Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Misfit says he kills for pleasure. Does he also kill to get even for what he perceives as society's unjust treatment of him?

As the brutal and unrepentant murderer in Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the Misfit has no qualms about killing men, women or children. He admits to not being a good man, and he seems resigned to living up to his father's prediction that he is "a different breed of dog... (who is) going to be into everything." His crimes are so lengthy that he cannot remember what he first did to land him in prison. But he has a strong belief that no matter what he does, "kill a man or take a tire off his car," he will be punished for it.


He believes that his various punishments have far surpassed his crimes. He understands that you should



"sign everything you do and keep a copy of it... in the end, you'll have something to prove you ain't been treated right. I call myself The Misfit," he said, "because I can't take what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment."



He asks the grandmother if it's fair that some people are never punished for their crimes when "another ain't punished at all?" The Misfit has been reduced to having "no pleasure but meanness."




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