"A Good Man Is Hard To Find" by Flannery O'Connor.

Essay by miss_germany_2005College, Undergraduate April 2003

download word file, 2 pages 3.6 1 reviews

Downloaded 201 times

Final Destination

In the short story "A Good Man Is Hard To Find," a family of six, including the grandmother, go on a trip to Florida; this trip leads to their deaths. The author of this story, Flannery O'Connor, uses foreshadowing to give the reader certain information that leads up to the horrific killing of the family.

At the beginning of the story the grandmother is trying to convince the family not to go to Florida; she wants to go to east Tennessee instead. Her excuse was the fact that a killer, who called himself the Misfit, broke out of the "Federal Pen" (137) and is on his way to Florida. But, the family decided to ignore her warnings and follow through with their original plans to go on their trip to Florida.

Although the grandmother wanted to go to Tennessee her grandchild, June Star, says, "She wouldn't stay home for a million bucks...She

has to go everywhere we go" (137). Which in this case included their death.

As June Star predicted the grandmother decided to go to Florida anyway. Strangely enough their grandmother wore:

"a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress... organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet." (138)

She did so incase they got into an accident that the people who found her would know immediately "that she was a lady" (138).

Another part that suggested their upcoming death was the grandmother's comments on the burying ground. As they passed a cotton field she pointed out a family graveyard at one of the old plantations, "Look at the graveyard," the grandmother said to her youngest grandchild.