Literary Devices

Foreshadowing: “They passed by a cotton field with five or six graves fenced” (“A Good Man is Hard to Find”, p. 358).

•  This is an example of foreshadowing in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” because there is no way that the family passed a cotton field with the exact amount of graves as people in the cars. This shows foreshadowing and in the end of the story it comes true and all the people in the car end up dying.

Irony: “She was thinking that she would run away with him and that every night he would take the leg off and every morning put it back on again” (“A Good Man is Hard to Find, p. 379).

•  Hulga plans to seduce Manly, but in the end she ends up falling in love with him. This sentence from the story shows this because she would not let anyone take her leg off or see her with her leg off because she would feel ultimately dependent on that individual. When Hulga finally lets Manly take her leg off this shows a great trust, strength, and ultimately love because she finally feels comfortable enough to be fully dependent on Manly. This is situational irony because Hulga intends one thing, but the outcome is totally different.