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Closer examination of The Misfit’s character reveals surprising qualities. His diction is
uneducated, yet he is polite. He kindly asks the children’s mother, “Lady . . . would you mind
calling them children to sit down by you?” (O’Connor, “Good Man” 256). The reader is
disarmed and perplexed by his demeanor since the criminal archetype indicates that surely The
Misfit must be rough and tough and rude. He even comforts the grandmother from Bailey’s sharp
comment in saying, “Lady . . . 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” (O’Connor, “Good Man” 256). The Misfit
comes across as a gentleman. He is also honest about who he is. He does not lie about the
murders he has committed, yet there is much about his past that has shaped him into who he has
become. As he recalls his childhood, there is a glimpse into his background that causes the reader
to feel sympathy for him. He is a man who lives out of the wounding of his past. He states, “I
never was a bad boy that I remember of . . . but somewheres along the line I done something
wrong and got sent to the penitentiary” (O’Connor, “Good Man” 258). He recalls the feeling of
being enclosed in his prison cell, yet what haunts him is the fact that he cannot remember what
he did to receive the punishment he endured: “I set there and set there, trying to remember what
it was I done and I ain’t recalled it to this day” (O’Connor, “Good Man” 259). In an attempt to
rationalize his world, The Misfit has decided to commit the crimes that justify the punishments
he has received. Thus, he developed his own signature: The Misfit. When broken down, his
name represents his sentiment. He is the Mis-Fit, or wrong fit, representing being wrongly
accused and wrongly punished. This insight into The Misfit is surprising, for a man who tries to
understand his wrongdoings in life surely cannot fit into the archetypal model of a murderer.

The conflict between the grandmother and The Misfit culminates while the rest of her
family is taken off to be shot. As each attempt to save herself fails, the grandmother’s facade

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