The Misfit While investigating what might be psychologically wrong with The Misfit in the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor, I came to a conclusion that his actions and his personality that he presented himself with today was a result from his child hood and life experiences. Even though the Misfit kills this family, he is not fully responsible for his own actions. The Misfit kills, because he has had a terrible childhood, he is mentally unstable, and he simply likes what he does. But this still does not change was he has done or make him any better of a person. The Misfit is a killer, but may not be responsible for all of his actions because of his awful childhood. The misfit explains very well the way he was raised from a child to his present status and personal life, which he also admits and believes helped, shaped his character today. When the Grandmother suggested that he must have come from fine people, he simply replied, “Finest people in the world”. The Misfit also goes on to say, “God never made a finer woman than my mother and my daddy’s heart was pure gold”. With a statement like this I would think that the Misfit was being not being serious when it comes to his parents. In the end it really is a true mystery about the way the Misfit actually feels about his parents. One might say that the misfit did not care for his parents at all. As a child the Misfits own father did not think he was normal, in the short story he quotes what his father referred to him as saying, “My daddy said I was a different breed of dog from my brothers and sisters”. This quote proves that he was different from the beginning of his child hood and something psychologically was already obvious and noticed, but his father was inferring that he was born with some mental problems and that it was very easy to notice. During the Misfits childhood he was exposed to some incredibly horrible things. For example, the Misfit said, “...seen a man burnt alive once” and “I even seen a woman flogged”. These two quotes prove very much that his child hood was filled with many disturbing memories. This is the only obvious reason that the Misfit has had a scarring and horrible childhood. Another reason for the Misfit's outrageous actions is the fact that he is mentally unstable. These symptoms may have most likely started during his time when he served in the armed services. The Misfit proved this by quoting he had, “Been in the arm service both land and sea”. This is a very huge trigger for mental illness because many people out of the armed services end up with some kind of problems and if they are not treated they can affect the rest of their lives. The Misfits name alone also has a lot to say and explain about the theme, character, and plot of the story. The Misfit says his name comes from the punishments that he received from society, making him now remember the crimes he had previously committed. He definitely also lived up to the name in which he was called. In his own eye’s he thinks he has done no wrong to be treated the way society has treated him, but when in jail, he was told he killed his father he replied, “My daddy died in nineteen ought nineteen of the epidemic flu and I never has a thing to do with it” The Misfit believed that the people he has encountered have made him the way he was today, and they are accountable for his actions that he displays. It would seem as if the Misfit had committed many crimes. It would also seem that the crimes he committed were because it is the only thing in his life that offered him any pleasure at all in his life. The fact that the Misfit stated that he doesn't think there's anything wrong with killing, showed that he belonged in jail. It could be that he feels as if he doesn't deserve his punishment because he doesn't think any crime deserves punishment. The misfit feels no guilt or remorse at all which he would need to have in order for his punishment to seem right to him. All he knows about punishment is that he doesn't like it, because it makes him miserable. The misfit stated that being in jail for something that he didn’t think he did made him feel as if he was “buried alive” When speaking, the Misfit appears as a well-spoken and polite person. Even when Bailey disrespects his mother, “the Misfit reddened. ‘Lady,’ he said, don’t you get upset. Sometimes a man says things he don’t mean. I don’t reckon he meant to talk to you thataway”. That statement shows that the misfit indeed had a decent and respectful side to him. The Misfit said that if he had actually seen Jesus, he would know that Jesus is the son of God. He displays himself as angry that he does not know. In the end he is angry because he thinks he would have been a believer if he had been there to see with his own eyes that Jesus truly is the son of God. The Misfit also seems angry at himself for not believing. He reasons that if he could believe that he would not be the man he is now. In the end despite and beneath all his anger and depression, he has a conscience after all. This still does not put aside his actions and belief that there is nothing wrong with killing somebody. He is obviously still very mentally unstable and should be in jail.

The sadness, anger, and hurt that The Misfit reveals are what touches the grandmother to have sympathy for him. The Misfit could not see past he power of his resentment at the world to see the grandmothers kindness, and this is also why he kills her, he still has a great deal of resentment toward everyone that he believes made him who he is, even though the grandmother just shown him kindness and sympathy.
In one of the last scenes the grandmother tells the Misfit that, “You’re one of my babies. Your one of my own children!” When she reaches out in compassion and touches him, the Misfit springs back from her: "as if a snake had bitten him.” And shot her three times through her chest.
This sad ending just highlight the kind of man the Misfit is, and shows there is no good in this man and that he has nothing, but anger confusion and sadness in his heart.