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  • Essay / Analysis of the Misfit Character in A Good Man is Hard to Find

    In A Good Man is Hard to Find, The Misfit represents an instrumental evil character. He is a serial killer who kills his father and the entire family in the text. In this story, the grandmother tries to persuade Bailey, her son, to take her and her family to East Tennessee because she doesn't like going to Florida. She explains that her children have already visited Florida and that The Misfit, who escapes from a prison, moves to Florida based on a newspaper; therefore, Bailey decides to take his family and his mother to East Tennessee. Before the trip departs, the grandmother takes and hides her cat in a basket without telling anyone in her family. During their trip, they stop at a restaurant. The grandmother has a conversation with the owner and his wife. They are afraid of The Misfit because the woman says he would rob them if he were there. The family continues their journey. They have an accident because the cat that escapes from a basket startles Bailey. They have to stop and wait for someone to help them. Now, The Misfit and his two gun-toting partners come to the family. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Misfit and the two guys seem to want to help the family fix the car. The story depicts The Misfit who speaks politely to the grandmother and wants to help her. The Misfit is calm when the grandmother says that he is the Misfit the police are looking for. In front of the whole family, the grandmother tries to talk to the Misfit to stop him from killing his family. The Misfit shares that his mother is the best in the world and his father's heart is pure gold (O'Connor, 60). In addition, he says he is different from his brothers and sisters. He is aware that he is not a good man. However, he does not admit that he is the worst of men and does not kill his father. He explains that his father died due to a flu epidemic and he indicates that the exact location where his father was buried is in the Mount Hopewell Baptist Cemetery. Plus, in his mind he was a good boy and something he did wrong made him a bad person. The conversation between The Misfit and the grandmother indicates that The Misfit recognizes good and evil. The grandmother tries to talk about Jesus to help her become aware of evil and good. However, he doesn't care. In the world, the only thing that makes sense to him is killing people and burning down houses, even though he believes God exists. The grandmother tries to talk about Jesus to help her become aware of evil and good. However, he doesn't care. He orders the two men to kill the family. He shoots the grandmother without hesitation. A good man is hard to find, the story does not describe The Misfit's physical appearance; however, his thoughts and actions are evil. He was arrested for killing his father. He later killed the entire family to make sense of it. Many villains commit crimes because of their motivations, such as power, revenge, or money. Conversely, there is no motivation for The Misfit. “There has never been an organization that tips the undertaker,” says The Misfit to the grandmother, when she offers him money. This indicates that he kills people not for money. He feels good and happy when he kills people and burns houses. Some people blame him for being a sociopath and poor mental health. Indeed, his hobbies illustrate how sociopathic he is. Sociopath is used to refer to a person suffering from a personality disorder due to their antisocial attitudes, behavior, and lack of empathy (“9 Ways to Spot a Sociopath,” 2017).As he said: “No pleasure but wickedness” (63). Moreover, how he wishes “if there was someone there to shoot him every minute of his life” (64) to the grandmother. His wish demonstrates that he completely lacks conscience. He kills the grandmother without hesitation and even if she was dead, he still wishes his life to be like that. Besides, people would agree that he is a psychopath. The sign of psychopathy is irresponsible behavior. He denies killing his father. He told the grandmother that he was accused because a document from the chief doctor proved his murder. In fact, he doesn't need to explain his case to the grandmother. However, he tries to convince that he is not completely evil. He likes to kill people, but he didn't kill his father. He still thinks that the flu epidemic caused his father's death. Thus, his sociopath and psychopath exposes sanity through his violent thoughts and actions. In contrast, although The Misfit is a sociopath and psychopath through the above analysis, he is very polite towards the grandmother. For example, when the grandmother recognizes him, he responds with pleasure. Also, he apologizes to the grandmother, because he is not wearing a T-shirt. These examples show that he is not always violent, although he likes to murder people. Additionally, he mentions "I was never a bad boy that I remember". In his mind, he thinks he was born a good person, but there is something wrong that makes him a bad person. Indeed, The Misfit also told the grandmother: “But at one point I did something wrong and I was sent to the penitentiary. I was buried alive.” He seems to be complaining about something he did wrong that destroyed his life, which makes him a bad person. It's so absurd that he doesn't remember what he did. Based on the above reasons, we could say that he is innocent. We can't judge people when they don't remember what they did and are sociopaths and psychopaths. However, “I discovered that the crime didn’t matter. You can do one thing or do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you will forget what you did and will simply be punished for it” (62) completely condemns this. he is an instrument of evil. Instrumental evil defines the fact that someone can distinguish between evil and good. They know evil, but they still choose evil. His explanation shows that he is not guilty of killing someone and is not afraid of punishment. Punishment is nothing to him, so he says, "I don't want any help" and "I'm doing fine on my own." This means he is not innocent. He is totally aware of good and evil. He will suffer punishment and move on to the next evil act. He will do things that give him meaning. In fact, he kills the whole family without guilt. His illness still manifests itself with strong violence in his mind at the end of the story. The grandmother was dead, but he still wishes someone here would shoot him any minute. Moreover, the two partners of The Misfit are linked to his evil. They like to kill people. They told The Misfit it was funny when The Misfit wished someone would kill Grandma every minute. So, we could say that The Misfit chooses his life to become instrumental evil. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay To summarize, it is really difficult to write a custom essay. decision that The Misfit in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a villain because the analysis above.