In Memory of Grandma Essay

 Coupled with her excessive pride in appearance, the grandmother also displays certain internal contradictions. She often references the Bible, Jesus, and prayer as she tries to paint herself in the image of a Christian lady. Yet, she displays some impious behavior while in the car. She tells her grandchildren, Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!...Little niggers in the country dont have things like we do (4). Through her use of racial slurs, the grandmother reveals herself to be anything besides a good Christian woman. This reinforces the readers understanding of her Christian faade. In her mind, she sees a good person, but her actions reveal otherwise. In reality, she is only good at fabricating lies. Desiring a visit to an old plantation house she remembers from her youth, she does not hesitate to lie to get her way. She states that there was a secret panel in the house in which the unfound family silver was hidden (9). Knowing the allure of hidden treasure was sure to persuade, the grandmother once again uses subterfuge to steal control. She epitomizes those who have not found Christ, traveling through life giving the appearance of virtue whilst full of contradictions. To fix this, she is jolted from selfishness. This jolt comes in the form of The Misfit. 

Violence is a powerful catalyst that can be used to jolt someones beliefs, and it is eventually used to elevate the grandmother to a state of grace. The encounter with The Misfit shakes the grandmothers world of selfabsorption and manipulation, and he gives her the opportunity to find salvation. The Misfit, similar to the grandmother, has no name. Nameless, The Misfit is not one man but rather the personification of evil in the world. The title of Misfit portrays evils disconnection from Gods plan for creationhe does not fit. The Misfits black battered hearselike automobile (13) represents death. So just as evil brings death to the world, The Misfit brings death to the grandmother. Like many, the grandmother does not leave her domain of hypocritical, selfabsorption until she faces mortality. 

 Confronting her own mortality, the grandmothers crisis of the soul begins as she attempts to use her bag of tricks to escape death. After watching the final member of her family marched into the woods, there was a piercing screamfollowed closely by a pistol report (20), only she and The Misfit remain. At her moment of crisis, facing death, the grandmother resorts to the tools of her trade her Christian faade and her beliefs in good blood. She pleads, Youve got good blood! I know you wouldnt shoot a lady! I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus (20). Her attempts to deal with evil fail miserably. At this pivotal moment in any Christians life, facing death, she realizes that she is no Christian and thus unprepared to meet her maker. In spite of her desperation, the grandmother is denied salvation because she has yet to reject her habits of selfishness and