The difference between a bad life and an evil life can be a fine line. People may even think that there is no difference and that bad is just a degree of evil. Abner in William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” and the Misfit in Flannery O'Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” lead bad or evil lives. They have many similarities in their lives but have at least one thing that sets them apart. Abner and the Misfit lead similar lives by being career criminals and by being in control, but their lives differ by taking, or not taking, a life.
The first similarity between Abner and the Misfit is how they are both career criminals. Abner always plans ahead for his crime and commits it only when he and his family are ready to leave. Abner’s son says that it is “likely his father ha[s] already arranged to make a crop on another farm” (Faulkner 482). This shows that Abner has done …show more content…
Even though Abner has been a criminal for most of his life, he never took a person’s life during his crimes. During the war, he was a horse thief and “hid[e] from all men, blue or gray” (Faulkner 482). When he commits his crimes of arson, he sets fire to unoccupied barns. This shows how Abner is only a bad man, not an evil one, by getting back at people who wrong him by taking material things from them, not their lives. Though Abner and the Misfit are both criminals that do not care about the consequences of their actions, the Misfit goes farther by not thinking twice about taking a life. The Misfit and his crew kill in a casual way as if it were “an idle pastime, hardly worth planning” (Hamblen). For the Misfit, killing is just a part of his job and not necessarily something he enjoys telling his man “it’s no real pleasure in life” (O’Connor 437). This “emptiness in the soul of the Misfit” (Bandy) is why it is ok for him to kill people without thinking, and this makes him an evil, “homicidal monster”
The first similarity between Abner and the Misfit is how they are both career criminals. Abner always plans ahead for his crime and commits it only when he and his family are ready to leave. Abner’s son says that it is “likely his father ha[s] already arranged to make a crop on another farm” (Faulkner 482). This shows that Abner has done …show more content…
Even though Abner has been a criminal for most of his life, he never took a person’s life during his crimes. During the war, he was a horse thief and “hid[e] from all men, blue or gray” (Faulkner 482). When he commits his crimes of arson, he sets fire to unoccupied barns. This shows how Abner is only a bad man, not an evil one, by getting back at people who wrong him by taking material things from them, not their lives. Though Abner and the Misfit are both criminals that do not care about the consequences of their actions, the Misfit goes farther by not thinking twice about taking a life. The Misfit and his crew kill in a casual way as if it were “an idle pastime, hardly worth planning” (Hamblen). For the Misfit, killing is just a part of his job and not necessarily something he enjoys telling his man “it’s no real pleasure in life” (O’Connor 437). This “emptiness in the soul of the Misfit” (Bandy) is why it is ok for him to kill people without thinking, and this makes him an evil, “homicidal monster”