The main character, the grandmother, is selfish. She only cares about herself and what happens to her. She doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her so she does whatever she can to get her way. She dwells on the past and thinks she knows about everything.
One reason the grandmother is selfish is because she doesn’t care about what others think, including her family. Her entire family wants to go to Florida, while she wants to go to Tennessee. She keeps protesting, even though everyone is against her idea. Even though she gives in, she still selfishly brings along her cat as an act of rebellion.
Another reason the grandmother is selfish is because she tricks the family into trying to find the plantation. She is the only one who wants to see the plantation, but nobody else wants to. So she tells the children that there is a mystery inside the house on the plantation. The children whine and throw a fit until their parents drive them to see the house. But the grandmother remembered incorrectly, and the plantation she was thinking of was in Tennessee, not in Florida.
The last reason the grandmother is selfish is when they meet The Misfit, a murderer/bandit, after a car accident. The car accident was the grandmother’s fault, because when she remembered that the plantation was actually in Tennessee, she kicked the cat that she brought along as a petty act of rebellion. The cat jumped onto Bailey, the grandmother’s son who was driving, and he swerved the car off the road. Then The Misfit and his friends show up. First, they kill Bailey, then his wife and children. At first, the grandmother is saying that The Misfit wouldn’t kill a lady, but when that doesn’t work, she switches over to saying that he’s a good man. Finally, as a desperate last attempt, she says that if he lets her go, he can redeem himself for his past crimes. The whole time, she is only trying to get herself out of this situation, and none of her family.