Throughout the story, the grandmother has made it clear that she is the type to judge other people quite freely. She feels that she, unlike so many others around her, is a lady, and she laments the changing times that have resulted in people becoming less trustworthy and dignified. It is telling, I think, that she never acknowledges her daughter-in-law by name, and the younger woman is only identified as the children's mother who wears slacks, as though wearing pants rather than a skirt is an egregious enough error in propriety as to stamp out all other aspects of the woman's identity.
When she initially comes into contact with the Misfit, the grandmother repeatedly insists that he is "a good man" and that he does not look like he has "common blood"; she says that she knows he comes "from nice people." It becomes clear that he realizes what her values are, that she is precisely the kind of person who would put him in jail for a crime he didn't commit, scapegoating him for society's ills because he is working-class while she is "a lady." When he tells her that he didn't know why he got sent to prison, she claims that he must have stolen something, looking to justify a system that had wronged him, and he "sneered slightly." Next, she tells him to pray. She seems to continue to blame him rather than society for the injustices he endured. The grandmother continues her attempt to manipulate him by telling him that he's "not common," which only shows her values more clearly.
Ultimately, however, when the grandmother hears the Misfit's voice nearly crack with emotion, her "head clear[s] for an instant." It is then that she reaches up to touch him, and she calls him "one of [her] babies." After he shoots her, she sits on the ground "with her legs crossed under her like a child's and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky." Because the narrator tells us that her head cleared, I interpret this as the first moment of real clarity for her. The grandmother no longer sees the differences between her and this criminal, a man she would judge so critically in any other situation, but she recognizes their shared humanity. The fact that she is described as looking like a child after death tells me that she died in a state of innocence. In the end, she's had an epiphany—she stops trying to manipulate the Misfit as she has been trying to do all along—and she simply treats him like a young man who could be one of her children. It is this real experience of emotional intimacy, I think, that compels the Misfit to react as though a "snake had bitten him" and shoot her immediately. It's the first time he's uncomfortable with her because he has likely never experienced that kind of kindness from someone of her ilk.
In short, she says this line because she is seeing clearly...
See This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this answer and thousands more. Enjoy eNotes ad-free and cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
for the first time in her life, and this is why he says that she'd have been a good woman all along (and not just at the end) if she'd been facing death for her whole life.
In answering this question it's important to remind ourselves just what kind of a pickle the grandmother is in. She's entirely at the mercy of an escaped convict, the Misfit, a crazed killer who's liable to lash out at the least provocation. That being the case, it's only natural that the grandmother should try to humor him in some way, anything that might make him less likely to kill her.
She does this by treating him like a normal human being, someone with whom she can discuss religious matters. The grandmother knows full well that the Misfit is anything but a normal human being, of course, but under the circumstances, treating him like one is most probably her best bet for staying alive.
After other appeals have failed, the grandmother calls the Misfit one of her children, even though she only has one child. In saying this, she's not only establishing a personal connection between herself and the escaped killer, but experiencing a moment of grace, seeing the Misfit as fully human and not unlike her own child in this way. Unfortunately for the grandmother, this final tactic falls flat, and the Misfit shoots her dead.
Further Reading
The grandmother, in a misguided attempt to appeal to the Misfit's non-existent sympathy, calls him "one of her own children." She does not mean that she suddenly recognizes the Misfit as her long-lost child in a literal sense; rather, she means that he is so familiar to her at this particular moment that he could be her own child.
The grandmother makes this kind of comment in response to a display of vulnerability by the Misfit. While talking about Jesus, the Misfit has just displayed some emotional depth, as evidenced by the expression on his face being "as if he were going to cry." Possibly, the grandmother may be trying to deepen the emotional connection between herself and the Misfit so that he will feel something positive towards her and let her live, but no matter her motives, her attempts to create a bond fail. The Misfit shoots her when she tries to touch his shoulder and offer him comfort, and he and Bobby Lee mock her talkative manner over her dead body.
Yes, you are right to comment on this, because, as far as we know, the grandmother only has one son, Bailey. However, at the end of the story, as she converses with the Misfit whilst her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren are being killed, she suddenly has a kind of epiphany which involves her identification of the Misfit as being her child:
Why, you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!
This is a statement that must not be taken literally. Rather, if we look at this quote in context, we can see that the grandmother is tremendously moved by the Misfit's expressed desire to ascertain the truth of Jesus and his actions. Her epiphany is therefore based on her understanding of a sense of human connection between them both and her awareness of the similarities between them. She realises that she is a "Misfit" just like the Misfit, but just before her death she is given this moment of insight in which she is allowed to see herself for who she really is.
In "A Good Man is Hard to Find" why does the grandmother at the end of the story say what she does to the Misfit?She says, "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children."?
The grandmother's actions at the end of the story are quite interesting; she spends most of the story, and we can easily imagine, her life, being a nasty, manipulative, condescending woman stuck in old-fashioned ways and expectations. However, at the end, she turns loving and kind. Perhaps, faced with her own mortality, she is finally able to realize that all people essentially, are connected, and she reaches out to share that near-death revelation. Flannery O'Connor often told stories that had a theme of religious redemption, even though the stories themselves were pretty aggressive and often brutal in their violence. Most critics agree that at the end, as the grandmother faces the end of her life, and realizes that she is going to die, that she has a sort of "vision," or clarity. Before the declaration that she stated, she refers to Jesus, and how Jesus loves everyone; perhaps this is an attempt to ease his anger, to manipulate him into not killing her, a desparate attempt to save her life. Or, maybe she herself is realizing that she had been a pretty prejudiced and mean person her whole life. But, as the Misfit argues with her about Jesus, getting more angry, he gets in her face. It is at this point that she seems grasped by a force that is very much unlike her own, which causes her to reach out in love and declare "You're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!" She is probably realizing that he was, like she herself was, a child of God. She could have been referring to herself being the mother, in a figurative sense, of the Misfit, and feeling maternal love for the man, or, she could be speaking for God and religion in general, proclaiming that he was God's child. Either way, she realizes, too late probably, that she is connected with this man, and as she dies, is filled with love for him, instead of the bitter, cynical thoughts that characterized her life to that point.
I hope that those thoughts helped; good luck!
In "A Good Man is Hard to Find," what does the grandmother mean when she says that the Misfit is "one of my own babies"?
The answer to this question relates to the pervasive theme of grace in this story and the way that grace is shown to offer both the grandmother and the Misfit a second chance. Let us remember the kind of person that the grandmother is. She is a profoundly selfish individual who completely lacks any self-awareness about her own mistakes and faults. She deliberately manipulates her son's family so she can get her own way and is not above lying and deceiving either, as is shown when she smuggles in her cat against her son's explicit instructions. However, as she talks to the Misfit, and in particular as they discuss the character of Jesus and his actions, she experiences something of an epiphany as she reaches out to the Misfit. This of course prompts her to say: "Why you're one of my own babies. You're one of my own children!" This is rather a confusing statement, as quite clearly the Misfit is not her child. But let us remember that these words are actually a realisation that both she and the Misfit are human beings who are subject to mistakes and sins. This similarity that she sees between herself and the Misfit could actually said to be the one moment in the story when she sees herself for who she is.
Of course, this change in the grandmother and the moment of insight she is given before dying is paralleled by the Misfit's own change. Before, he declared that there was "no pleasure but meanness" in life, but at the end of the story, he stops Bobby Lee from rejoicing in the "fun" they have had by saying "It's no real pleasure in life." Grace is shown to be able to descend on the unworthiest of recipients.
In "A Good Man Is Hard To Find," why does the grandmother murmur "you are one of my own children" to the Misfit?
I tended to see the grandmother as an overall selfish character. I understand the other perspective and can easily see how both would be entertained. Considering O'Connor's religious themes and background, it would seem logical that the grandmother in this moment receives grace in some sort of epiphany and that she finally becomes a good woman when facing her own death. On the other hand, she may just be trying to save her own life. So, there's no real epiphany or grace here. What the Misfit says of her fits both interpretations. "She would have been a good woman if someone had been there to shoot her every minute of her life." This implies that 1) for a brief, and all important last minute, she was good and 2) she was never good until that last minute. Which begs the question, does waiting until the last minute count? Is late better than never?
In "A Good Man Is Hard To Find," why does the grandmother murmur "you are one of my own children" to the Misfit?
In the context of O'Connor's story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," grace is something often undeserved, a force outside a character that generates an epiphany. The grandmother has such an epiphany and receives grace as suddenly looks at the Misfit with a new perspective, seeing him as like unto herself. At this point, the grandmother becomes a good Christian as she reaches out to the Misfit. After he shoots her, the Misfit does recognize her transformation, for he says,
'She would have been a good woman...if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.'
Significantly, after being shot the religious number of three times, she falls over her legs which are crossed under her, symbolically like the crucified Christ, who died to save others. For, after turning down the road to error, the grandmother redeems herself from the petty, materialistic life which she has been living.