In Flannery O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find", the author uses foreshadowing to lead up to the unexpected twist of fate that the family discovers when they meet the antagonist of the story “The Misfit.” As English Language Notes columnist David Piwinski explains: "The Misfit murders of the grandmother and her family come as no surprise to the attentive reader, since O'Connor's story is filled with incident and details which foreshadow in a worrying way the catastrophic fate of the family. » (73). The following passage will explore O'Connor's use of foreshadowing in "A Good Man is Hard to Find." At the beginning of the story, O'Connor writes that the grandmother does not want to go to Florida. (183) In fact, the grandmother says everything she can to change the minds of her family members. (O'Connor 183) The grandmother reads to her son Bailey the story of a famous escaped convict who is supposedly heading to Florida (O'Connor 183-84). Flannery O'Connor says, "Here this man who calls himself The Misfit is released from the federal penitentiary and is heading to Florida and here you read what he says he did to these people." Just read it. I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that on the loose. I could not respond to my conscience if I did” (183). O'Connor mentions that the grandmother has a private agenda to meet with her connections in Tennessee, and she uses this to try to dissuade the family from leaving. in Florida (184). O'Connor's use of foreshadowing the eventual encounter with "The Misfit" is evident in the grandmother's attempt to take the family somewhere other than Florida (183-84). Additionally, the family's refusal to listen to the grandmother increases the foreshadowing of the future...... middle of paper ......e grandmother and her family. Although O'Connor uses foreshadowing early on in the story, she never directly reveals the end of the story. By understanding O'Connor's use of foreshadowing, the reader can better understand the development leading up to the story's climax. Works Cited Link, Alex. “Means, Meaning, and Mediated Space in: A Good Man is Hard to Find” Southern Quarterly 44.4 (2007): 125-138. EBSCO host. Internet. March 3, 2014. O'Connor, Flannery. “A good man is hard to find.” Literature and the writing process. Tenth ed. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, Robert Funk and Linda S. Coleman. Boston: Pearson Education Inc. 2014. 183-193. Print. Piwinski, David. “Gone with the Wind in Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find: An Anagological Biblical Allusion” English Notes 38.4 (June 2001): 73-76 EBSCO Host. Internet. March 2. 2014.