Characters Analysis

Grandmother

The story begins with "The Grandma didn't want to go to Florida", which implies that she is the center character of the story. The author does not mention her name in the story and she is just referred "Grandma". She loves traveling and be with the family. Although she wants to go to Tennessee, not Florida, instead of staying home by herself, she is still the first one been ready for the trip to Florida. She really cares about how others think of her and she wants to be viewed as a lady. Grandma considers herself as morally superior to others. She keeps complaining about the modern society and people nowadays. When Red Sammy Butt tells about his encounter with two untrustworthy men, he and Grandma criticize about how hard it is to find a good man in the modern society. On the way to Florida, Grandma talks alot about the memories in the past. She misses the good old times and laments about the deficient goodness nowadays. Everything happens because of Grandma. She mistakenly considers the old plantation in Tennessee she visited, is in Georgia. She leads everyone to the wrong direction and to death. When she recognizes the Misfit and yells out loud, it is determined that the family will be killed. If she could keep her mouth shut, then the tragedy may not happen. Misfit does not want to kill her, a lady, at first, but after she tries to gain trust from Misfit by calling him a good man. She tries  to touch him and calls him her own child,which scares Misfit and causes her death. Just like what the Misfit says, she would have be a good lady if there is someone shooting her every minute. She can be a nice and amiable old lady when someone is putting a gun on her head. She will only be a good lady when she tries to survive. Her illusion of how morally superior than others is not the reality. She may be a good lady under her standard of moral but she is not a good lady under that of Misfit. Grandma moral standard can be easily changed by what is happening around her.  

Misfit

He is one of the series killers and is the only "good man" in the story. He acts politely to grandma and talks with her patiently. He is not been described as a typical or stereotype killer, who is cold blood and cruel. It is hard to tell from his interaction with Grandma that he is a killer. He seems so kind, friendly and knows where he is or who he is in the society. Unlike grandma, he does not consider himself morally superior than others. When grandma calls him a good man, he says he is not the great man but also not the worst man. He is conscious about his position in the society. Unlike Grandma, Misfit's moral standard is not easily affected. He thinks the world is meaningless without pleasantness.