The Misfit in Flannery O"Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" functions within the story as a kind of Anti-Christ, and the grandmother serves as an opposite image. O"Connor illustrates the distinction between good and evil, evil versus Christianity and believer versus non-believer, in the story. .
The story starts out when the reader is introduced to the grandmother, who doesn't want to take the trip to Florida because of a killer, known as the Misfit that was heading to Florida. She is ignored by most of the family members as they decide to take the trip. During their trip, the grandmother convinces her son, Bailey, to go to see an old plantation in Georgia, which was really in Tennessee. As they drive down this endless dirt road, Bailey loses control of the car and totals it. They climb out of the car and meet these three men. One of those men was the Misfit and the grandmother introduces him as "the Misfit" to the family. While the grandmother is negotiating to the Misfit, each one of the family members is taken by one of the men to the woods where they were shot. As she gets closer and closer to death, she tries to save her life by trying to relate to the Misfit. After she says her last words "Why you"re one of my babies. You"re one of my children!" she touches him on the shoulder and the Misfit shoots her. The ending of the story is where all the opposition occurs between the Misfit and the grandmother. .
The grandmother is a very caring and selfish lady that forgets a lot and who looked out for her own self. She shows this before her family members are taken to the woods, and all she's thinking about is saving her own life. "You wouldn't shoot a lady, would you?"(Pg. 127) She also represents good, and Christianity in the beginning, but at the end of the story she tries to become someone she isn't. Knowing that he was a criminal, she tried to be on his good side and she shows this when she says, "you shouldn't call yourself The Misfit because I know you"re a good man at heart.
