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Misfit In John O Connor's Analysis

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The first time is when the grandmother is trying to convince Misfit that he is a decent person and should not kill her because she is a lady. She tells Misfit, “I just know you’re a good man … you’re not a bit common” (O’Connor 305). She tries to imply that a good man wouldn’t shoot a lady. Misfits don't consider himself to be a good man so that appeal doesn’t work. So, the grandmother then tries to tell Misfit he can be an honest person like his father. She tells him that it would be great if he could stop committing crimes and then he won’t have to worry about anybody being after him. This doesn’t work to change Misfit’s mind either since it is already too late. He is already on the run from the law. The grandmother next move is to try to tell Misfit maybe they locked him up on …show more content…

She is trying to manipulate his way of thinking about his situation. Misfit knows it wasn’t an accident because “they had papers on me” (O’Connor 306). Misfit doesn’t remember what he did, but he knows it not the crime they accused him of. He believes that it doesn’t matter what you do cause, “you’re going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it” (O’Connor 307). He even bases his name off this personal philosophy. He calls himself “The Misfit” because the punishments he has received doesn’t fit the crimes. The last and final conflict between the two comes when the grandmother tries to tell Misfit that he should pray again. Her ladylike convictions are finally in tatters and she is desperate. She even tries to bride Misfit and that fails. At this moment, Misfit goes into a rant about his thoughts on Jesus. He believes that Jesus shouldn’t have brought anyone back from the death and that he threw everything out of balance. The grandmother tries to agree with him but this just makes Misfit even more aggressive. He tells the grandmother “I wasn’t there so I can’t say He didn’t…if I had been there I would have known and I wouldn’t be like I am now” (O’Connor

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