Who said it?
"If you don't want to go to Florida, why dontcha stay at home?"
Who is John Wesley?
The grandmother argues against going to Florida in the very first paragraph by pointing out this specific news article.
What is the escape of The Misfit?
The family stops for bbq sandwiches at "The Tower," an establishment owned by this "fat boy with the happy laugh."
Who is Red Sammy?
The Misfit explains he calls himself Misfit because his crimes do not seem to mathematically align with this.
What is punishment?
The grandmother tries to save her own life by repeatedly offering this material bribe to The Misfit.
What is all the money she has?
"I wouldn't live in a broken-down place like this for a million bucks!"
Who is June Star?
While driving through Georgia, the grandmother points out this eerie sight.
What is a family burial ground with 5 or 6 graves?
The terrible accident is triggered when the grandmother suddenly realizes the plantation house she remembers is actually located in this state.
What is Tennessee?
According to The Misfit, if Jesus didn't raise the dead, there is no pleasure in life except for this.
What is "meanness"?
The Misfit reacts violently and shoots the grandmother three times in the chest immediately after she performs this physical action.
What is reaching out and touching him on the shoulder?
"People are certainly not nice like they used to be."
Who is the grandmother?
This is the ominous description used to describe the car driven by The Misfit and his accomplices when it first approaches the family.
What is a "big black battered hearse-like automobile"?
The detour toward the plantation happens because the grandmother uses this false detail to tempt the children.
What is the secret panel / hidden silver?
The Misfit claims that this historical figure "thown everything off balance."
Who is Jesus?
When the grandmother abandons her obsession with being a "lady" and tells her killer, "Why you’re one of my babies," she is demonstrating that grace has just stripped away these two lifelong, superficial defenses.
What are social status (class) and moral superiority (or illusions of righteousness)?
"It’s no real pleasure in life."
Who is the Misfit?
Before the family even leaves the house, the grandmother dresses up for this highly specific, morbid reason.
What is so that in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know she was a lady?
The grandmother’s desire to visit the plantation shows how the past pulls people away from this.
What is the main road / safety / the present?
The Misfit says he does not pray because he does not want this.
What is help?
When the grandmother tenderly touches him, The Misfit springs back and shoots her. This violent/repulsed reaction tells us that he is experience her grace as this.
What is pain (or a deeply painful destruction of the ego/will)?
"I'll be back in a minute, Mamma, wait on me!"
Who is Bailey?
When the family stops at Red Sammy's, his wife warns them, "It isn't a soul in this green world of God's that you can trust". This warning foreshadows this major plot event.
What is the family being murdered by The Misfit?
It is for this reason that the Grandmother sneaks Pitty Sing, the cat, on the road trip.
What is she fears it might accidentally asphyxiate itself on a gas burner?
The Misfit’s final line suggests the grandmother’s grace has taken away this.
What is his pleasure in meanness?
The Grandmother is found dead, legs crossed like a child's and face is smiling up at the sky. Such an image suggests this about the relationship between suffering and redemption.
What is that spiritual peace/clarity is inextricably linked to (and achieved through) physical pain and worldly destruction?