Josie's comments on A Good Man Is Hard To Find stirred some thoughts.
This story would be a great study if you're doing a paper on the parent/child relationship in O'Connor. I'm fascinated too with the idea that the Misfit puts on Baily's shirt and that then the Grandmother recognizes him as "one of her babies." What does that say about Baily? The fact that Misfit has replaced Baily and the Grandmother has replaced the Misfits mother, or really father, reminds me of "Everything that Rises Must Converge," when on the bus the sons seem to be likewise exchanged.
The other thing I wonder is if the Misfit is really all that educated or if what we see in him is just that Southern etiquette coming out, that false (I say false because it seems to only cover up a lack of respect shown in many instances, and I'm thinking of the Southern hospitality shown to blacks -evident in this story when Grandmother calls that child they see a "pickaninny" and mentions only that he has no pants and not that he had no pants because white men didn't give slave children pants to wear) level of respect If the Grandmother uses this Southern set of etiquette standards that can represent status, but also "goodness," then it explains, on another level, why the Grandmother keeps saying he's a good man - he is very polite which doesn't seem to fit what he is doing (why would a bad man be bothered with such politeness?). It is just another way I see O'Connor equalizing or leveling the Misfit and the Grandmother.
Tags: A Very Real Threat, Neena Mathews, response
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