In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the old lady is selfish and the Misfit is cautious.
The grandma is selfish because she twists her words. When she is beginning to talk with the Misfit, she tries to convince him that he was a good man with the sole purpose of convincing him to help get her out. She doesn’t actually care about him. Also, what the old lady deems as good is what lines up with her own beliefs. She doesn’t realize nor care that perhaps people have different opinions and sometimes she is wrong. Later, when the Misfit is talking about his life, he says “ You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you’re going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it.” He also adds, “I call myself The Misfit because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment.” He talks about how unfair life and people was and gets very philosophical. The old woman comforts the Misfit, not because she sympathizes with him, but because she wants him to spare her life. She also brings up how he “wouldn’t hurt a woman” multiple times throughout the short story, further proving that she doesn’t care. Therefore, the woman is selfish.
The Misfit however, is cautious and got in trouble for something he didn’t do, which led him to his current life. He believes that you can’t trust anyone because of his personal experiences. Though he talks about his past life with the old lady, he still doesn’t trust her. This is proven when The Misfit shoots the grandmother because he touched her. He was jumpy and when he felt that someone was touching him, he reacted out of instinct. Therefore, the Misfit is cautious.
The old lady is selfish and tries to twist her words, but the Misfit doesn’t trust her. In the end, because she tried to fake-console The Misfit, he shoots her and her selfishness was the reason for her end.