Although he is compared to divinity, The Misfit is not a "good man," just as the Grandmother is not a good woman. O'Connor purposely alludes to the Old Testament because the deity described there is not necessarily "good" in the sense that He brings joy to human beings. Rather, the Biblical God is vengeful, full of wrath and disgust for humanity. God is, in many ways, like The Misfit. He brings disasters upon humanity and punishes people, often for no reason, as in the story of Job. The Old Testament God is then compared with Jesus Christ, about whom the grandmother and The Misfit exchange many words. Based on their discussions, it is clear that The Misfit has contemplated the nature of Jesus far more than the grandmother, who simply relies on her faith. The grandmother continuously pleads with The Misfit to "pray." However, his response is an intellectual investigation of the nature of Jesus; The Misfit has lost his emotional connection with a God who he feels allows life to be so meaningless. The Misfit states, "Jesus thrown everything off balance. It was the same case with Him as with me except he hadn't committed any crime and they could prove I had committed one," (131). The Misfit here compares himself directly with Jesus, but he does so logically, noting that he is a common criminal. The Misfit's disillusionment is directly related to his inability to understand cruelty, torture, and pain. The Misfit's mention of his father's death hints that perhaps The Misfit became a sociopath because of his inability to properly digest life's cruel accidents.

The car accident, moreover, occurred directly because of the grandmother's accidentally mistaking Tennessee for Georgia. The fact that the cat, a blameless, morally exempt creature, actually causes Bailey to drive off the road underscores the central theme that life often entails meaningless and painful accidents. Interestingly, the cat "rubs itself up against" the leg of The Misfit after he has shot the entire family.
O'Connor manages somehow to portray The Misfit in a sympathetic light. In fact, with religious imagery and symbolism, O'Connor compares the Misfit's story with that of Jesus Christ, who has "thrown everything off balance" by being both human and divine, by preaching love in a world filled with pain and horror (132). The Misfit has so much trouble digesting Jesus' message of love in the same way he has trouble digesting the grandmother's affection. In "A Good Man is Hard to Find," O'Connor suggests that life is filled with moral ambiguity and meaningless pain. The Misfit's encounter with the Grandmother nevertheless proves to be enlightening; the "cloudless sky" symbolizes the moment of clarity both characters attain. When she dies, the grandmother "lay in a puddle of blood...smiling up at the cloudless sky," (132).

Works Cited

O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man is Hard to Find." The Complete Stories. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1946.…