Killing people is definitely not a thing a normal person can do. The murderer must have some types of mental disorder. In the short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery OConnor, the Misfit was imprisoned by killing his own father. He escapes and meets the six-member family by an incident in a small road in Georgia after they have a car accident. The Misfit orders his two companions to kill Bailey, his wife, and their three children. Then he kills the grandmother, Baileys mother, by three shots in her chest. He sure has some mental problems which have been created by his father, his time in prison and his disbelief in God.
The Misfits craziness comes from his relationship with his father. In the conversation with the grandmother, he says my daddys heart was pure gold (690). From this sentence, we can see how much he loved his father. When he talks about his father, he smiles. This is a smile of a son about the good memories with his father. But after the grandmother again tells him he is a good man, he answers that he is not a good or the worst person, and he adds My daddy said I was a different breed of dog from my brothers and sisters (691). The readers now can realize the real personality of The Misfits father. His father didnt love his own children at all. What in the world a good father can say that kind of thing to his children? We can also know his father as an evil person when he mentions his father was a card himself, He never got in trouble with the Authorities. Just had the knack of handling them (692). His father could get away the punishment no matter how bad it was. The father, who used to be a nice person in the boys opinions, now is no different than a devil. The Misfit has two opposite visions of his father; he loves and hates his father. His mind gets confused for the first time. That may be the reason why he killed his father. And then he is confused again by telling the grandmother that the people in prison said he killed his father, but in his memory, his father died by a disease, and he had nothing to do with it. He cant accept the fact. He expresses the same type of man as his father when he acts calmly and politely to the family and then he kills them violently. So, one of the reasons for The Misfits insaneness is from his fathers influence.
He has a psycho mind that was increased while he was in prison. He tells the grandmother I never was a bad boy that I remember of, but somewhere along the line I done something wrong and got sent to the penitentiary (692). His brain seems to be unaware about what he had done. He talks to the grandmother in a dreamy voice. From this, we can easily see a completely clueless person. He did something wrong and didnt know what was wrong. He looks at himself as a good person but somehow he was in prison. And then he says Turn to the right, it was a wall. Turn to the left, it was a wall. Look up it was a ceiling, look down it was a floor. I forget what I done, lady. I set there and set there, trying to remember what it was I done and I ain't recalled it to this day. Once in a while, I would think it was coming to me, but it never come. (692). His memory is something mysterious, something out of his control. He acted like an innocent and kept waiting for his own memory came to him. Whether The Misfit doesnt remember or want to believe what he did, he always denies that he is a bad guy. He tells the grandmother You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you're going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it (693). This heartless man doesnt have an idea in division the levels of crime at all. He also feels it was unfair for him to be punished for a thing he cant remember. It is more unfair when that one is punished a heap and another ain't punished at all (693). Therefore his mind got confused over and over again while he was being punished in prison.
The Misfits strange behavior and personality is produced by the disbelief in Jesus. While the grandmother strongly believes in God and tries to convince him to turn back, he holds his own rational way of looking at the world based on his own belief. He says Jesus thrown everything off balance (693). He blames everything to Jesus. Jesus is the same as him and he wonders by himself why he is punished but Jesus is not. A strange emotion is going on inside his mind. Then that emotion keeps going on and makes him hit the ground by his fist saying If I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn't be like I am now."(694). We can recognize his frustrated longing for faith. The Misfit is a man who cannot believe in something he cannot be rationally certainty of. He didnt see the miracles performed by Jesus long time ago, so he cant believe they did happen ever. His confusion is again created, this time is about God. For him, whether Jesus raised the death or not, people dont do nothing and follow Him or enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him (693). He is totally sick. He chooses not to think God exists so that he is free to do whatever he wants including murdering. In his mind, everybody has their own destinies. They can either do nothing or do what they feel like and wait for the end. That evil thought always haunts his mind and brings him down deeply to offence and crime. Obviously, his illness somehow comes from his confusion in religion.
The Misfit is hopeless to get away those confusing influences from his life. His dad made The Misfit have two different opinions about him, angle and devil. The prison made him try to get his memory back to find a reason why he is a bad guy. The idea about Gods existence and power made him think this world is unfair; and he feels like his destiny is not in his hand. For The Misfit, the whole world always turns its back to him and leaves him no other way but being a criminal.
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