Thesis statement: The Misfit and Manley are essentially the same type of cruel, indifferent, and insensitive psychopath.
Introduction
Flannery O’Connor’s works mostly deal with human characters who are the opposite of her. Two specific characters, the Misfit from A Good Man is Hard to Find” and Manley Pointer from “Good Country People,” portray evil personalities as victims of disbelief in the true God. Both Misfit and Manley are male characters who exhibit troublesome behaviors that go against the ideal persons in the Bible.
To support this denotation, the authors used symbols such as facial and body language, as well as items to represent intended meaning. These techniques made the stories interesting by adding suspense factors that enhanced the governing ideology of the characters who were real during that period. The author created personalities in the story with the intention of presenting what life becomes when one is away from God – cruel, indifferent, and insensitive psychopaths.
Introduction of the author.
Flannery O’Connor, who lived for only thirty-nine years, was one of the most famous American writers of the twentieth century. Her remarkable influence on American literature was truly astonishing due to her unique style in portraying characters. Her plots, inspired by violence, conveyed her moral stand to her audience. Despite being born as an only child to a wealthy couple in Georgia, she had a lucid understanding of the value of life that she eagerly shared with everyone she met. Melissa Simpson noted about Flannery: She gave those she could believe an abiding loyalty; she gave those she couldn’t credit the back of her verbal hand” (p. xii).
Connor’s talent was innate, which she inherited from her father, who was a writer of many speeches. Her writing skills were further developed through various training programs she received in schools, starting from elementary school to college where she spent most of her time in exclusive institutions. Her friends described her as a profound, eccentric, stubborn… imaginative, authentic, humorous and down-to-earth” young woman (Simpson p.5). Despite being ordinary in many ways, Flannery had reflective thoughts on things that made her works truly compelling. However, the real artist within her emerged when she first became a visual writer for a publication followed by several issues of cartoons with her essays and reviews according to Melissa Simpson (p. 6). These achievements prompted her to pursue a career in writing.
In addition, O’Connor’s acquaintances remembered her as being extremely determined to keep her fiction from becoming abstract and voiceless” (Brinkmeyer & Brinkmeyer, Jr., p. 12). Another comment stated that O’Connor was “very much concerned with matters of the spirit” (ibid). Moreover, her excellent style and approach in writing “results from her ability to embrace the voices and viewpoints of those around and within her – in other words, to give expression to many realities” (Welty cited in Brinkmeyer & Brinkmeyer, Jr., p. 12).
Comparison of the two characters.
Interestingly, behind the evil manners and intentions were people who appeared to be God-fearing individuals due to their involvement in religious activities or Bible teaching. However, they only manipulated the situation, causing unexpected circumstances to occur. Despite their contrasting roles in the stories, they shared some similarities in their intended purposes. Some of these similarities include: their disbelief in God is a manifestation of their alienation from Him; both characters served to transform other characters into believing that they are godly; and both were socially marginalized within society.
The disbelief in God by the Misfit and Manley Pointer is a manifestation of their alienation from Him.
It is clear that the characters of the Misfit and Manley Pointer in O’Connor’s two well-known books were unbelievers of Christ and the Christian faith. The Misfit was portrayed as a psychopathic atheist, while Manley professed to be a Christian. For example, it was believed that the Misfit was scandalized by the supernatural” (Wood, p. 38) and offended by teachings about Jesus as the giver of life. He was an ex-convict or “ex-fundamentalist,” according to Ralph C. Wood, who later became a mass murderer of his own family (ibid). His psychopathic tendencies prompted him to kill his grandmother when she tried to convince him to spare her life by renouncing her faith before him. What is more intriguing is his statement after killing her: “She would have been a good woman…if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (Wood, p. 39). He completely departed from anything related to spirituality.
Manley Pointer, on the other hand, was not a true Christian, contrary to what people believed about him. Hulga aimed to shatter his faith by transforming such false feelings into something useful” as evidence (Wood, p. 206). What made matters worse was that Manley’s true self was consumed by his sexual desire for Hulga, as Ralph Wood pointed out.
On page 207, it is mentioned that Manley presents Hulga with condoms, pornographic cards, and a whiskey flask. He carries these items in a hollowed-out Bible. This action is a response to Hulga’s self-deification, which Manley finds ridiculous.
The sexual encounter was an eye-opener for Hulga, revealing that Manley was not the gullible Christian he had pretended to be while selling Bibles (p. 207).
The characters served to transform other characters in the story from believing that they are godly.
The Misfit and Manley Pointers are two characters created by O’Connor who inadvertently become instruments in the transformation of the arrogant and stiff-necked grandmother and Joy/Hulga. The Misfit takes pleasure in the fact that killing the grandmother justifies his actions, stating, She would have been a good woman… if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (Wood, p. 39).
After an illicit relationship with Manley Pointer, Hulga felt like a loser. In his book, Wood notes that In the darkened heart of his own nihilism, stealing Hulga’s wooden leg is the ultimate devastation; it destroys the very icon of her faith” (p. 207). By taking away her wooden leg and thus her identity, Manley became the victor.
The incidence in the lives of the main characters in the story led them to realize their own mischievous behavior, which was previously unknown to them. Katherine Hemple Prown quoted O’Connor, stating that “He [Misfit] speaks for God in pronouncing judgment on the grandmother” (p. 44), and regarding Hulga, she said that “The power of Hulga’s awakening is diminished by the banality of the circumstances” (ibid). These incidences manifest God’s grace as they recognize their mistakes; for the grandmother, it was traumatic while for Hulga, it was humiliating.
Both had inflicted violence against women.
Both characters were male and predominantly defeated women. This addresses the long-standing struggle of gender issues that Flannery wrote about. In the case of the Misfit, killing the grandmother was an indication that he was irritated by her domineering personality. The same was true with Hulga, who tried to control Manley through philosophical and intellectual conversation, which ultimately led to her defeat. The violence inflicted on the grandmother was brutal and relentless, while Hulga faced vulgar and offensive treatment.
Flannery O’Connor was a devout Christian who believed that the roles of women and men should conform to Biblical teachings. In her works, characters like Misfit and Manley exhibit strong wills to harm women. Cynthia Seel argues that the author systematically punishes feminine assertions in order to restore balance to gender issues (p. 62).
Conclusion.
The Misfit and Manley are typical male images in the works of O’Connor. They are characterized as being evil and doing wickedness to helpless victims. These two male characters in Flannery O’Connor’s stories have significant implications in today’s world, where many have forgotten spiritual values and are simply carried away by temptations. Many people can be cruel, indifferent, and insensitive psychopaths. As pointed out by the author, losing a close relationship may result in destructive consequences for oneself and others. O’Connor used characters who were opposite to her to emphasize the need for true spirituality.
Works Cited
Brinkmeyer, R. and Brinkmeyer Jr., R. wrote The Art and Vision of Flannery O’Connor, which was published by LSU Press in 1993.
Prown, Katherine Hemple. Revising Flannery O’Connor. University of Virginia Press, 2001.
Seel, Cynthia. Ritual Performance in the Fiction of Flannery O’Connor. Boydell & Brewer, 2001.
Simpson, Melissa. Flannery O’Connor. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005.
Wood, Ralph C. (2005). Flannery O’Connor and the Christ-Haunted South. USA: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing.
