In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,”O’Connor?

the Misfit’s face looks “familiar” to the grandmother, “as if she had known him all her life but she could not recall who he was.Why would O’Connor suggest that the Misfit looks “familiar” to her? Is it simply because she read about him in the paper?

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,”O’Connor?
It's familiar on a symbolic level. "Evil" or "death" - as the poster above says - are good options. It could also be "salvation" - the grandmother says at the end that the Misfit looks like one of her own children. This "recognition" is her moment of selfless grace.





O'Connor was a devout Catholic who believed that good and evil, grace and sin, God and Satan were active presences in human life -- even to the point of the supernatural. When you read her work, you should always try to find that second level of meaning - the spiritual level behind the literal.
Reply:You're right it just take some looking to do
Reply:I have always interpreted that to mean that she was looking into the face of evil - Satan. Or death - that she knew one day she would meet up with death. It has nothing to do with his picture in the papers. Hope that helps. Gawd I truly hate that story! Pax-C