Through out the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" By Flannery O'Connor and "The Lottery" By Shirley Jackson, there are several examples of both foreshadowing and symbolism of death, evil and heaven. These messages do not become apparent until the end of the story. In this essay I will show certain symbolism that will show how these two stories relate to one another

Along with many situational ironies, "A Good Man is Hard to Find", also has a lot of symbolism. One example is the author's description of the way the grandmother is dressed. He states "In the case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once she was a lady." This foreshadows the end of the story when she is shot and left dead on the side of the road. While the family is driving they pass an old family burial ground, in that O'Connor mentions six graves, foreshadowing the death is exemplified her due to the fact that there are six family members in their car.

Through out the story, symbolism is a continuous catalyst. After the family wrecks their car, the misfits appear on the scene and the car they are driving is described as being a "big, black hears

e-like car", symbolizing death for example. Throughout the story, the author mentions the sky quite a few times. At the beginning of the trip the children use their imaginations while looking at the clouds in the sky. As they proceed, the sky becomes clear and when the grandmother is pleading with the misfit for her life, the sky is clear, and after he shoots her again the author refers to the sky as being clear and the grandmother lying dead face up to the sky with a smile on her face. I interpreted the clouds as symbolic of heaven.

Ironically he shoots her in the chest three times with a shotgun. She could manipulate no more. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" captures a very old truth, that in the midst of life we are in death, in its most compelling modern form. The characteristic contemporary nightmare of the sudden onslaught of violent death, a death that chooses its victims without warning, impersonally, apparently at random, without either motivation or remorse, the victims helpless either to escape or to defend themselves-- This scenario for some of our deepest, most instinctual fears is the very basis the story and the source of its immediate hold on our imaginations.

Both "A Good Man is Hard To Find" and "The Lottery" are two different stories with two different plots. Both contain irony and symbolism that shape the course of the narrative. Both ha

Some common words found in the essay are:
Shirley Jackson, Hard Lottery, black box, Lottery Darkness, throughout story, box positive idea, hard lottery, color black, color box, reason box, box symbol, box positive, sky grandmother, box black,
Approximate Word count = 923
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)