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English 102
A Critical Analysis of Motifs and Foreshadowing in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Within the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the author, Flannery O’Conner, tells the ending
before the end is reached through many instances of foreshadowing. In this paper, it will become evident
that the ending was made clear before the dramatic conclusion of this short story.
At the opening of this short story, we see a grandmother and her family preparing for a trip to
Florida, a destination that the grandmother does not wish to go to. Rather, she would like to vacation in
East Tennessee. To try and persuade her son, she drops hints about where she would rather be, and then
comes across an article in a newspaper proclaiming that a criminal known as The Misfit is “aloose from
the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida” (420). Upon reading this, she furthers her protest for a
vacation in Florida by telling her son that they should not head there in case they did come upon The
Misfit and asks, “Yes and what would you do if this fellow, The Misfit, caught you?” (420)
foreshadowing their eventual encounter with The Misfit. After her proclamations fall upon deaf ears, they
begin their trip to Florida with the father, Bailey, the mother, who is never named, the baby, unnamed, the
grandmother, also unnamed, the eldest boy, John Wesley, and the eldest daughter, June Star.
During their drive, the family travels from Georgia to Florida, passing many landmarks and small
towns. Through one of these small towns, they drive past a graveyard with six graves. “They passed a
large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island.” foreshadowing the
secluded death of the six family members. Furthermore, their deaths are evident when the eldest son
chimes in, “‘Where’s the plantation?’ John Wesley asked. ‘Gone With the Wind’ said the grandmother.
‘Ha. Ha.” (422), further foretelling their inevitable demise. They continue their travels until they come
upon The Tower, a barbecue shack where they stop for sandwiches and a foreboding conversation with
the owner and his wife. During their time at this establishment, they converse about a couple of fellows
that the owner allowed to charge themselves for their gas, but they instead filled up and drove away. “‘A
good man is hard to find,’ Red Sammy said. ‘Everything is getting terrible. I remember the day you could
go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more.’” (423). Within this statement, Red Sammy
has foreshadowed the rest of the story as the next people the family interacts with are The Misfit and his
two accomplices.
The end of this story brings all points of foreshadowing to a conclusion. The grandmother
convinces her son to make a short stop at a plantation with a “secret panel” (424). While the father,
Bailey, takes some convincing, he eventually gives in, and they begin their detour to the plantation. As
they drive, the grandmother realizes that the plantation she was thinking of is actually located in
Tennessee, a call back to when they grandmother wished to travel there instead of Florida. After her
realization, the family gets into an accident, flipping their car, and leaving them stranded. It is at this time
that The Misfit comes upon the family and murders all six of the family members, as foreshadowed by the
grandmother, and Red Sammy, who said “‘You can’t win’” (423).
Works Cited
O’Conner, Flannery. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry,
Drama, and Writing. X. J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia. 12th ed. University of Southern California, CA:
Pearson, 2013. 420-430.