Like Rachel, I was also disappointed by the fact that there were not blog entries about "A Good Man is Hard to Find." I guess our blog just wasn't up and running that early in the semester. Bummer. Anyways, since this was the second time I've read this story, I also found myself paying closer attention to the Misfit. Rachel said in her blog that the first time around, she envisioned the Misfit as a younger man. I did the same thing, although I didn't classify him as ignorant. It blatantly states in the story that "he was an older man than the other two. His hair was just beginning to gray" (146) so I don't know why we pictured him as so much younger. He seemed, to me, to be the leader in a gang of rebellious kids. Envisioning him as an older man sheds a new light on this for me; although I know he is dangerous (since I have read this before and know what's coming), he seems to be more dangerous, if that's possible, as an older, educated man than he would be as a younger man. I guess this is partly due to the fact that he is experienced, and, as an older convict, likely has more numerous crimes under his belt than when he was younger. I missed it before, but O'Connor may have been suggesting that he may have killed other "folks" just prior to encountering this family. After he apologizes for his shirtless-ness, he says "we borrowed these (clothes) from some folks we met" (149). While this is merely conjecture, I would be willing to bet that those "folks" met a similar fate as Bailey's family. After all, doesn't the Misfit "borrow" Bailey's shirt after he is shot in cold blood in the forest?
Another thing I failed to recognize on our first read was the Misfit's repeated statement that "children make me nervous" (146). I wondered why he would shoot the children, especially the infant, when they presented very little threat to him and he had nothing to gain by killing them; the baby wasn't even old enough to testify against him. Perhaps his nervousness arises from the fact that children are blatanty honest and may not recognize him for what he is: a very real and dangerous threat. For example, rather than being afraid of these strangers, the first thing June Star says to the Misfit is " 'What are you telling US what to do for?' " They intimidate him more than any of the adults, which is why, I believe, he makes the choice to kill every last one of them.