The Pleasure of Meanness

The Misfit is a religiously troubled character in Flannery O’Connor’s story of “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” He doubts the legitimacy of Christianity, because Christ never showed any physical proof of His existence. The Misfit is the way he is because of his uncertainty relating to the actual existence of Christ. He even admits that “if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn’t be like I am now.” (137) This horrific murderer decides that he doesn’t want to serve a leader that does not have an absolute existence in his mind, so he enjoys life “by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness.” (135) He has absolutely no problem brutally killing a whole family, including women and young children. One moment this man seems extremely calm, but the next his troubled psychological and emotional features shoot out at the reader. Killing and evil are the only pleasures of this man’s life, and he makes sure he enjoys these “pleasures.” He surely is a “different breed of dog” from the rest of society.
This different “dog” says he comes from the “finest people in the world.” (90) The way the Misfit describes how his daddy was a “card himself” but always avoided getting into trouble with the authorities shows how something evil runs in his blood. Unlike his daddy, the Misfit did get into trouble with the authorities, as his arrest and time in prison shows. According to the officials, he killed his father. The Misfit disagrees with this fact, but does not remember why he went to jail. His attitude is that “sooner or later you’re going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it.” (124) The Misfit clearly earned his nickname because he does not fit into society. He does not want any help, especially not from Jesus Christ. He says he deems himself the Misfit “because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment.” (130) The Misfit feels as though he should never have been punished as much as he was because his punishment does not match up with what he had done. Clearly, this psychotic killer deserves to be punished by the existing God, whether he believes in His existence or not.
O’Connor is very unusual in her deep Christian faith as opposed to other modern American writers. Through this story she demonstrates her belief that the world is declining in moralist and spiritualist values. The Misfit has no moralist or spiritual values at all, as his only pleasure in life is killing people. In doing so he also refuses to serve Christ because he does not have physical evidence of his existence. O’Connor constantly gets the point across in her short story that nobody in the world is trustworthy through not only the actions of the Misfit, but also the conversation between the grandma and Red Sammy Butts. As Red Sammy said, “everything is getting terrible.” (44). The grandma agrees with this, even though she is quite morally unsound herself. When the Misfit is on the verge of killing everybody in the family, the grandma just keeps selfishly begging for her own life. At the same time, she does represent the way O’Connor wants characters to be spiritually. The grandma keeps saying “If you would pray, Jesus would help you.” (117) Even John Wesley and June Star show little respect and morality in their attitudes towards their grandma and parents. When they do not get to see the non-existent house in Georgia, they cry and whine to their parents until Bailey finally gives in to their demands. The grandma does not help in this situation either by pushing the parents to let their kids see the house. In general, throughout the short story nobody shows good moralistic and spiritual values, because nobody is trustworthy anymore in these days.
O’Connor and her characters demonstrate the downfall of society in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Through this extreme example of violence and viciousness, she stirs her readers’ attention to the fact that the place we live in is a morally and spiritually declining world. In O’Connor’s view, without a firm belief in God and Jesus, moral values will keep declining until the Misfit becomes a common day man.

1.Is there a possible reason for the Misfit not believing in Jesus? Do you think something needs physical existence and proof to make it true?
2.Did the Misfit actually kill his dad? Does he choose not to remember killing his dad and other wrongs he has committed?