Good Country People Character Analysis

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Flannery O’Connor has written several stories. In at least two of her stories, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People”, three of the characters have several similarities. Although they don’t have the same position in the stories, they do have several similar personality traits. Manley Pointer, The Misfit, and the grandmother all have things in common even though they are very different people. In the story “Good County People” by Flannery O’Connor, Manley Pointer is seen as an uneducated, kind, religious person. Mrs. Hopewell says, “‘Why, that looks like that nice dull young man…’ (O’Connor 19). As the story progresses, he is the exact opposite as he is perceived. He turns out to be a traveling conman who looks for interesting…show more content…
This Misfit is an escaped convict and is notoriously known for the wrong doing he has committed since he has escaped the federal prison. The Misfit is described as an older adult like the grandmother, also from the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. The Misfit, much like Manley Pointer in “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, has no remorse for what he has done. He thinks he hasn’t done anything bad enough to deserve his punishment. He says, “I can't make what I done wrong fit what I gone through in punishment." (O’Connor 10). He does say that a physiatrist tells him that he killed his father, but Misfit says that isn’t true. He tells the grandmother that he comes from a good family. But it just seems like he was the bad apple of the bunch. He compares himself to Jesus, almost as if he has no conscience for what he has done. He kills the whole family, and still shows no…show more content…
Much like Manley Pointer in Flannery O’Connor’s story “Good Country Good People”, the grandmother is manipulative and self-centered. At first, she tries to persuade her son, Bailey, to go to Tennessee instead of Florida. She uses several excuses to try to keep them from going. From saying that the children, John and June, have already been to Florida; all the way to saying that there was an escaped convict on the loose and that if it was her she wouldn’t take her children near there. This is extremely ironic since they ultimately run into him. When they first run into the Misfit, the family’s car had wrecked, and the Misfit along with two other men showed up to “help”. The grandmother recognizes him at first but couldn’t figure out from where. Finally, she remembers and blurts out who he is. The grandmother is a self-proclaimed lady, but much like The Misfit, she does things that hurt the people around her. When she says it, the Misfit tells her that she would regret it. Immediately she starts begging for her life by saying, “‘You wouldn't shoot a lady, would you?’” (O’Connor 8). While she is trying to talk the Misfit into not shooting her, the grandmother’s family has already been killed in the woods. In a last resort, she tries to talk to him about religion. This seems to work for a while until she touches his arm. After that, the grandmother’s life

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