The mysterious character The Misfit does not say his real name. He changed it to The Misfit because of his loneliness. He feels separated from the public because it is unfair to him. His name shows which place the criminal occupies in society.
Detailed answer:
Flannery O’Connor often introduced her characters in a grotesque manner. One of the antagonists of the short story A Good Man is Hard to Find chooses the name The Misfit. In a conversation with another character, the grandmother, the killer explains the choice. He says, “I call myself The Misfit, because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment.”
This character is full of contradictions. He is a criminal in flight but is embarrassed to be shirtless. He and his associates kill Bailey’s family. At the same time, The Misfit discusses philosophy, claiming that he does not believe in Jesus. He also says that he did not commit a crime for which he went to jail. Yet, the reader feels it was he who killed his father. Feeling the injustice of society, he chooses such a name for himself.
The detachment of the character also shows up in his attitude to his imprisonment. On the one hand, he is sure that he did not kill his father and denies the evidence. On the other hand, he does not claim to be innocent because he does not remember what he did. These contradictions led him to be rejected by unjust people and to take the name The Misfit.
