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In Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good

Man is Hard to Find,� the gruesome ending

comes as quite a shock. But, upon a second

read, signs of an ominous end permeate the

work. Hints of the family’s tragic finale exist

throughout the plot until the time of the first

murder. The story contains pervasive images

of death and to foreshadow the ultimate

demise of the nameless family at the hands of

the malicious Misfit and his henchmen.

Before the story begins, O’Connor provides

the reader with an epigraph. It quotes, “The

Dragon is by the side of the road, watching

those who pass. Beware lest he devour you.

We go to the father of souls, but it is

necessary to pass by the dragon.� (St. Cyril of

Jerusalem). These few sentences provide the

reader with an overview of the story’s events.

This quote about the “dragon� relates to the

story in that the anonymous ordinary family

sets out on a road trip to Florida, and the

passengers are consequently “devoured� by

the Misfit and his accomplices. (Orvell 130).

The Misfit exemplifies the dragon with his

redneck appearance and scholarly

spectacles. He finds the family on the side of

the road, just as the quote states, “The dragon

is by the side of the road...� He then almost

literally “devours� them, and eventually

delivers the grandmother to “the father of

souls.�

The grandmother embodies in her character

many foreshadowing elements in “A Good

Man is Hard to Find.� The story begins with

the typical nuclear...