Flannery O’Connor bestowed upon each of her characters a primary fault and a specific mission, so the question is not who exhibited the best character, but whose fault causes the least damage in the story while in their pursuit of success.

            Rufus Johnson possessed an IQ of one hundred forty; he had everything figured out and knew all the right answers, but he purposefully refused to do the right thing.  He vengefully fought back at the world to prove his indifference.  He destroyed houses.  Sheppard believed he could be the ultimate savior. He was the only one who could bond and connect with Johnson, who could make a difference in his life.  His ego and pride allowed him to focus so strongly on trying to prove himself God, that in the end, he destroyed what was most precious:  his son.

            Norton was greedy.  He ate too much, horded all his money, spent all his time counting it, and did not like to share.  Reared as an only child, his hunger for more was never checked.  In fact, his father never noticed the tendency to horde his possessions until Norton’s mother died.  This being the case, Norton could be compensating for losing his mother by surrounding him with everything else he cherished.  His father, who acted as counselor to one boy, forgot to listen to his own son.  Despite Norton’s displaced selfishness, Norton never hurt anybody else in his ten years on earth because of it.

            Since Sheppard’s involvement with Johnson, Norton had been looked upon by his father as inferior, weak, and unsatisfactory.  When Johnson was brilliant, Norton was less than average.  When Norton told the truth, he became a tattle-tell.  Nobody could see the potential for Norton. 

            Inspired by Johnson’s tales of heaven and Sheppard’s love for the sky, Norton developed an intense fascination with the stars and the heavens.  He wanted to fly, to see his mother.  Spending all his time at the telescope, Norton forgot to count his money or to horde his belongings or to complain.  Norton was beginning to fulfill all of his father’s hopes for Johnson.  Still, his father went unseeing.

            Dictionary.com defines lame as weak and unsatisfactory, exactly how Sheppard described his son.  It was already after Johnson’s prediction that “the lame shall enter first” was fulfilled, that Sheppard realized how wrong he had been.  Never had fallen pride cost so much.  All Norton searched for was the love his mother had once bestowed upon him, and that makes him the best.