Short fiction: analysis and characteristics

¶ … Misfit

Challenging Event

Character's Response

The moment when he needs to decide whether or not he wants to escape prison

He realizes that there is no solution left and he decides to escape

The moment when he comes across the Bailey's family and has the opportunity to help them

He considers that they can provide the authorities with information and decides to kill them all

Him being provided with a series of reasons to redeem himself

He believes that it is in his best interest to be a criminal regardless of circumstances

The Misfit is an extremely immoral individual and he is determined to harm people that he interacts with, regardless of circumstances. The concept of ethics is completely foreign for him, taking into account that even though he would have been long gone before the family could have reported him to the authorities he still decides to murder all of them. This is a pathological killer and there is no basis for his behavior.

C. The wife

Challenging Event

Character's Response

The moment when she senses that her husband has a specific smell

She manages to contain herself

The moment when her child observes that there is something different about her father

She further manages to refrain from agreeing to her and actually becomes mad with her

Her husband's lynching

She joins the others in chasing and lynching her husband, finally taking on her true nature

In spite of the fact that she is obviously a werewolf, the wife struggles to refrain from listening to her senses and actually manages to live a happy life with her husband for several years. She adopts a moral attitude and while she seems to acknowledge that it is not in her nature to be this way, she goes through great efforts in order to be normal. Her decision to finally take part in his killing does not necessarily need to be perceived as something evil, as she simply takes on her true nature.

D. The Misfit is very different from the wife and this is actually intriguing. While humans are presumably innately moral beings, werewolves are virtually constructed with the purpose of harming people. Instead of taking on moral attitudes when he comes across a family that had just experienced an accident, the Misfit behaves as if he sees nothing wrong with killing them, in spite of the fact that this family contains individuals who would inspire pity in most people. This is a cold-blooded killer who is determined to kill and who justifies events that are actually enjoyable to him by relating to how he is presumably concerned about the family being able to report him to the authorities.