Chrisitan Symbolism in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
... supports the thesis by stating they are traveling through Georgia, which has “brilliant red clay banks”(O’Connor 427). In addition, they had gotten lost on a road that “looked as if no one had traveled on it in months”(O’Connor 430). Then they meet the misfit, and they are in a symbolic hell, which leads to the belief that the Misfit symbolizes death or the Devil. There are certain oddities though, such as the story saying that he is a kind and gentle person. When he first appears on the hilltop with Hiram and Bobby Lee, these three figures could be resembled as the scene from the crucifixion. The Misfit also explains that he was prosecuted for things, which he did not know, but they had the paper work for his crimes. The Misfit states that he was “’buried alive . . . Turn to the right, it was a wall . . . Turn to the left, it was a wall. Look up it was a ceiling, look down it was a floor’”(O’Connor 434). Saying this suggests that he was in a tomb, like Jesus in biblical times. After explaining the grandmother where he was, he explained to her about his crimes. The Misfit said he was not sure because “’I cannot make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment’”(O’Connor 435). This statement is relating to when Jesus was crucified for crimes that he did not commit, but they had the paper work to convict him and crucify him on the cross. The Misfits escape from prison symbolizes Jesus rising from the dead after three days in the tomb. Other symbolism in the story is in the dialogue between the misfit and the grandmother when the Misfit’s henchmen kill off the re...