Excellent Use of Foreshadowing

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” we witness a family get murdered by an escaped convict and his men. The convict, referred to as The Misfit, is a troubled man who may just be misunderstood. When he and the men kill he family it comes as a shock because it was not something that was expected. Burt was it supposed to be a shock? After reading the short story again as well as consulting sources online, I seems that the deaths should not have been as surprising as they were.

The author, Flannery O’Conner, provides very minute and subtle details that predict the deaths to come. The first is not very subtle, but could have been overseen by the casual reader. This is that the short story mentions The Misfit twice before we actually meet him. Once in the beginning as the grandmother warns her son (117) and another when the grandmother discusses The Misfit to the owner of The Tower (122). The ironic thing is that the person that bring him up The Misfit the most (the grandmother) is the one who is ultimately murdered by him. Another small detail that may have been missed was the name of the town the family passes while driving. The story explains that the grandmother woke up from her nap and recalled an old plantation she used to know as they drove by a town named Toombsboro (123). I looked up Toombsboro to see if it was real and there is indeed a town that goes by that name. However, the real named is spelled TOOMSBORO not TOOMBSBORO. O’Conner added the ‘b’ to make the name of the city sound and look more like the word “tomb”. This is great foreshadowing to the fact that the family is going to die. And will be buried. Perhaps in a tomb. The final great foreshadowed detail is the vehicle that The Misfit drives. He shows up to the crash site in a “hearse-like automobile” (126). This could have been noticed by some, but not everyone knows the purpose of a hearse. A hearse is a long car that carries caskets. Caskets for dead people. Like the family who was shot in the story.

A second or third reading of a story really helps a reader understand a story better. It takes more reading to find those little charms that stories contain. Once they’re found it makes a reader appreciate stories much more.

 

1. O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Other Stories. New York: Image, 1970. 117-33. Print.