There are reasons for the eventual capture of nearly every criminal mastermind. Ted Kaczynski was captured after his writing style was matched by his brother. Jeffrey Dahmer’s crimes were discovered when one of his victims escaped and ran to police officers. Although Flannery O’Connor’s character Manley Pointer from her short story “Good Country People” is not as violent, he crafts the perfect petty crime and outsmarts all of his victims. He has mastered his criminal artistry by creating pity through his looks and actions, manipulating his victims by their own convictions, and waiting for the perfect moment to reveal his victory. Using his lackluster physical appearance and lowly country experience, Manley Pointer elicits pity in his victims in order to get closer to…show more content… Seeing his intense interest in her, Hulga agrees to go, but not because she is interested in him. She agrees to go on the picnic because she pities his inexperience as what she thinks is a ‘good country boy’. Manley uses his pitiful looks and the status of country people to not seem like a threat and get closer to his victims. Playing into the narcissism of his victims, Manley compels them to prove their own virtues. Mrs. Hopewell thinks herself a high society, God-fearing Christian white woman. Her urge to seem benevolent to the people she considers lesser is palpable. Manley uses this when Mrs. Hopewell tries to politely shoo him off and tells her, “I’m just a country boy. People like you don’t like to fool with country people like me,” (465). Of course, now that Mrs. Hopewell’s generosity has been challenged, she must think of her next move critically. If she refuses him, she will be known around the neighborhood as cold and stingy. He has backed her into a moral corner from which she must contradict him and compliment country people. Another sore point for
