Foreshadowing In A Good Man Is Hard To Find Essay

The grandmother also secretly brought the family cat, “She had her big black valise and underneath it she was hiding a basket with Pitty Sing, the cat, in it” (O’ Connor 1106), even though “Her son, Bailey, didn’t like to arrive at a motel with a cat” (O’ Connor 1107). When The Misfit arrives, “The grandmother had the peculiar feeling that the bespectacled man was someone she knew” (O’ Connor 1112), but when she later realizes who the man is, she claims, “‘I recognized you at once!’” (O’ Connor 1113). She tells The Misfit, “‘we turned over twice!’” (O’ Connor 1112), even though they both knew that it was only once. Lastly, the grandmother lies again to herself and to The Misfit when she says, “‘you shouldn’t call yourself The Misfit because I know you’re a good man at heart’” (O’ Connor 1113). The only reason she says this is in an attempt to save her life.

There were about six graves fenced, which was a factor indicating foreshadowing. And when John Wesley asked about where the plantation was, the grandmother replied, "Gone With the Wind," which was foretelling their demise. Red Sammy also narrated about "Two fellers come in here last week" in an "old beat up car." These people were the Misfit's goons, and they were offered free gasoline from Red Sammy's store, probably because of his fear that he was dealing with notorious killers. Red Sammy's wife also gave a warning by saying, "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he didn't attact this place right here." This was a self-explanatory caution signal give by the store owners which was ignored. The family was in a town named as "Toombsboro," which name itself was a sign of foreshadowing.

The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor, is bombarded with symbolism. In short stories symbolism is the literary element that helps the reader depict the picture and actions in their own minds. Whether it be from characters’ names or the designs on the characters’ shirts, every detail in this story has a purpose.

In this tale a family takes a vacation to Florida where a murderer who calls himself the Misfit, who was well designed by O’Connor to represent the grotesque qualities of humanity, has just escaped from prison. During a brief lunch break in which the grandmother and store owner, Red Sammy, lament the ills of society and reminisce about how much better life used to be and how no one is good anymore; while ironically, they themselves are not the best people. Later, after a misinformed wrong turn, the grandmother’s smuggled cat gets loose and causes a damaging wreck, this angers her son Bailey but he doesn’t confront her immediately, he needs to attend to his wife who has suffered a broken shoulder. After a few minutes the Misfit and his henchmen find them and get out of their vehicle, they look like they might be about to offer help but the grandmother recognizes the Misfit and makes it obvious.

Stupidity should be painful. When paired with a lack of common sense strife usually occurs. In severe cases natural selection transpires. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” natural selection literally expunges a single blood line due to the selfish actions of the grandmother. In her story, O’ Connor utilizes foreshadowing in order to effectively orchestrate the family’s untimely death.

In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” she states, “She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life” (O’Connor 28). This moment takes place at the end of the story when the grandmother ceases to exist. Her death at the end of the story after she realises the title of killer belongs to her child is her moment of grace. Although a selfish and cruel person, she still acquired her moment of grace. Flannery O’Connor uses themes such as violence and cruelty combined with various literary devices and her more bare bones style of writing in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,”

In my opinion the parts that helped boost the dramatic interest in the story, A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor, were the foreshadowing parts of the story. For example, when the family stopped at Sammy's Famous Barbeque, the grandmother started talking to the owner of the restaurant about two fellas who had done him wrong, and from there they started talking about the Misfit, "Did you read about that criminal, The Misfit, that's escaped?" (311), the grandma asked the owner. By talking about the Misfit throughout the story, I feel like it was adding to interest of the readers to know when he was going to appear. A symbol that I noticed in the story was the grandmother's hat, which to me represented her traditions as southern woman. I liked the way O'Connor used imagery to contrast the way the mother of the children looked like and how the grandma looked like by saying, "The children's mother still had on slacks and still had her hair tied up in a green kerchief, but the grandmother had on navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy-blue dress with a small with a small white dot on the print." (309).  The climax started when the grandmother realized that the house she was looking for was in Tennessee, I feel like from that moment there was no coming back.

In the beginning, the grandmother is reading the newspaper where she then learns about the Misfit who escaped prison. The grandmother says, “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscious if it did” (O’Connor 485). This quote foreshadows as the accident happened with her guidance on the road it is what led them to steer off the main road. They were on and into the arms of who they call the Misfit and his

Southern Gothic Tale of Manipulation An enjoyable family vacation turns into an entire family left for dead in a senseless murder. Through foreshadow and symbolism, in the short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor portrays the theme of manipulation. Flannery O’Connor understands that an unexpected death occurs at the end of the story--leading to definite evidence that foreshadowing hints to the theme of manipulation.

She screams and The Misfit says that it’s not good that she had recognized him. The Misfit orders his two men, Hiram and Bobby Lee, to take the family two by two into the woods. The grandmother talked to The Misfit about religion and his childhood. He says the first time he went to jail was for a crime he doesn’t remember committing, his psychiatrist told him he had killed his father. The grandmother tells asks him about his childhood, he says he was a gospel singer and he’s fine on his own without praying for Jesus. As Bobby Lee and Hiram come back from the woods, The Misfit asks them to take the baby and June Star to the woods as well. Then he compares himself to Jesus but, Jesus didn’t commit a crime. He says he gave himself this name because his punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime people said he committed. The grandmother hears a gunshot coming from the woods, then she begs The Misfit not to shoot her and chants “Jesus, Jesus”. He blames Jesus for confusing him about everything. He then adds that if what Jesus did raise the dead and was true, then everyone would follow him. The grandmother agrees that maybe it wasn’t true. She calls him a child of her own, then The Misfit shoots her three times in the

In the beginning of the book it talks about how the grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida That being because she wanted to visit some people she knows in East Tennessee. She lives with her only son named Bailey, and they are supposed to go Florida for a family vacation with her daughter in-law and her two grandchildren. She tries to get her family to go to Tennessee is by telling them that man under the name as “The Misfit,” got out of federal prison in Florida and is on the loose. None of the family would have it so the next morning they were on their way to Florida. She sat in the middle of the back seat with both her grandchildren, John Wesley and, June star, along with her cat she did not want to be left behind named, “Pitty Sing.”

In the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the author, Flannery O’Conner, includes many instances of foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is used to subtly alert the reader of future events in the story. If a reader pays close enough attention to these subtle cues, one could predict the end of the story. The foreshadowing in this short story alludes to all of the major final events of the story. The first case of foreshadowing occurs in the first paragraph.

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor the author introduces the character “Misfit”, who is an escaped murderer, and also introduces a family that is going to go on a vacation to Florida. This family will ultimately meet their untimely death at the hands of Misfit. Bailey and his family went on a vacation to Florida, even though the grandmother tried to convince them not to, she said, “Now look here Bailey,” “see here, read this, “Here this fellow called Misfit is a loose from the federal pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn’t take my children in a direction with a criminal like that a loose in it.

Eventually, they have set out on a journey to Florida and the grandmother even brought her cat with her. After having lunch in a barbeque restaurant, the grandmother remembered an old plantation in a nearby area. However, Bailey does not want to stop the car for a detour. Hence, the grandmother made up lies; she said that in that house, there are hidden treasures and gems. This made her grandchildren scream and it irritated Bailey, so he turns the car towards the plantation. On the way there, the grandmother does not see the old plantation, this made her anxious, suddenly, the cat she brought with her, jumps out of the car and caused the car to run over the ditch. This made an accident and with that, she saw a group of people approaching her. Out of shock, she recognized the face of a serial criminal that is on a loose. With great tremor, she saw Misfit, and this caused her to tell him that she knows and recognized

The irony of the story is that it is under the directions of the Grandmother that leads the family into a run in with The Misfit, which is what she told her son she would never do. Throughout the trip we are given examples of the racism that was present during this period. The Grandmother makes multiple racist innuendos such as her observation of the “cute little pickaninny,” and her statement that “little niggers in the country don’t have things like we do” (O’Conner 2). During the ride, The Grandmother convinces Bailey to take a detour down an old, dirt road which supposedly leads to an old southern plantation home she once visited. The road leads them deep into the woods where an accident is caused by The Grandmothers cat, which leaves the car upturned and the family stranded. It is then the family encounters The Misfit, whom discovers them stranded as he was passing by. He approaches the family with two young men and shortly after The Grandmother lets out a scream as she realizes him. During their encounter, the readers are given a small glimpse into the deranged mind of The Misfit. It is apparent that he has an upturned moral compass. He gains pleasure from committing crimes and the meanness that goes along with it. During his conversation with the Grandmother, he slowly has his men take members of the family out