"A Good Man Is Hard To Find"

I found the story very interesting. Certainly not what I expected to read as I am sure most people think when they finish reading it. In my opinion it is only between the grandmother and The Misfit on the question of religious "pretenders". They are the main characters that are singled out in their conversation. I believe the grandmother believed in her God. I think she really even believed that her God may get her out of that predicament. At the same time, and maybe it is my own beliefs on God that play a part, I feel as though the grandmother said a lot of what she did to get pity from him. Try to make him see that she is a good religous person and doesn't deserve to die a death that he had planned for her. A way to try to make him change his mind on killing her. When she said, "Why your one of my babies," (364) that was the last straw for him and he shot her.

I also believe that The Misfit was true in his own stance on God (Jesus). He had true faith in his belief that "Jesus thrown everything off balance." (363) The Misfit was true to himself and his faith that no matter what you do bad things happen. Because of this I feel he was not a "pretender" as he was very open about his belief (non-belief) in Jesus and needing his help.

As for violence playing a role in the equation, without the violence the grandmother would not have brought up her beliefs and try to make The Misfit "see the light" and pray. You hear stories all the time of people, when faced with an unimaginable event in their lives, start to pray. They suddenly realize or believe that there is a God out there that will help them.

This was a very difficult question to answer. Not sure if I am even close but this is what I interpreted from the story.