As I read Flannery O'Connor's short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” I find myself completely consumed by the rich tale the author weaves ; a tragic and ironic tale that concisely and precisely uses irony and foreshadowing with expert skill. As the story progresses, it is quickly apparent that it will end in a tragic and predictable state due to the contrivances that O'Connor cleverly employs and therefore, I find that I cannot stop reading it; the plot grows thicker with each sentence and in doing so, the characters in the story are infinitely real in my mind. Considering these factors, the story focuses on two main characters; that of the grandmother, who appears self-centered and selfish and the Misfit, a man who, quite ingeniously, also appears to be self-centered and selfish. It is the story behind the grandmother, however, that seems to demonstrate the extreme differences between her superficial self and her person's true character; as the story unfolds, and the evidence of my thought process becomes seemingly clear. With these two divergent characters defining the grandmother, I believe the ultimate success of this story depends largely on specific devices that O'Connor incorporates throughout the story; both irony and foreshadowing ultimately lead to a tale that results in an ironic twist of fate and also plays a lot into the character development of the grandmother. The first sense of foreshadowing occurs when the grandmother states "[yeah] and what would you do if this guy, The Misfit, caught you" (1042). A sense of sadness and an inevitable encounter with the miscreant The Misfit seem almost inevitable. I'm sure O'Connor had real intent behind the... middle of the paper... O'Connor's stories being so timeless. Works Cited Boudreaux, Armond. “There Are No Good Men to Be Found: Two Stories by Flannery O'Connor.” Explicator 69.3 (2011): 150. Biographical Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson). Network. November 1, 2013.Charters, Ann. The story and its writer: an introduction to short fiction. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. Print.Cofer, Jordan. "The Role of Flannery O'Connor in Popular Culture: A Review Essay." Southern Quarterly 47.2 (2010): 140-157. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Network. November 2, 2013.Nadal, Marita. “Temporality and Narrative Structure in Flannery O'Connor's Stories.” Atlantis (0210-6124) 31.1 (2009): 23-39. Academic Source. Network. November 1, 2013.Petit, Susan. “In Search of Flannery O'Connor's “Good Man” in “Gilead” and “Home…” by Marilynne Robinson Christianity & Literature 59.2 (2010): 301-318. Academic research completed. Web. Oct. 31. 2013.