Genre Study: "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

Genre Study

“A Good Man is Hard to Find”

In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” there are many elements of Gothicism: foreshadowing, isolation, darkness/creepiness, and a struggle between good versus evil. The one I would like to focus on is the foreshadowing element.

This short story has to have been the most predictable story I have ever read. Right from the begging when the grandmother complains that she doesn’t want to go to Florida. That set off the alarm in my head saying something is happening or going toward Florida that isn’t very good. When the grandmother says “Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just read it. I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did.” (O’Conner from the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find). Is another major foreshadowing point. IRONICALLY the grandmother is the one who leads them right into the path of the Misfit.

Lets see what else is foreshadowing in this story. The fact that she dresses in her best cloths in case they die on the side of the road, so everyone will know she is a lady? Or the town’s name, isn’t it ironic how they family is killed in a town named Toombsboro? This name can be split apart into two words, tomb and bury. The biggest example of foreshadowing for me in this story was the fact that they passed a cotton field with six graves in it! THE EXACT NUMBER OF THE PEOPLE IN THE CAR. At this point I was like screaming HELLO THE MISFIT IS GOING TO FIND THEM AND THEY ARE ALL GOING TO DIE.

Foreshadowing is a key element is most stories, not just Gothic. It is a narrative hook that get the reader into the story basically. Just by dropping little hints and clues all over the place to keep the reader of the story interested. Countless of other stories we read have had this literary device in it. Most recently “A Rose for Emily” was filled with foreshadowing. The smell, the way Miss Emily hoards her father’s body, and the way no one ever hears from Homer again?

Foreshadowing is set up in “A Good Man is Hard to find” very nicely by O’Conner. I don’t know if she meant her story to be that predictable, but it was. It doesn’t take away from the fact that it was a good story. All the hints, tips, and guesses as to what was happening made me continue to read, just to see if I was right. This is what authors use foreshadowing for though. O’Conner does an excellent job of alluding to the final outcome in many effective ways. BUT I wish there was a little more shock value to it. Know what is going to happen is nice, but I would have like to been proven wrong on at least one of my guesses.