Foreshadowing A Good Man Is Hard to Find
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” is a story of tragedy about a family planning a vacation against the grandmother’s better judgment. The grandmother wishes to take a trip to Tennessee, because of a convict on the loose. Bailey is planning a trip to Florida even though the grandmother warns him that the “Misfit” is heading toward Florida. Before their long journey to Florida, the Family decides to stop at a diner to eat. During the visit at the diner, the family discusses the Misfit with the diner’s owner. The diner’s owner’s wife expresses her fear of being robbed by the misfit. After eating their food and ending their conversations he family leaves for Florida. Outside of Toombsboro the grandmother remembered an old plantation she once visited when she was young.
She describes the house and tells them about the secret panel. The Children have never seen a house with a secret panel and throw a fit to see it. Bailey is not willing to go to the house, but the children insist. The grandmother shows Bailey the road and he turns down it. As they were traveling the road, the grandmother jumps as she remembered the house is in Tennessee not Georgia. When she jumped she caused Bailey to lose control of the car and runs into a ditch. No one in the family was hurt, but the ehicle was too damaged to drive leaving the family stranded. The family had no other choice but to sit and wait for someone to drive by. As they were sitting on street, they saw a car coming over the hills.
The car stopped at the accident and out stepped three men carrying guns. The grandmother notices that one of the men look familiar, but she cannot put it together. As she realizes who he is the grandmother asks him if he is The Misfit. The Misfit tells the other two men two take Bailey and his boy to the woods. As the grandmother is reasoning with , she hears two gunshots. When the men come back they are alone. The Misfits tells he men to get Bailey’s wife, little girl, and the baby. They take them to woods and three gunshots echo in the woods. The grandmother screams hysterically and tells the Misfit to pray. The grandmother touches the Misfit on the shoulder and he shot her three times. From the beginning of the story, it is obvious the Misfit is being setup to come into the story later on. Foreshadowing built the suspense causing the reader to wonder what would happen next. This information did not tell how or where the story would end. Knowing about the Misfit from the beginning pulled it all together and made the story much more interesting.
