A Good Man is Hard to Find
The crucial scene from Flannery's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" --
"Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead," The Misfit continued, "and He shouldn't have done it. He shown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it's nothing for you to do but thow away everything and follow Him, and if He didn't, then it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness," he said and his voice had become almost a snarl.
"Maybe He didn't raise the dead," the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her.
"I wasn't there so I can't say He didn't," The Misfit said. "I wisht I had
of been there," he said, hitting the ground with his fist. "It ain't right I wasn't
there because if I had of been there I would of known. Listen lady," he said
in a high voice, "if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn't be
like I am now." His voice seemed about to crack and the grandmother's
head cleared for an instant. She saw the man's face twisted close to her own
as if he were going to cry and she murmured, "Why you're one of my babies.
You're one of my own children !" She reached out and touched him on the
shoulder. The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her
three times through the chest. Then he put his gun down on the ground and
took off his glasses and began to clean them.