A Good Man is Hard to Find

The Misfit is a criminal who has escaped from a federal penitentiary prior to the start of the story. He is mentioned several times before he eventually appears in the text, near the end of the story. It is revealed that he has been incarcerated for murdering his father, although he claims not to remember committing this crime. 

While his associates take the rest of the family into the woods to kill them, he discusses his outlook on life and morality with the grandmother. Unsure whether God and heaven exist, he lives life to find pleasure in meanness. His incarceration has also clearly affected him; with no memory of his crime, he feels his strict punishment was arbitrary and unwarranted. This perception has erased his sense of meaning in life. 

At the end of the story, he shoots the grandmother in the chest when she offers him salvation through love, even going so far as to call him one of her children. However, he realizes that the grandmother was not necessarily a good person at heart, because it was only when her life was threatened that she offered unconditional love.

Bailey is the grandmother’s son and the head of the family. He is quick to annoy and seems especially annoyed by his mother. However, as he is being led away to be killed, he shows her affection for the first time. 

He is representative of an average family man in the South in the 1950s. He is well off enough to take his family on vacations and is understood to be the sole breadwinner, who is generally uninterested in childcare. Bailey and his wife both allow the children to behave with poor manners and act spoiled. 

Bailey is also the only family member who seems to understand immediately the danger posed by The Misfit. However, he is unable to fulfill the role of the traditional protective patriarch, allowing himself to be led away to be killed with very little struggle. 

Bailey’s wife is unnamed in the story, and very little is revealed about her personality. She is seen to be submissive and phlegmatic, not even complaining when she is thrown out of the car in the crash and breaks her arm. Throughout the story, she primarily cares for the baby, her third child. She does realize what has happened to Bailey and John when she hears the shots and calls out for them. However, she submissively goes with the criminals to her death as well.

Bailey’s son, John Wesley, is a rude boy prone to violence, such as when he suggests breaking into the plantation house. Especially when dealing with his grandmother, he is often contrary. For example, he insults Tennessee, knowing that the grandmother wanted to visit for their vacation. His spoiled nature gives the appearance of naive bravery, such as when he asks The Misfit about his gun. Like the rest of his family, he is killed by The Misfit’s crew. 

June Star is the daughter of Bailey and his wife, and the sister of John. Like her brother, she is spoiled and ill-tempered, prone to contrariness. For example, when Red Sammy’s wife compliments her dancing, she insults where the couple lives. However, she correctly recognizes that the grandmother would never allow herself to miss out on the family activities.

Like her brother, her naivete and spoiled nature allow her to unknowingly stand up to The Misfit. She goes so far as to challenge him about why he orders the family to sit down. Like the rest of her family, she is killed by the criminals led by The Misfit.