O'Connor
was a Roman Catholic whose writing was deeply influenced by her Christian theology. In
"," the difficult, annoying, manipulative grandmother, as unlikely a character as any
to have the experience, undergoes a transformation that leads her to a state of grace at the end
of the story.
The grandmother is aware that the Misfit and his gang have
just killed her son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. She is desperately using the
currency important in her worldmoney and statusto try to persuade the Misfit not to kill her.
She appeals to him as "good man," saying that a man like him wouldn't hurt a lady like
her. None of these appeals reaches him in the least. However, when the Misfit puts on her dead
son's shirt, the grandmother has a moment of extraordinary grace in which he seems to her no
different from her son, and she reaches towards him with genuine compassion and love. In
that...
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