When describing the preacher, John says, "His name is Harry Powell. But the names of his fingers are E and V and O and L and E and T and A and H and that story he tells about one hand being Hate and the other hand being Love is a lie because they are both hate and to watch them moving scares me worse than shadows, worse than the wind."
This description shows the absolute essence of the preacher's character in Davis Grubb's The Night of the Hunter. The preacher's real intentions are the hate of the left hand, and he rationalizes his evil through the false facade of the love of the right hand. Even though he may appear good and holy to some people, throughout the novel, he still has evil motives towards virtually everyone.
In one of the preacher's dreams while he is in prison, he recalls an incident in which he rationalized an evil act by claiming it was God's will. …
