Author: JessicaC

In the short story “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl, there is foreshadowing.

The first sign of sign of something not being right is when Billy turns to leave and “a queer thing happened to him. … All at once his eye was caught and held in the most peculiar manner by the small notice that was there. BED AND BREAKFAST… Each word was like a large black eye staring at him through the glass, holding him, compelling him, forcing him to stay where he was and not to walk away from the house, and… he was actually moving… to the front door of the house.” Though Roald Dahl describes the boarding house as warm and inviting, the out-of-the-ordinary happening instantly makes the reader suspicious. Also, Billy chooses not to go in there, but then the “magic” makes him.

Secondly, the woman immediately opens the door, even though the story explicitly says that “Normally… you have at least a half-minute’s wait before the door opens.” This makes people wonder, Was she waiting for him? Did she expect someone? It further increases the reader’s suspicions about something bad going to happen.

The third use of foreshadowing is when she tells him that she is picky and loves it when she sees someone exactly right. “She paused with one had on the stair rail, turning her head and smiling down at him with pale lips. ‘Like you’ she added.” She acts rather creepily, and the words turning her head, smiling, and pale lips clues the reader in about something not being quite right, if they didn’t notice already.

These are some of the places where Roald Dahl put forshadowing in this short story, and how it makes the story a bit unsettling.

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the old lady is selfish and the Misfit is cautious.

The grandma is selfish because she twists her words. When she is beginning to talk with the Misfit, she tries to convince him that he was a good man with the sole purpose of convincing him to help get her out. She doesn’t actually care about him. Also, what the old lady deems as good is what lines up with her own beliefs. She doesn’t realize nor care that perhaps people have different opinions and sometimes she is wrong. Later, when the Misfit is talking about his life, he says “ You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you’re going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it.” He also adds, “I call myself The Misfit because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment.” He talks about how unfair life and people was and gets very philosophical. The old woman comforts the Misfit, not because she sympathizes with him, but because she wants him to spare her life. She also brings up how he “wouldn’t hurt a woman” multiple times throughout the short story, further proving that she doesn’t care. Therefore, the woman is selfish.

The Misfit however, is cautious and got in trouble for something he didn’t do, which led him to his current life. He believes that you can’t trust anyone because of his personal experiences. Though he talks about his past life with the old lady, he still doesn’t trust her. This is proven when The Misfit shoots the grandmother because he touched her. He was jumpy and when he felt that someone was touching him, he reacted out of instinct. Therefore, the Misfit is cautious.

The old lady is selfish and tries to twist her words, but the Misfit doesn’t trust her. In the end, because she tried to fake-console The Misfit, he shoots her and her selfishness was the reason for her end.