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Alyssa Watson
October 19, 2010
English 12 AP
Smith 2nd Block
Literary Analysis Essay
Often in literature, the use of irony and the development of the plot can help
reveal a theme. In Flannery O'Connor's “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, these techniques
help present the ideas that O'Connor wishes to convey. While on the surface,
O'Connor's story looks like a simple story of the juxtaposition of murder on a family
vacation, the underlying meaning is much deeper. Often things that seem innocent or
harmless may lead to or hide a more serious reality. This is certainly true in O'Connor's
In this story, O'Connor uses plot devices such as suspense and foreshadowing to
show that not all things are as innocuous as they seem. Foreshadowing creates a
foreboding in the reader that is later fulfilled. Certain statements or details within the
story seem to have no particular or deeper meaning than the superficial one inside that
conversation, but when looking back, the reader can see that these were pointing
towards the conclusion of the story. ("A Good Man"). At the very beginning of the story,
in the first paragraph, the grandmother mentions The Misfit. While this seems like an
innocent ploy to convince her son to visit Tennessee instead of going to Florida, at the
end of the story it becomes clear that this was not by chance. O'Connor deliberately
foreshadows that the family will run into and be killed by The Misfit. Similarly, when
readying herself for departure, the grandmother seems to realize that some great
tragedy is going to occur. She dresses in some of her finest clothes so that “anyone
seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (O'Connor
455). In the context of the story, this seems like an innocent gesture; however, the
reader can sense the reality of what is to come. While on their way to Florida, the family
passes a “large cotton field with five or six graves fenced into the middle of it” (O'Connor
456). These graves clearly foreshadow the death of all or all but one of the members of
the family ("A Good Man"). After the family crashes their car, and The Misfit shows up,
the
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fact that the family does not know who he is creates suspense. The reader can make a
guess about who these strangers are, but the family seems to be oblivious to the fact
that while they appear to be nice, these strangers are acting shady, wearing odd
clothing, and carrying guns. At the end of the story, When The Misfit's minions, Hiram
and Bobby Lee, take each member of the family into the woods one by one to shoot
them, it creates suspense for the reader, because while it seems like the grandmother
might talk herself out of being killed, the reader can see that her fate has been foretold
("A Good Man"). No matter what she says to him, The Misfit kills the grandmother
anyway.
Not only are foreshadowing and suspense important in this short story, they are
intertwined with irony, which is a very important aspect. Throughout the story, the irony
hides the truth of what will happen. A good example of irony is when the grandmother
says that she would not “take [her] children in any direction with a criminal like that
aloose in it” (O'Connor 454). She suggests that because her son, Bailey, wants to take
his children to a place where there is a dangerous criminal, he is being unwise. The
grandmother, ironically, insists that she remembers where the house was, when in fact it
was located in an entirely different state, and therefore leads her family straight into
danger ("A Good Man"). Right after the crash, the grandmother is the one who waves
her arms to attract the attention of the strangers in the car, which further puts her family
into danger. Before the family realizes that the strangers who seem to have come to
help them are going to kill them, Bailey states that his family is “in a terrible
predicament. [They do not} realizes what this is” (O'Connor 463). What Bailey says is
ironic because he himself does not realize that the people he enters the woods with are
going to shoot him ("A Good Man"). He is still under the impression that these people
have come to
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help them and have no reason to harm them. A family vacation is not normally
associated with murder. The fact that this family starts out on a trip to Florida and winds
up getting shot creates situational irony ("A Good Man"). What seems nice at first turns
out to be deadly.
In this short story, a family starts out on a vacation to Florida and ends up being
shot in the woods. Flannery O'Connor uses many techniques including irony, suspense,
and foreshadowing to enforce her idea. From the very beginning, the story is filled with
foreshadowing in the mention of The Misfit and irony in the contrast of murder and a
family vacation. This underlines the idea that evil can be hidden behind things that seem
good.
Works Cited
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen "A Good Man".
Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 97-114. Short Stories for Students. Web. 19 Oct. 2010.
Sound, and Sense. Ed. Aron Keesbury. Boston, MA: Michael Rosenberg, 2006.
529-539. Print.