ENGL 4310

I wanted to read all of the former blogs on “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” but couldn’t find any, so I am writing one now. “A Good Man” was one of the very first O’Connor stories that I have ever read and so, for me, it was a very strong and shocking introduction to O’Connor. I think that I was so shocked by it I focused entirely on what happened and not how and why things happened. On this rereading, I found things that I didn’t see before and am so amazed, especially by the “Misfit.”


I hadn’t really paid that much attention to the Misfit before, but now he fascinates me. I guess that I hadn’t really read the story very well the first time because the person that I had in my mind for the Misfit is a very young twenty-something who had a hat covering his face, forcing his face in shadow, and a very ignorant, uneducated man. But in rereading the story, the Misfit is very different from my image and he becomes even scarier. The Misfit is not young, he is older, and by his speech we know that he is not the most educated, but what he has to say is very profound with great meaning. This is even more intimidating than a young man with no cause. (Also, it is another character that uses a hat to cover his face, not the Misfit).


I found that the way the Misfit came to have his name is very interesting, “’I call myself The Misfit,’ he said, ‘because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment.’” (151). The Misfit is very concerned with things “fitting” together and making sense with proof. So it is a bit ironic that his name is contradictory to how he prefers life to be.
With the fact that the Misfit wants proof of things fitting together, his stance on Christ is very interesting. “’If He did what He said, than it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s for nothing for to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can’” (152), “’It ain’t right I wasn’t there because if I had of been there I would of known’” (152). The reason why the Misfit does what he does is because he didn’t witness what Christ did and so he doesn’t follow Him. The Misfit doesn’t have solid proof and so he can’t rely on what people just say to do.


I don’t quite know what to do with the fact that the Misfit first says, “No pleasure [in life] but meanness” (152). But then after he kills the Grandmother, he makes the comment about “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (153). And Bobby Lee, one of the other men, only focuses on the shooting part and misses entirely what the Misfit meant. In his ignorance Bobby Lee says, “’Some fun!’” (153), and the Misfit chastises him replying “’Shut up, Bobby Lee,’ The Misfit said. 'It’s no real pleasure in life'” (153).

I have ideas floating around but they won’t come together as the reason why the Misfit contradicts himself, so if anyone has any solid ideas that they can articulate, that would be awesome if you could share them with me.