"Been in the arm service, both land and sea, at home and abroad, been twict married, been an undertaker, been with the railroads, plowed Mother Earth, been in a tornado, seen a man burnt alive oncet". These are the words spoken by The Misfit, and after reading the story I assumed, or wondered, that this was the writers way of saying evil is everywhere. The Misfit was Evil, and his ways were brought about him through life experiences.
Evil is in a lot of places, and a lot of people do a lot of bad things, but is this a harsh way of saying that people are bad at the core, or is she saying that people don't do enough good, or is she saying that the only reason people act good is because that's the way society is. I wondered if the writer was trying to say if everyone had it their way, they wouldn't obey the law, and instead take every matter into their own hands and deal with it the best way they saw fit.
Landon,
ReplyDeleteThese are good questions about the story, and this is a good quote to explore! A good place to start answering them is by looking at O'Connor's views on faith (see the presentation and my blog post "O'Connor on 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'.") I would also ask whether we are supposed to see the Grandmother herself as evil (or at least not the good woman she thinks she is) in a way as well. In some ways is the Misfit more of a "good man" than the Grandmother? Or can evil be a catalyst for goodness?
~MS
I originally didn't think of her as evil, but I could see how that could be considering everything that happens. I do not think she is the good innocent woman that she believes she is though, for sure.
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