The story A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor is about a family that goes out to vacation. The Grandmother gives direction on the road to follow and then they find themselves in Tennessee and not Florida as planned. The family is set to perish at the end of it all and clues are given throughout the story that foreshadows the violent ending that is in store for the family.
They had gone too far when they realized they had taken the wrong road. The family is set to perish not because of natural mishaps but because they make one wrong decision after another but above all it is the grandmother who is to blame
First of all, grandmother shows Bailey the article containing the story of The Misfit. Apparently, it is the same man and his group who are going to murder the entire family. He was a fugitive on the run, and it is such a coincident that they would meet up later on in the story (Hendin 14).
At one point June Star also said about their grandmother following them everywhere, that meant that even unto death she would be with them. It happened that all of them were together all through and they died together eventually.
The Grandmother is pretentious woman. When going out for the trip, she prefers dressing nicely and even thinks that when she does so, in case anything happens, and they die, she would be seen as a decent lady. Why would she think of death and preparing for it when going out on a journey? This foreshadows the imminent death.
There are names that are used in the story that equally foreshadow the death of these family members. A good example is the name of the town Toombsboro. In fact, the name of the town is mentioned right before the family meets The Misfit. The word sounds like ‘tomb’ which means that the family is soon going to be faced with doom (Eggenschwiler 48).
Also, the family passed by an open field that had six headstones matching their number, and this signifies death too. These signs among others indeed foretell the violent ending of the members of this family.
All these incidents foreshadow the looming death that befalls the family at the end. Even so, they did not see it coming. Not even when they had come face to face with The Misfit. Their death had been foreshadowed all through the journey.
Works Cited
Eggenschwiler, David. The Christian Humanism of Flannery O’Connor. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1972.
Hendin, Josephine. The World of Flannery O’Connor. London: Indiana University Press, 1972.
O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories. Orlando: Harcourt Brace, 1955. 1 – 23. Print
