Steps 1-3: A Good Man is Hard to Find

When re-reading 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' the more subtle Christian imagery jumped out at me, such as:

• The grandmother's ridiculous obsession with appearances, "...but the grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim...In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady." (2776)
• But, when she if faced with  The Misfit, when first confronted with the very real possibility of her death, she withdraws this pretense, "The grandmother reached up to adjust her hat brim as if she were going to the woods with him but it came off in her hand. She stood staring at it and after a second she let it fall on the ground." (2783)  Suddenly, the idea of dying "a lady" doesn't matter anymore.
• "She sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her" (2786) She falls down to her knees, almost in prayer.
• "She saw the man's face twisted close to her own..." (2786) This is the first time she is "equal" to The Misfit; at first he is kneeling below her and she literally "...was standing up looking down on him" (2784) and then he is standing above her when she first falls to her knees.  This is the stance they are in when she is killed, equal height.  
• "Then he put his gun down on the ground and took off his glasses and began to clean them."(2786) Like Pontius Pilate washing his hands after whipping Jesus Christ, The Misfit wipes her away.

Did the grandmother have to give up her superficial affectations before she could die a child of God? Was she like the disciples before her, putting away their possessions before they could truly follow Jesus?