The document provides background information on the American short story and analyzes Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." It discusses the rise of the short story form in America in the 19th century. It then summarizes the plot of O'Connor's story, which follows a family driving to Florida who have a car accident and encounter an escaped convict known as The Misfit. Key characters like the grandmother and The Misfit are introduced. The story has a tragic ending involving multiple gunshots.

1. The American Short Story
Case Study: Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard
to Find
Presentation by BADJI El Wafi &
ZEROULOU Amal
10 Jan 2019

2. The American Short Story: An Overview
 The American Short story rose to prominence when Americans needed it most; especially during
the 19th century.
 The earliest versions of the American short story can be tracked to Germany where writers like
Heinrich Von Kleist and Hoffman were popularising a hybrid narrative form combining “Sketch”
and “Tale”(The 1st is performed and simple in structure, while the 2nd is long and complicated).
 This hybrid narrative began to appear in newspapers across Germany and hence it was an easily
accessible form of entertainment.
 Reaching America by the end of 19th century, there was no major changes: the short story grew
out of necessity rather than luxury. At that time Americans were digging for the American Dream
and travelling west in quest of that treasure.
 People did not live in one town for more than few months and the novel witnessed a low profit.
That is why early Americans short story writers such as Washington Irving and Herman Melville
adopted the narrative form of a short story from Germans and made the reader able to finish the
short narrative in one sitting which also gave newspapers a space to print.
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3.  The result was a National Phenomenon that was beneficial to everyone (writers, readers,
and publishers).
 Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorn helped create 2 types of short story during the
1960’s and 1970’s: The Art Short Story by Poe and the Entertainment Short Story by
Hawthorne.
 The short story was published in newspapers or magazines and writers made comfortable
livings by selling short fiction on a weekly or a monthly basis.
 During the 1980’s and 1990’s short story began to fall out of favour, it became less
published and its audience grew less.
 For the last 10 to 15 years in America, Short Story has seen resurgence with writings
discussed in 20 pages rather than 250 pages novels (easier to read and publish). But still
there are only few National publications such as “The New Yorker”.
 To conclude, the American Short Story is like any form of art that flourished by the
emergence of internet. Many online publications are becoming famous and spread
globally to reach larger audience, becoming a successful hit the same way printed
newspapers used to be nearly two centuries ago.
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4. Case Study: A Good Man is Hard to Find
10 Jan 2019
By Flannery O’Connor

5. Who is Flannery O’Connor?
American novelist and
short-story writer
whose works, usually
set in the rural
American South and
often treating of
alienation, concern the
relationship between
the individual and God.
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6. About the Work
 A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a short story with opening
comic episodes that belie and foreshadow a tragic ending. The
story contains elements of southern Gothic, a fictional genre
that vests its stories with foreboding and grotesquery and
replaces the romanticism of nineteenth century Gothic works
with realism. However, southern Gothic retains the disturbing
elements of earlier Gothic works, whether in the form of a
deranged character, a hostile forest, or a sense of impending
doom. A southern-Gothic story may call up ghosts of the past,
as Bailey’s mother does when she apparels herself in the finery
of an Old South grande dame and when she persuades her
family to visit a Civil War-era plantation with a secret panel.
 The story first appeared in 1953. It was published again in 1955
in a collection entitled A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Other
Stories.

7. Setting
The story begins in Atlanta, Georgia,
in the home of a family preparing for
a trip to Florida. The action continues
the next day as the family travels
southeast on a highway and takes a
side trip on a dirt road, where the car
rolls over and lands in a ditch. The
final scene takes place after the
accident. The time is the mid-
twentieth century. Landscape
descriptions and the apparel of the
characters indicate that the action
occurs during the warmer months.
Atlanta (1950s)
Florida (1950s)
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8. Characters
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9. Bailey
Impatient with his
family, he is an Atlanta
resident with a wife
and three children. He
and his family are
preparing for a trip to
Florida.
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10. The Grandmother
Main character, a
talkative elderly woman
unidentified by name
who lives with Bailey,
her son, and his family.
She tries to persuade
Bailey to go to
Tennessee instead of
Florida.
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11. Bailey’s Wife
A quiet woman who
spends her time
feeding or holding her
baby. She is unidentified
by name.
Described as "a young
woman in slacks, whose
face was as broad and
innocent as a cabbage."
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12. The Kids
John Wesley & June
Star: Bailey’s
demanding, self-
centred children.
Their troublesome
behaviour
apparently results
from a lack parental
discipline.
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13. Red Sammy Butts
Restaurant operator
who agrees with Bailey’s
mother that the world is
in a state of decline.
He chats with The
Grandmother about
The Misfit and the
terrible state of the
world, concluding that,
"A good man is hard to
find."
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14. Red Sammy’s
Wife
Waitress in Red Sammy’s
restaurant. She observes that
not a single person in the
world is trustworthy.
A “tall burnt-brown woman
with hair and eyes lighter than
her skin” who takes the
family's order when they stop
to eat lunch at The Tower.
June Star insults her by
making fun of the run-down
building.
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15. The Misfit
A serial killer who has escaped from
prison. The Grandmother reads about
him in the newspaper as the story begins.
He tells The Grandmother that he has
been a gospel singer, in the armed
service, twice married, and undertaker,
and a railroad worker.
"His hair was just beginning to gray and
he wore silver-rimmed spectacles that
gave him a scholarly look. He had a long
creased face."
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16. The Misfit’s
Sidekicks
Young men who
escaped from prison
with The Misfit.
Bobby Lee: He is "a fat
boy in black trousers
and a red sweat shirt,"
who reminds June Star
of a pig.
Hiram: He wears khaki
pants, a blue striped
coat, and a gray hat.
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17. Plot Summary
Bailey’s mother wants to go to Tennessee, not Florida. In
an attempt to change her son’s mind, she calls his
attention to a newspaper article saying that a dangerous
prison escapee called The Misfit is on his way to Florida.
“I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a
criminal like that aloose in it," she says. Besides, she notes
while turning to Bailey’s wife, the children have already
been to Florida but have never been to east Tennessee.
The daughter-in-law, who is feeding the baby, does not
respond.
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18. The next day, the old woman sits in the back seat,
between John Wesley and June Star, with her
black valise. Hidden beneath it is a basket
containing her cat, Pitty Sing. She does not want
to leave the animal home alone for three days.
But because Bailey does not like to check into a
motel with a cat, she must hide it from him.
Bailey’s wife is in the front seat holding the baby
as her husband pulls out at 8:45. Although she is
wearing slacks, her mother-in-law is dressed
elegantly.
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19. 10 Jan 2019
“In case of an accident,” the narrator
says, “anyone seeing her dead on the
highway would know at once that she
was a lady”.

20. After cautioning Bailey against speeding, the old
woman calls attention to points of interest along the
way. John Wesley then urges his father to “go through
Georgia fast so we won't have to look at much”. “If I
were a little boy,” his grandmother says, “I wouldn't
talk about my native state that way. Tennessee has the
mountains and Georgia has the hills”. “Tennessee is
just a hillbilly dumping ground, and Georgia is a lousy
state too,” John Wesley responds. June Star agrees.
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21.  The old woman holds the baby for a while, making faces at him. He
reacts with a faint flicker of a smile. After John Wesley and June Star
put down the comic books they have been reading, they eat lunch
with their grandmother, who dines on a peanut-butter sandwich
and an olive. She tells them a story about the time when a young
man named Edgar Atkins Teagarden left her a watermelon on her
front porch when he was wooing her. He had carved his initials into
the rind. But, the old woman says, she never got it “because a
nigger boy ate it when he saw the initials. E.A.T.!”. She tells June
Star that Teagarden would have been a good man to marry
because he had good manners, bought Coca-Cola stock, and died
rich.
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22.  The family stops at the Tower, a restaurant owned by Red Sammy Butts, and
orders his specialty, barbecued sandwiches. Red Sammy sits down near them
and complains about how untrustworthy people are but notes that he recently
allowed two men to charge a gas bill. “Now why did I do that?”, Red Sammy
asks.
 “Because you’re a good man,” the old woman says.
 The waitress, Red Sammy's wife, brings the food and says, “It isn’t a soul in this
green world of God’s that you can trust.” Looking at her husband, she adds,
“And I don’t count nobody out of that . . .”.
 The old woman asks Red Sammy whether he has heard about The Misfit, and
his wife says she wouldn’t be surprised if he “attacked . . . this restaurant right
here”.
 “A good man is hard to find,” Red Sammy says. “Everything is getting terrible”
The old woman says Europe is to blame for everything because of all the
money it gets from the United States. Red Sammy agrees.
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23.  When the family is on the road again and approaching
Toomsboro, the old woman recalls a plantation she visited in the
area. She wants to see it again. Realising that Bailey won’t want to
stop, she makes up a story to arouse the family’s appetite, saying
the house has a secret panel behind which all the family silver was
hidden during Sherman’s march through Georgia. The story
intrigues the children, so she asks Bailey to turn off so they can
see the house. He refuses.
 John Wesley begins kicking the back of the driver’s seat, and June
Star complains to her mother. The baby starts crying.
 Bailey gives in.
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24.  Following his mother’s directions, Bailey turns around and drives about a mile
to a dirt road and swings onto it. After he goes a considerable distance, a
“horrible thought” comes to his mother.
 It is so unsettling that she jerks upward, moving the valise and uncovering the
basket. Pitty Sing jumps out and lands on Bailey’s shoulder. Bailey loses
control of the car. His wife falls out her door, hugging the baby close. The
children spill onto the floor, and the old woman ends up in the front beneath
the dashboard. After turning over but righting itself, the car comes to rest in a
deep ditch on the side of the road. Everyone is all right except Bailey’s wife,
who has a cut on her face and a broken shoulder. The children are delighted
with the idea that they have just been in an accident.
 The old woman decides not to tell anyone about the “horrible thought” that
precipitated the accident: She had remembered that the plantation she visited
was in Tennessee, not Georgia. While hey are all sitting in the ditch, she stands
up and waves her arms as a black car resembling a hearse approaches.
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25. 10 Jan 2019
After it stops, two
young men and an
older man, the
driver, get out.
All are carrying
guns…

26.  The old woman thinks she recognises the driver, who is wearing
glasses, but can’t place him. He greets them and tells one of the
younger fellow, Hiram, to try to start the car. John Wesley asks
why he is carrying a gun. The man tells his mother to have the
children sit next to her because they “make me nervous.” June
Star asks why he is telling them what to do. Then their
grandmother remembers who he is.
 “You’re The Misfit!” she says. Apparently, she had seen his
picture in the newspaper article about him or on a wanted
poster.
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27.  He confirms that he is indeed The Misfit, seeming pleased with
himself. But he says it would have been better for everyone if she
hadn’t remembered his face. Bailey, apparently angry with her for
letting on that she recognized him, says something to her that
makes her cry. The Misfit tries to calm her down.
 “You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?”, she says. The Misfit says
he hopes he won’t have to.
 The old woman then says he looks like a nice man who comes from
a good family. He says his mother and father were among the finest
people you could meet. Then he tells the other young man, Bobby
Lee, to watch the children, again noting that they make him
nervous.
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28.  Meanwhile, Hiram reports that it will take a half-hour to repair
the car. The Misfit then orders Hiram and Bobby Lee to take
Bailey and John Wesley into nearby woods because “the boys
want to ask you something”. After the boys leave with Bailey
and his son, the old lady tells The Misfit, “I just know you’re a
good man. You’re not a bit common”.
 The Misfit says he is not a good man; his own father predicted
that he would go wrong. He then apologises for his shabby
apparel, saying, “We buried our clothes that we had on when
we escaped and we’re just making do until we can get better”.
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29.  The old woman tells him he could live an upright life if he really
wanted to and nobody would be “chasing you all the time”. Her
words make him reflect. Two pistol shots ring out from the
forest.
 “Bailey Boy!” the old woman says.
 The Misfit says he has done almost everything in his life. He was
a gospel singer, a soldier, a husband (twice), an undertaker, a
railroad worker, and a farmer. Moreover, he says, “[I] been in a
tornado, seen a man burnt alive once, [and] even seen a woman
flogged”. The old woman repeatedly tells him to pray, although
he had already told her that he doesn’t pray. He says he can’t
remember why he went to prison but acknowledges that a
prison therapist had told him that he killed his father. "[B]ut I
known that for a lie," the Misfit says, claiming that his father died
of the flu in 1919.
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30.  Hiram and Bobby Lee return from the woods. Hiram has
Bailey’s shirt, which displays imprints of bright blue parrots.
The Misfit puts the shirt on, then sends June Star, her mother,
and the baby off to the woods with the boys. The Misfit and
the old woman are now the only ones at the crash site. When
she tells him that Christ will help him, he compares himself to
Christ, saying he was wrongfully punished. He calls himself
The Misfit, he says, because what he was supposed to have
done wrong does not fit the severity of the punishment he
received.
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31.  There is another pistol shot, and the old woman begs for her
life, saying she’ll give The Misfit all her money. Two more
pistol shots ring out.
 “Bailey Boy, Bailey Boy!” the woman cries.
 Christ raised the dead, The Misfit says. But He shouldn’t have
done so, he says, because “He [thrown] everything off
balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do
but [throw] everything away and follow Him, and if He didn’t,
then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you
got left the best way you can—by killing somebody or
burning down his house or doing some other meanness to
him”.
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32.  The Misfit says he wishes he knew for certain whether Christ
did or did not raise the dead. If he knew, he says, “I wouldn’t
be like I am now.” He looks as if he is about to cry, and the old
woman reaches out and touches him. The Misfit pulls back
and shoots her in the chest three times. When Hiram and
Bobby Lee return, they look down at the woman’s face, which
is smiling. The Misfit tells them to dispose of her body in the
woods, where the other bodies are lying. He picks up Pitty
Sing the cat.
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33.  “She was a talker, wasn’t she?” Bobby Lee says.
 “She would’ve been a good woman if it had been
somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life,” The
Misfit says.
 “Some fun!” Bobby Lee says.
 The Misfit says, “Shut up, Bobby Lee. It’s no real pleasure in
life”.
THE END :D10 Jan 2019

34. Themes
 Salvation Through Faith: According to Christianity, anyone can become
righteous and gain redemption, no matter the gravity of his or her
wrongdoing, by humbly accepting Christ and placing faith in Him. When the
old woman reaches out and touches The Misfit—calling him one of her own
children—she achieves forgiveness for her sins—including her self-centred
ways, her racism, and her lying—inasmuch as her selfless act signals her own
contrite acceptance of Christ. Having received the grace of God, she
becomes the “good man” who is hard to find. The Misfit, on the other hand,
continues to reject Christ. However, the old woman’s insights and attempts to
fire his faith have loosened the hold of his unbelief, thereby casting in doubt
the validity of his raison d’être—to kill for pleasure. As a result, he tells Bobby
Lee at the end of the story, there’s “no real pleasure in life.”
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35.  Breakdown in Values: The behaviour of the characters suggests that
the values of the world are breaking down. John Wesley and June
Star are hellions with sassy tongues, but their parents show no
inclination to discipline them. Although Bailey’s mother realises
that the world has gone astray—“People are certainly not nice like
they used to be”—she is ignorant of her own shortcomings: She
nags, she lies, she primps herself excessively, and she uses offensive
racist terms such as “nigger” and “pickaninny”. Moreover, she
observes that Edgar Atkins Teagarden would have been a good
man to marry simply because he held Coca-Cola stock, and she
begrudges the money America sends to Europe in the aftermath of
WWII
On the latter point, Red Sammy, owner of the Tower restaurant, agrees
with the old woman even though his appearance indicates that he can
well afford to sacrifice for those in need: “His khaki trousers reached
just to his hip bones and his stomach hung over them like a sack of
meal under his shirt”…
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36. …Red Sammy’s wife agrees with the old woman's
observation that people aren't the way they used to be. In
fact, she says the world is so bad that everyone is false and
faithless: "It isn’t a soul in this green world of God’s that you
can trust,” she [Red Sammy's wife] said. “And I don’t count
nobody out of that, not nobody,” she repeated, looking at
Red Sammy”. The Misfit, of course, thinks the only
worthwhile thing to do in life is to “enjoy the few minutes
you got left the best way you can—by killing somebody or
burning down his house or doing some other meanness to
him. No pleasure but meanness”. His two young
companions, apparently believe as he does.
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37. Disbelief Breeds Wrongdoing
The Misfit rejects Christ as God because he lacks
empirical evidence of His divinity and because he
lacks faith in the testimony of the bible. If there is no
God, The Misfit reasons, there is no moral order.
Consequently, he believes that he may do whatever
he pleases —even commit murder.
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38. Narration
Flannery O'Connor presents the story in third-person point of view.
Most of the time, the narrator reports the actions and conversations of
characters but not their thoughts. Such a narrative approach is called
limited third-person point of view.
However, in a few instances, she also reveals the characters' thoughts.
This approach is called omniscient (all-knowing) third-person point of
Here are examples of the latter:
 “She didn't intend for the cat to be left alone for three days”
10).
 “The grandmother wrote this down because she thought it would be
interesting to say how many miles they had been when they got back”
(paragraph 11).
 “She knew that Bailey would not be willing to lose any time looking at
an old house” (paragraph 45).
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39. Foreshadowing
 The author sneaks into the story words and passages that
foreshadow the tragic developments on the dirt road. Consider, for
example, the reference to The Misfit by Bailey's mother in paragraph
1. It raises the possibility, however remote, that Bailey and his family
will encounter The Misfit. Bailey's mother again foreshadows later
developments when she dresses for the trip in her finest clothes so
that "in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway
would know at once that she was a lady”.
 When the family is on the highway, Bailey's mother calls attention to
a cemetery in a cotton field "with five or six graves”. There are, of
course, six people in the car. When the old woman observes at the
Tower restaurant that people aren't as nice they once were, the
owner's wife says she thinks the world is so bad that everyone is false
and faithless: (After the accident, the old woman flags down a black
car, unaware that The Misfit is the driver. She trusts him to come to
their aid.)
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40.  After the travellers leave the restaurant and drive off, the
author clues the reader that the trip is about to go wrong by
noting that they are approaching the town of Toomsboro.
When they turn off to see the plantation with the secret panel,
they encounter a dusty dirt road that snakes this way and
that, as well as dark forests—all signs that they are headed
toward misfortune.
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41.  For the trip to Florida, the old woman dresses in finery that
reflects her image of herself as a lady. Of particular interest are
her white gloves, the white violets on her blue straw hat, the
white dot in the print on her navy blue dress, and her white
organdie collar and cuffs. These appear to symbolize her
opinion of herself as a righteous and principled woman with a
sunny disposition. Nature mimics her—or does it mock her?—
with its lustrous attire. As the car travels out of the Atlanta
area, she calls attention to “the blue granite that in some
places came up to both sides of the highway; the brilliant red
clay banks slightly streaked with purple and the various crops
that made rows of green lace-work on the ground. The trees
were full of silver-white sunlight and the meanest of them
sparkled”. (paragraph 13)
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Imagery: Color and Light

42.  After The Misfit arrives and orders his cohorts to take her son and
grandson into the woods, the old woman begins to reject her selfish
image of herself, symbolised by her hat: "The grandmother reached up
to adjust her hat brim as if she were going to the woods with him
[Bailey] but it came off in her hand. She stood staring at it and after a
second she let it fall on the ground" (paragraph 96).
 When Hiram and Bobby Lee take Bailey's wife, the baby, and June Star
to the woods, all of the brightness disappears from the old woman's
surroundings: "Alone with the misfit, the grandmother found that she
had lost her voice. There was not a cloud in the sky nor any sun. There
was nothing around her but woods" (paragraph 128).
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43. The old woman then realises that The Misfit's
dark soul is similar to her own. She may not
have committed atrocious crimes, but she is a
sinner nonetheless. When she reaches out and
touches The Misfit, she completes the
transition from selfish old woman to selfless
old woman. The misfit shoots her. But she dies
with a smile on her face, as though she knows
a genuinely bright future awaits her.
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44. Irony: Dramatic and Situational
 Dramatic Irony:
Dramatic irony occurs when a character in a literary work fails to perceive
what is obvious to the reader (or, in the case of a play, the audience). The most
famous example of dramatic irony in literature occurs in Sophocles'
play, Oedipus Rex, when he fails to realise what is clear to the audience: that a
traveller he kills on a road is his own father and that a woman he marries is his
own mother.
In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," Bailey's mother views herself as a proper
southern lady—genteel, upright, wise. But to the reader, her actions reveal her
as another person. She primps excessively, lies, uses racist language,
begrudges America's goodwill contributions to post-war Europe, and foolishly
blurts out that she recognises The Misfit. Not until the story takes a tragic turn
does she begin to realise that she is not who she thinks she is.
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45.  Situational irony occurs when a development in a story is the
opposite of what the reader expects. In “A Good Man Is Hard to
Find,” this type of irony occurs when an evil man, The Misfit, causes
Bailey's mother to see herself for what she is, a sinner. Her
enlightenment allows her to redeem herself by casting off her
selfishness and reaching out to the deranged killer. When he shoots
her, she dies with a smile on her face, happy that she had become a
good woman before it was too late. In effect, The Misfit's evildoing
leads to the old woman's redemption.
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46. Similes
 Flannery O'Connor makes every word contribute to the overall effect of a story. When she uses
figures of speech, they are not mere dressing to demonstrate technical skill but integral parts of the
story, as in the following highlighted simile describing the children's mother: "[She was] a young
woman in slacks, whose face was as broad and as innocent as a cabbage. . . (paragraph 2). This
simile, together with the words before it, stresses the mother's innocence and shyness, making it easy
for others in her family to manipulate her. In Red Sammy's restaurant, she plays "The Tennessee
Waltz" on the jukebox, perhaps suggesting that she wanted to go to Tennessee too but was afraid to
speak up.
Other effective similes in the story include the following:
 His [Bailey's] jaw was as rigid as a horseshoe (paragraph 49).
 Behind them the line of woods gaped like a dark open mouth (paragraph 80).
 His [Bailey's] eyes were as blue and intense as the parrots in his shirt (paragraph 95).
 [T]he grandmother raised her head like a parched old turkey hen . . . (paragraph 133).
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47.  Like his mother, Bailey has an opportunity to redeem himself, an
opportunity presented when he is “squatting in the position of a runner
about to spring forward . . .” (§91). Apparently, he is considering rushing
The Misfit to save his mother and family. But he remains fixed in that
position; he fails to act. A moment later, when he and John Wesley are
about to enter the woods with Hiram and Bobby Lee, he turns and
shouts, “I’ll be back in a minute, Mamma, wait on me” (§96). Here, no
doubt realising that he is going to his death, his last thought is of his
mother. He is attempting to hearten and console her. And, for the only
time in the story, he addresses her with an endearing name rather than
ignoring her or growling at her. But is this behaviour enough to redeem
him? After all, he addresses only his mother and ignores his wife.
Moreover, he does not include John Wesley in his statement; he says “I'll
be back” instead of “we'll be back.”
10 Jan 2019
The Family's Fate

48.  As for Bailey's wife, she acquits herself honourably, it seems. First, she
saves her baby when she falls out the door, suffering a broken left
shoulder as she clings to the infant. When her turn to die comes, she
sits dangling her left arm at her side while holding the baby with the
other arm. The Misfit says, "Lady, would you and that little girl like to
step off yonder with Bobby Lee and Hiram and join your husband?"
Her astonishing response is, "Yes, thank you" (§124). Her response
and her behaviour during and after the accident arouse the
sympathy.
 And what of John Wesley and June Star? Because they are so young,
one may conclude that God does not turn them away.
10 Jan 2019

49. John Wesley: Misfit in the Making
 The narrator hints that John Wesley and The Misfit have more in common than the
eyeglasses they wear. Consider that the boy embodies the sadistic philosophy of
The Misfit: There is “no pleasure but meanness” (§134). John Wesley is certainly
mean: He insults his grandmother, disrespects his parents, and resorts to violence—
kicking the back of his father’s seat (§50) and fighting with his sister (§25)—to vent
his wrath. Moreover, he maintains a hostile attitude toward the world: “Tennessee is
just a hillbilly dumping ground,” he says, “and Georgia is a lousy state too” (§16).
 Consider too that both The Misfit and John Wesley want to look beyond the pale of
their mundane existence: The Misfit wishes he could have seen Christ and learned
what was behind the resurrection story. John Wesley wants to see the secret panel
in the plantation house and discover what is behind it. Oddly, The Misfit was a
gospel singer who became a killer. John Wesley bears the name of a gospel
preacher, John Wesley (1703-1791), and a killer, gunslinger John Wesley Hardin
(1853-1895), who shot to death more than twenty men.
10 Jan 2019

50. The cat and The Misfit: Dangerous Escapees
 Like The Misfit, Bailey's mother's cat, Pitty Sing, is a dangerous escapee.
After the old woman enters the family car in Atlanta, she hides Pitty Sing in
a basket covered with a newspaper (probably the same one with the article
about The Misfit), then places her valise on top, "imprisoning" him. Later,
when the old woman discovers her mistake about the location of the
plantation, she jerks upward, knocking over the valise. "The instant the valise
moved," the narrator says, "the newspaper top she had over the basket
under it rose with a snarl and Pitty Sing, the cat, sprang onto Bailey's
shoulder," causing Bailey to lose control of the car. It ends up in a ditch. The
narrator uses the word snarl one other time in the story, in paragraph 134 to
characterise the sound of The Misfit's voice. After The Misfit and his partners
commit the murders, the cat nuzzles against The Misfit, who then picks it
up. Is Pitty Sing an agent of evil?.
10 Jan 2019

51. Escapees' Apparel Raises Questions
While on the lam, The Misfit, Hiram, and Bobby Lee
bury their prison uniforms after obtaining other
clothes. One can imagine that they killed the
wearers of the apparel, as well as the owner of the
"hearse-like" car. When they exit the car at the
accident scene, The Misfit is wearing tight jeans and
tan and white shoes but no shirt or socks. He is
carrying a black hat. Hiram is wearing black pants
and a red sweat shirt. Bobby Lee is wearing khaki
pants, a striped coat, and a grey hat.
10 Jan 2019

52. Their apparel raises the following
questions:
 Did Bobby Lee get his khaki pants from Red Sammy Butts,
who is described in §34 as wearing “khaki trousers”? If so, did
the trio kill Red Sammy and his wife? Keep in mind that Red
Sammy's wife had earlier told Bailey's mother, “I wouldn't be
a bit surprised if he did attack this place right here.”
 Did Hiram, who is described as fat, get his red sweat shirt
from Red Sammy Butts, who is also fat? The narrator says
in §34 that Red Sammy is wearing a shirt but does not
mention the colour.
 Where did the Misfit's black hat, Hiram's black trousers, and
the black hearse-like car come from? In the first paragraph
of the story, when Bailey's mother reads the newspaper
article about The Misfit, she says, "[Y]ou read here what it
says he did to these people." Were "these people" an
undertaker and his family?
10 Jan 2019

53. Aaaand..
Badji El Wafi
Zeroulou Amal Sources: BooksTellYouWhy.com / Britannica / Cummings Study Guides.
(Artworks and pictures from WordPress blogs and 9Gag).