How do the characters Misfit in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and Manley Pointer in "Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor compare and contrast?

The Misfit (in Flannery O’Connor’s story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”) and Manley Pointer (in Flannery O’Connor’s story “Good Country People”) both resemble and differ from each other in various ways, including the following:

SIMILARITIES

• Both characters pose religious dilemmas to the main female figures of the stories (the grandmother in “A Good Man” and Hulga in “Good Country People”).
• Both characters shock the two main female figures, leaving them dazed and confused.
• Neither figure fits the stereotype we assume he will fit: the Misfit is an escaped prisoner and killer who turns out to be very polite and highly thoughtful; Manley Pointer seems to be a naïve Bible salesman but turns out to be a cynical nihilist.
• Both men use pseudonyms; we never discover the “real” name of either.
• Both men enter their respective stories with the intent of taking advantage of the other characters.

DIFFERENCES

• The Misfit seems genuinely interested in religious questions; Manley Pointer seems to lack any such genuine interest and is thus the shallower of the two figures.
• Although the grandmother tries to control and manipulate the Misfit, her main reaction to him is one of intense fear. Hulga tries to control and manipulate Manley Pointer, but it is not until the very end of the story that he raises fear in her, and that fear is never as intense as the grandmother’s.
• The Misfit ultimately kills the grandmother and the rest of her family; Manley Pointer merely humiliates Hulga.
• Manley Pointer’s interest in Hulga seems to be simply and crudely sexual; the Misfit poses a much more serious, existential threat to the grandmother.
• The Misfit is far more intelligent and articulate than Manley Pointer.
• The Misfit is an appropriate character for a true tragedy; Manley Pointer is an appropriate character for a very dark comedy.
• Manley’s Pointer’s final attitude toward Hulga is one of smug superiority. The Misfit, however, reacts with far more ambivalence toward the grandmother. He is capable of perceiving the true potential she possessed. As he memorably puts it near the very end of the story,

“She would of been a good woman if it been somebody there to shoot her every day of her life.”

• Manley Pointer departs from his story with a sense of having triumphed over Hulga. The Misfit, ironically, feels somewhat defeated by the grandmother at the end of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.”

How are Manley Pointer and the Misfit alike in Flannery O'Connor's works?

Manley Pointer and the Misfit are both morally dubious characters who nevertheless bring about a spiritual re-evaluation in the protagonist of their respective stories.

In "Good Country People," Manley Pointer is a con artist masquerading as a Bible salesman. Unaware of his true identity, the protagonist Hulga initially looks down on him, as she does all the other country people, and seeks to seduce him as a way of validating her nihilism. However, Manley gets the last laugh, tricking Hulga into giving him her prosthetic leg and revealing that he is a true nihilist while her nihilism isn't genuine at all. Her own nihilism is revealed to be the illusion she accused traditional Christianity of being, a way of lashing out at the unfairness of existence. He leaves her stranded in a hay loft, without her leg and without her previous illusions of superiority. The reader is left to decide if Hulga will become a better person as a result of her encounter with Manley.

The Misfit is a bit more complicated as a character, though his effect on the Grandmother is not ambiguous. In "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the Misfit reveals he is a tormented man, racked with spiritual doubt, resigned to the idea that the only pleasure in life comes from "meanness." His despair and agitation move the heart of the Grandmother, a character who has been shallow up to this point. Seeing him in pain, the Grandmother proclaims, "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children!" The Misfit has prompted a moment of grace for a spiritually dead woman, which is why he tells his cohorts, "She would of been a good woman... if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."