Misfit In A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Could it be that the past of the Misfit was the reason he killed the entire family? Maybe it was his childhood that mentally disturbed his mind and psychologically made this man sick. Or maybe it was his genetics that triggers his actions. The character of the Misfit remained largely mysterious throughout the story, but his actions show a series of behaviors that are related to psychopaths. Evidence has shown that there is a connection between serial killers and psychopaths. In ¨A Good Man is Hard to Find, ¨ the reader can give an insight look at behaviors that a serial killer may have as symptoms of mental disorder, and the question of whether a person is naturally born or is raised as a psychopath comes into an argument.
There is a lot of different points of view given about the short story, ¨A Good Man is Hard to Find. ¨ For instance, Kathleen G. Ochshhorn´s critical perspective about this short story talks about the contradictions between the author and the interpretation that the readers have given. Ochshorns says that O´Connor always incorporates things related to her catholicism belief in her stories. However, it appears that people always identify with the wrong person and interpreted that the good person is the evil one. For example, a lot of readers thought that the grandmother was evil even though O´Connor already explained that the creation of this character was to give a sense that she was ¨an agent of grace¨ (Ochshorn 297). O´Connor explained the connection between evil and grace in a letter to John Hawks. She basically said that she was more interested in giving a sense of grace in her stories more than the sense of evil such as when the grandmother claimed the Misfit as one of her own children (Ochshorns 297). Kathleen Ochshorns says that O´Connor thought that The Misfit seems to attach people sentimentally, but she just allowed them to have the right to understand things in their own way. Ochshorns believes that the Misfit represents pure evil when he killed the grandmother and her family. And that O´Connor covered and justified the violence in the story by giving an awkward sense of grace (Ochshorns 298). Ochshorns critical perspective about the Misfit is that he seems to believe that he has a clearer opinion than the grandmother. His experience and his knowledge of evil seem to be the reason for his power in the story, and his view of human nature seems to be more realistic than the grandmother. The Misfit thinks that he is fine alone and is a person without emotions and sentimentalism (Ochshorns 299).
I agree that the Misfit believes that he has the power to kill because of his past experiences in life. He uses this to justify his actions and accomplish his desires. Another critic of this story is Stanley Renner. He believes that the story has a wider meaning than what the author says. Renner stated that, in both the real world and in the story, the discussion about Jesus and his mercy is what triggers the killer. It seems that the call of Jesus is something that affects the killer and somehow triggers their torment (Renner 233). It seems that the grandmother was the cause of why the Misfit wanted to kill her. If she would never talk about Jesus and how he is a Good Man, then maybe she will survive. The first intention of the Misfit was to only steal the car, but the opinions of the grandmother did not make him happy (Renner 233). In my opinion, the Misfit was not mentally stable because of the lack of empathy that he demonstrated to have with the family, especially the grandmother. It is important to highlight the behavior that the Misfit showed throughout the story because he seems to be a psychopathic killer. In many cases about serial killers, the murderer is usually later diagnosed as a psychopath, so this makes it clear that there is a connection between both. However, it is a false statement if we say that all psychopaths are serial killers.
An article written by Lucy Clarke-Billings talks about a serial killer expert that explains and gives details about what makes a psychopath. This criminologist expert, named Adam Lynes, points out that ¨ Serial killers are psychopaths – but most psychopaths are not serial killers¨ (Clarke-Billtpings). People with psychopathic behaviors tend to have ¨ a lack of empathy, superficial charm, and pathological lying ¨ (Clarke-Billings). This is something that is shared with serial killers because they have no mercy on their victims and commonly lied about their attitude and intentions towards them. Lynes explains that criminologists have discovered that psychopaths may use their qualities to develop their killer instinct. (Clarke- Billings). Although it is difficult to set the prevalence of psychopaths with serial killers in society, it is known that there are more psychopaths than serial killers (Clarke-Billings).
It is very interesting how the entire point of this article is to understand that most serial killers are actually psychopathic serial killers. They often use their chronic mental disorder to their advantage to start their pathway of serial murders. However, it is important to understand that not everyone that carries this mental disorder will commit a homicide. Some people may have the traits and behaviors of a psychopath but will never kill someone. On the other side, psychopathic killers such as Ted Bundy, Gery Ridgway, and John Wayne Gacy are unable to feel remorse and regret for their actions (Scott). Social media entertainment has incorrectly described these people as ¨ ghoulish predators or monsters that will readily stand out in a crowd ¨ (Scott). Nevertheless, the reality is that these people go completely unnoticed, and this helps them to somehow hide their true identity and be able to lie in society. The characteristics that a psychopath can have to be an effective predator, are to have a charming personality and an enthusiastic intellect. All this, combined with their emotionless behavior and their lack of empathizing with people, can make a person mentally unstable to become a criminal (Scott). For the past few years, there has been an increase of attention to psychopathy and serial murders by criminal justice professionals and researchers. In 2005, it was concluded that psychopathy in serial murders is made known in particular behaviors and emotional traits found habitually among serial killers (Scott). The FBI reported that people with this mental illness can show behaviors such as ¨ deception, manipulation, irresponsibility, impulsivity, stimulation seeking, poor behavioral controls, shallow affect, lack of empathy, guilt, or remorse, a callous disregard for the rights of others, and unethical and antisocial behaviors ¨(Scott). Many times, these characteristics are triggered in the different stages of a psychopath’s life starting from their childhood and develop until their adulthood. The selfishness of psychopathic serial killers is so strong that they don’t care about the consequence or law they are breaking (Scott). When they commit a murder, they generally feel indifference rather than anger towards their victims. Many serial killers seem to be in shock whenever they commit the crime and their actions appear to affect them (Scott).
The typical debate of nature vs. nurture is also applied to psychopaths. People ofter would question if the experience of a psychopath was the cause of his disorder, or if his genetics had something to do about being a psychopath. Richard Alleyne, a writer from the telegraph news, made a report about how new studies have shown that psychopaths are born and not bred. After comparing and contrasting the brain of a psychopath and the brain of a normal person, scientists have recognized several biological brain differences. One of the differences is that there is a contrast in the region where aggression and behavior are developed in the brain. This may be the explanation of why psychopaths tend to have a bad temperament (Alleyne). Dr. Caig and other members attending King’s College London started an investigation about the brain’s anatomy of several psychopaths. About nine psychopaths with criminal records were analyzed to later compared their results with normal volunteers. Alleyne said, ¨ researchers, found big abnormalities in the ‘wiring’ of white matter called the UF (uncinate fasciculus) which connects parts of the brain called the amygdala and the OFC (orbitofrontal cortex) in the psychopaths. ¨ These two regions of the brain affect the emotional responses and the ability to make decisions in a person. The study was published in Molecular Psychiatry and was concluded that people with an extreme diagnose of psychopathy have a greater defect in this area of the brain.
Another person that brought out the argument of the emergence of a psychopath is the psychiatrist Mildred Delgado. First, she talks about the genetic aspect of a psychopath. Mildred points out that psychopaths are rare to the point that just 1% of the population has been diagnosed as a psychopath. Just as Alleyne, Delgado is also aware of the genetics aspect that scientists have proved about psychopaths. She includes another interesting statement about how psychopaths are unable to perceive emotions from other people. They understand them in an intellectual to use them to their advantage. This means that they manipulate people to obtain or do something. Some decades ago, an observation was made on how psychopaths interpret emotions. They were told to draw faces that represent several emotional states such as, happiness or sadness. The observation concluded that there was something wrong with how psychopaths perceive other people’s emotions (Delgado). On the other side, Delgado also highlights how the environmental part is also a reason for how psychopaths are made. Although the genetic component is a statement that is necessary to know about psychopaths, the truth is that it is not sufficient to become one. For instance, most psychopaths have suffered a trauma that occurs in their life. The strongest trauma may be that this person suffers from childhood abuse such as sexual abuse or violence (Delgado).
In the final analysis, the Misfit was a psychopathic serial killer. His behavior throughout the story was not normal, and it seems that he had a mental chronic disorder. As it is already stated, there is a connection between serial killers and psychopaths that have been in the tongue of many people. It seems that some psychopaths decide to use their disorder to their advantage to accomplish their desires. I think that this was the case of the Misfit because he had no mercy on the grandmother. This made the reader question the Misfit’s origin, and then the debate between natures versus nurture comes into a place. According to several people, the answer to this debate is that the person may carry both genetic and environmental components to become a psychopath.
