustrate pleasure. Red Sam relishes his position over