the Misfit
E309679
The Misfit is a cold, philosophical escaped convict whose violent encounter with a family on a Southern road trip drives the moral and theological core of Flannery O’Connor’s short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find."
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Misfit | 2 |
| the Misfit canonical | 1 |
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
antagonist
ⓘ
escaped convict ⓘ fictional character ⓘ literary character ⓘ |
| appearsIn | A Good Man Is Hard to Find ⓘ |
| appearsInForm | short story ⓘ |
| appearsInGenre | Southern Gothic ⓘ |
| associatedWithTheme |
divine justice
ⓘ
evil ⓘ grace ⓘ hypocrisy ⓘ moments of grace at point of death ⓘ redemption ⓘ sin ⓘ violence ⓘ |
| backstoryElement |
cannot remember his original crime clearly
ⓘ
claims to have been wrongly imprisoned ⓘ escaped from the Federal Penitentiary ⓘ |
| characterRole |
foil to the grandmother
ⓘ
primary antagonist ⓘ |
| commitsCrime |
armed robbery
ⓘ
murder ⓘ |
| createdBy |
Flannery O'Connor
ⓘ
surface form:
Flannery O’Connor
|
| dialogueCharacteristic |
engages in theological debate with the grandmother
ⓘ
speaks in measured reflective tone ⓘ |
| firstPublicationContext | appears in story first published in 1953 ⓘ |
| killsCharacter |
Bailey
ⓘ
Bailey’s children ⓘ Bailey’s wife ⓘ the grandmother ⓘ |
| literarySignificance | one of Flannery O’Connor’s most analyzed characters ⓘ |
| moralPosition |
believes punishment should match crime
ⓘ
rejects conventional morality ⓘ |
| narrativeFunction |
drives moral core of the story
ⓘ
drives theological core of the story ⓘ |
| nationalityInFiction | American ⓘ |
| notableQuote |
“No pleasure but meanness.”
ⓘ
“She would of been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” ⓘ |
| personalityTrait |
cold
ⓘ
philosophical ⓘ violent ⓘ |
| philosophicalView |
nihilistic tendencies
ⓘ
questions divine justice ⓘ skeptical about Jesus and resurrection ⓘ |
| settingContext | rural American South ⓘ |
| symbolicRole |
agent of grace
ⓘ
embodiment of radical evil ⓘ instrument of divine judgment ⓘ |
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.