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The Misfit In O Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

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The Misfit goes into a speech about Jesus, “Jesus thrown everything off balance. 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,” (151). He stated that he was the kind of child who had to know everything and not knowing if Jesus did what people have said He had done has made him the way he is. The Misfit’s need to know everything and him not being able to confirm or reject Jesus’s story has formed a stubborn predicament that takes over him (Woodiwiss).
He is on the verge of tears when the grandmother says, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!”, (152). When the grandmother had said this to the Misfit, he cannot bear the acceptance which leads him shooting her. The acceptance from the grandmother was mostly caused by the circumstances that her and her family had found themselves in which creates the climax of “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. …show more content…

For example, Ezekiel was doubting the significance of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. He insisted that it did not mean that Yahweh had abandoned Israel. Just as Ezekiel did, the Misfit is doubting what people, like the grandmother, considered the evidence of redemption: good family, good manners, and respect for one’s heritage. “From the author’s insight, he [the Misfit] lives in a community that does not believe that matter can be a means of grace. If matter cannot be a means of grace, grace cannot act through human beings, such as an old woman like the grandmother. With this belief, the Misfit could not appreciate the grandmother’s “humanness.” As the world being divided between spirit and matter, or grace and nature, according to O’Connor, human values have become divided as well. The Misfit can either follow Jesus or get what thrills he can achieve by hurting others,”

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