Not So Hard To Find Foreshadowing Analysis

O’Conner’s Not So Hard to Find Foreshadowing

In Flannery O’Conner’s short story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” O’Conner describes a tragic family vacation. Upon first reading, the story seems to be about a family consisting of a grandmother, her son (Bailey), his wife, two children: John Westley and June Star, a baby boy, and a cat named Pitty Sing traveling to Florida despite grandmother’s concerns of an escaped convict believed to be in the area. Upon deeper reading of the story, readers experience O’Conner’s skillful use of foreshadowing to reveal subtle nuances to the family’s tragic demise. The three of the most obvious examples are The Misfit’s news article, the grandmother’s choice of traveling attire, and a stowaway cat.

O’Conner’s first use of foreshadowing is the discovery of a news article about The Misfit. In the story, grandmother is reading the paper when she discovers

This single act was the cause of the family’s downfall and destruction. The grandmother brought along Pitty Sing on the vacation due to her fear of it asphyxiating himself by brushing against a gas burner (pg.243). The grandmother’s concealment of the cat was the cause of the car accident that ultimately cost everyone in the vehicle lives except Pitty Sing’s. during the conclusion of the story O’Conner points out an almost seemingly smug Pitty Sing is brushing against The Misfit’s legs. In hindsight, the grandmother ultimately succeeded in preserving the cat’s life at the expense of her and her family. In closing, Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” written in 1953, has numerous examples of foreshadowing that could even be considered ironic due to the obviousness of the situations this unfortunate family was subjected to. O’Conner is known for her shock factor in her stories as well as the proverbial moment of grace which the grandmother found just before