“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor contains many characters and character descriptions. However, the most important characters in this short story are the Misfit and the unnamed Grandmother. These two characters are given the most attention in O’Connor’s short story through description and dialogue. They are both considered main characters in the story and most of the dialogue is between the Misfit and the Grandma towards the end of the story when the Grandma is pleading for her life. By looking at Flannery O’Connor’s use of religious symbolism, word choice, and chosen character traits, we can see that the Grandmother represents the Devil and the Misfit represents Jesus. This is important because Flannery O’Conner is making a statement about judgment day and our fates as sinners.

Throughout this short story, there are many references made to Christianity and there is an abundance of religious undertones that aid the reader in realizing the true purpose of the Misfit and the Grandmother. The word choice that points to this story having religious undertones is not accidental on O’Connor’s part. When the Misfit and the Grandmother were talking, just seconds before her demise, she reached out and touched the Misfit on the shoulder. He “sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest” (15). In the Christian Bible, snake is a term used to describe the Devil because of his deception in the Garden of Eden after God created Adam and Eve. In addition, the Catholic faith believes in the Holy Trinity, which consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Misfit shoots the Grandmother three times exactly, which, coupled with the other religious symbolism, makes him seem God-like. O’Conner leaves subtle, yet noticeable, hints throughout the story that have roots in the Christian faith.

Another example of word choice that points to the Grandma representing the Devil happens, again, when the Grandma and the Misfit are talking towards the end of the story. The Grandma “found herself saying, “Jesus. Jesus,” meaning, Jesus will help you, but the way she was saying it, it sounded as if she might be cursing” (14). In addition to it sounding like the Grandma is cursing Jesus’s name, which places her among the worst of sinners since one of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain”. Lucifer, the fallen angel who became Satan, is undoubtedly the worst sinner. Additionally, when the Grandma is saying Jesus, the punctuation used to end her statement is a period. The use of the period implies that she is addressing Jesus, and she is standing before the Misfit. When she says Jesus, the Misfit responds as if she was addressing him. 

The character traits assigned to both the Grandmother and the Misfit point to their respective roles as the Devil and as Jesus. While the Grandmother is not explicitly described as snake-like anywhere else in the story, her words and actions make her like a serpent. In the Garden of Eden, the Devil, disguised as a snake, uses trickery and lies in order to persuade Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Grandmother lies to her family and makes up an elaborate story so that her son will take her to an old plantation she has connections with. This detour ultimately leads her family to their death due to her lying and trickery. When the Bailey family encounters the Misfit, the Grandmother is only concerned with her own safety and attempts to convince the Misfit that because she is a “lady”, he cannot shoot her. She pulls out a handkerchief and “slaps at her eyes with it” in order to deceive the Misfit and make him believe that she is crying (10). In every moment leading up to her death, she lies to the Misfit and says what she thinks he would want to hear in order to save her own life. Snakes are depicted as deceptive, dishonest creatures in literature and the Grandma is deceptive and dishonest to both the Misfit and her family. 

The Grandma tries to tempt the Misfit with all the money she has if he spares her life. The Grandma also exclaims that the Misfit is one of her babies and one of her own children. She says this right before the Misfit shoots her. The Grandma’s attempts at tempting the Misfit with money and again with love and compassion are similar to when Jesus was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness. Coincidentally, the Grandma and the Misfit are in the wilderness during their encounter. When Jesus was tempted by the Devil, he was tempted with the things he desired the most. For example, Jesus had fasted for 40 days and the Devil tempted him to turn rocks into bread in order to satisfy Jesus’s hunger. The Grandma offers the Misfit money and love; both are things that the Misfit desires. He has no money and robs people and places in order to survive. The Misfit does not explicitly say that he desires love, but he makes statements that say he has not deserved the treatment he has received in the past. The Misfit went to prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and Jesus was condemned as an innocent man as well. 

After the Misfit shoots the Grandma, the Misfit says to Hiram and Bobby Lee that “she would have been a good woman if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (15). This statement by the Misfit implies that the Grandma could have been a good person if she was given direction in life; direction most likely achieved through Christianity. Bobby Lee says to the Misfit that this has been “some fun”, and the Misfit replies that “it’s no real pleasure in life” (15). Ultimately, our fate is decided by Jesus. Although Jesus is merciful and forgiving, He is capable of bringing souls to Heaven as well as condemning them to Hell. The Misfit killing the Bailey family is really Jesus passing judgment onto those that are already damned. The Bailey family consists of selfish, materialistic, and disrespectful people. While it is not explicitly stated, the Bailey family are most likely not religious people. The Grandma is very judgmental, June Star is sadistic and rude, Bailey himself is disrespectful to his mother and has anger issues. These are all supposed characteristics of people who do not have God in their lives. In addition, the Bailey family simply accept their fates. None of the members of the family fight for their lives or attempt to escape. They simply accept the fact that they are going to die and they leave it at that. This further supports the claim that the Misfit is Jesus passing judgment on the Bailey family for their wrong doings. 

The Misfit and the Grandma both have many similarities to Jesus and the Devil and this is evident in the word choice, allusions, and character descriptions that O’Connor uses in her short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. She uses creative religious symbolism and intelligently describes the Grandma and the Misfit in ways that lead the reader to believe that they are religious figures, but also leaves it ambiguous. It is not explicitly stated that the Grandma is the Devil and that the Misfit is Jesus, so the character analysis is up to interpretation based on how the reader processes the religious symbolism, word choice, and chosen character traits that Flannery O’Conner uses. These specific literary devices aid in the making of O’Conner’s message about sinners and judgment day by depicting the Grandma as the Devil and the Misfit as Jesus. 
