The Misfit Character Analysis

Firstly, the grandmother was He was sent to jail for a crime in which he did not remember. Upon his escape, he decides to commit multiple crimes in order to actually deserve the time he spent locked away. The misfit does not neccesarily represent evil. When the grandmother lables him a “good man,” he does not disagree. Though he does not make good decisions, he does follow his moral. The misfit set out to obtain a life of crime. Though his logic is flawed, he still sticks with his belifes. These are not the qualities of a bad guy. The misfit may not even be human, but a force. The grandmother was manipulative and she needed to pay the price. The misfit was likely there just to punish the grandmother for her lies.

“According to Freud, the unconscious [mind] continues to influence our behavior and experience, even though we are unaware of these underlying influences” (Cherry). So, because of this, he sacrifices humanity to deal with the pain and thinks nothing of it. Another reason for killing his father could be he was suffering from the Oedipal Complex. The Misfit says, “God never made a finer woman than my mother” (O’Connor). The Oedipal Complex would refer that the Misfit has, “fallen in love with one parent and developed hatred for the other” (Gill). His desire for his mother drove him to eliminate his father. Unlike the Grandmother, religion was not a factor for the Misfit. He thought God, “shown everything off balance” (O’Connor). He believed rationally only what he could sense. O’Connor made this one of the Misfit’s greatest faults. To Summarize, the Misfit’s experiences and religious disbelief kept him from being a recognizably “good” person in O’Connor’s eyes.

It is a very arguable subject on whether or not people are born with good intentions, and therefore taught by others the ‘evil’ side of their personality. Whether it is the absence of ethical conduct in human nature, or just the way one perceives a situation, evil seems to be

The Misfit thinks it meanness to believe in Christ because there was nothing for him. In Flannery O’Connor stories writes about religious matters to her characters. Like the Misfit he lacks believe of religious, but the other hand the grandmother tries to make him believe the sense of it. “Thus, Miss O'Connor's fiction is primarily concerned with man's life-and-death spiritual struggle” (Dowell 236). The Misfit tells his story why he became a killer to the grandmother. He struggled with his life where the point he just became a criminal. When he killed the grandmother he had self-insures. He felt sorry for the grandmother that she ended up that way at the end. “Because he cannot believe, the Misfit commits himself to evil” (236). She doesn’t believe that he can be an evil person because everyone is missing something. She talks to them until he understood what she is getting at. She tells him he is like one her children:

Many people have their own views on humanity. They can either be that humans are essentially good but can become corrupt or that people are just essentially evil. They have their own opinions, some people can tell their perspective on humans in other fashions. If people are essentially good, they how do they become corrupt? Or if are truly evil, then why do some people seem like they are kind people and they can never do such things? To take both of these into account, a person may saw that people are good but deep down have evil within them. People may ask how does the evil within a person come out, the answer to that is that it is thanks to their environment. The environment around a person can undoubtedly draw out the evil within them

In Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find", a southern family is taking a vacation to Florida, but the real journey takes place inside the family's lives. One question that comes up in the story is what the definition of a good man is and how

Byron 1 A Walk in Another’s Shoes Naturally, there is good and evil in every person. However, it is often difficult to see the

Buddhism also views god and evil as innate and inseparable aspects of life. According to this view one particular individual cannot be labelled as fundamentally good or bad. A human being is capable of committing the greatest good as well as the worst of the evils. Good and Evil in Buddhism are not viewed as absolute, but as relative. Good and Evil are understood according to its consequences in our lives and its effect on others. Evil is mainly born of selfishness and of the feeling that our actions should be aimed at benefitting ourselves. In Buddhism while good represents

So, what is evil?  Is it Hitler's near annihilation of the Jewish people during World War II or the senseless massacre at Ti'enneman Square on mainland China?  Again we turn to Webster's dictionary, which states evil as causing distress or harm, a source of sorrow, and the fact of suffering, misfortune, and wrongdoing. (Merriam-Webster)   Evil would be any intention to cause an undesirable effect upon one's self or on another person.  So by saying that the intentions of a person are not to cause good we automatically assume that they are out to cause evil.

The world is filled with many different words, some harder to define than other. One of these difficult words is considered by many to be evil. The definition of the word evil depends entirely upon the reader or writers perspective upon the word. The most innocent and simple ways that

With his violent killing, the Misfit seems an unlikely source to look to for guidance, but he demonstrates a deep conviction that the other characters lack. Unlike the grandmother, who simply assumes that she is morally superior to everyone else, the Misfit seriously questions the meaning of life and his role in it. He has carefully considered his actions in life and examined his experiences to find lessons within them. He has even renamed himself because of one of these lessons, believing that his punishment didn’t fit the crime. He reveals a self-awareness that the grandmother lacked and questions it. He knows he is not a great man, but he also knows that there are others worse than him. He forms rudimentary philosophies, such as “no pleasure but meanness” and “the crime don’t matter.” The Misfit’s philosophies may be morally corrupt, but they are consistent. Unlike the grandmother, whose moral code falls apart the moment it’s challenged, the Misfit has a steady view of life and acts according to what he believes is right. His beliefs and actions

What makes a person good or evil? Why are some people labeled as good and some evil? Why do some people have traits or characteristics of both good and evil? Are people truly evil or do they just make bad choices? Throughout our lives we are

The Misfit lived up to the name in which he was called. He believed that society made him the way he was, and they where responsible for his actions. When speaking, the Misfit appears as a well-spoken and polite person. Even when Bailey disrespects his mother, “the Misfit reddened. ‘Lady,’

Another short story of O’Conner that proves my thesis is called “A good man is Hard to find”, its a story with different concept but yet seems to have the same theme. O’Conner is shown to use religion yet again to have readers determine characters personalities. The story begins with

Another family dynamic is evident in the Misfit’s family that may not have been as perfect as seen in the initial description. It seems that Misfit could have been sarcastic about his family. This is because, even at the start when he explains how good a father his was, he slightly highlights that he was, “…a card himself”. Moreover, he mentions that it was claimed that his reason for being jailed is that he killed his own father. All this points out that his