Red Sammy is “good”
because he trusts people blindly and waxes nostalgic about more innocent times
—both of which the grandmother can relate to. The Misfit is “good” because, she reasons, he won’t shoot a lady—a refusal that would be in keeping with her own moral code.
How does Red Sammy respond when grandmothers calls him a good man?
After a moment’s reflection Red Sammy Butts agrees, “
as if he were struck with this answer
.” He has an excessively high opinion of himself. The grandmother calls The Misfit a good man. While he accepts the part of the compliment that relates to his family, he does not accept the label as a description of himself.
Is Red Sammy a good man?
Red Sammy Butts
Red Sammy
is a good man according to the grandmother
, trusting and even gullible to a fault.
What does Red Sammy mean?
Red Sammy, “
the fat man with the happy laugh
” (27), is the owner of The Tower, the BBQ restaurant where the family stops for lunch. And his dialogue gives us the title of the story: “A good man is hard to find,” Red Sammy said. “
Why did Red Sammy say a good man is hard to find?
This scene also shows the grandmother’s initial idea of what a ‘good man’ is – she declares that Red Sammy is a ‘good man’
because he let someone charge gas even
though the description of Red clearly proves he is not a ‘good man’. It shows that the grandmother’s ideas are empty, ignorant, and vain.
Is Red Sammy A Good Man In A Good Man Is Hard to Find?
Red Sammy
is “good”
because he trusts people blindly and waxes nostalgic about more innocent times—both of which the grandmother can relate to. The Misfit is “good” because, she reasons, he won’t shoot a lady—a refusal that would be in keeping with her own moral code.
What does the grandmother mean when she calls the Misfit a good man?
The grandmother calls the Misfit a good man
because she is trying desperately to save herself
. She uses the protections that have served her throughout her life. She tries to offer the Misfit money, which is pointless, as he can simply kill her and take it (as he point outs).
Why does the misfit call himself The Misfit?
Near the end of the story, the Misfit tells the grandmother that he calls himself the Misfit “
because [he] can’t make what all [he] done wrong fit what all [he] gone through in punishment
.” In other words, his punishment has not fit his so-called crime; it is, in a very literal way, a mis-fit.
What is O’Connor saying about a good man in society?
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
is a typical Flannery O’Connor story, which means it presents us with a strange morality — one where integrity is found in immoral people and where hypocrisy and moral corruption seem magnetically attached to outwardly “good” people.
Why does the misfit compare himself to Jesus?
This is why he calls himself the Misfit:
because his punishment doesn’t fit his crime (or his lack of crime)
. Because Jesus accepted a horrible punishment, without having committed a crime, the Misfit believes Jesus upset the balance of crimes and punishments for humanity.
Why does the misfit shoot the grandmother?
The Misfit
kills the grandmother last to make her death more painful
(at least to the reader). The grandmother has to endure listening to the other five members of her family get shot in closer range (even though, in her selfish attitude, she doesn’t seem to care much).
What do Red Sammy and the grandmother agree on?
The Grandmother eagerly agrees with this and calls
Sammy a “good man
.” Sam states that “a good man is hard to find,” and claims that people are terrible nowadays. He also accepts the Grandmother’s theory about how Europe is to blame for moral decay in the United States.
Is Red Sammy the misfit?
The Misfit is a
far more thoughtful character than Red Sammy
. He doesn’t speak in clichés, as Red Sammy and the grandmother do. He is aware that he is capable of evil, and thus he lacks the smug complacency that both Red Sammy and the grandmother exhibit.
How does the misfit justify his actions?
How does the Misfit justify his actions in the following passage? “
‘I found out the crime don’t matter. 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.
“‘
How does the misfit view himself?
Because the Misfit has questioned himself and his life so closely, he
reveals a self-awareness that the grandmother lacks
. He knows he isn’t a great man, but he also knows that there are others worse than him. He forms rudimentary philosophies, such as “no pleasure but meanness” and “the crime don’t matter.”
Who was more evil the grandmother of the misfit?
Flannery O’Connor
labels the grandmother as good, and the Misfit as evil. There is no such thing as a perfect human being. However, most good people have a conscience and decent morals.
