ing of the story, the grandmothers elaborate dress symbolizes a preparation for her coffin. When a person dies, they usually are dressed in their best outfit, just like the grandmother was dressed in what seemed to be her Sunday best. A stronger foreshadowing is when OConnor states the reason for the grandmothers immaculate dress, "in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady." She herself predicts her own death. Unfortunately, she doesnt know this yet. Although this is beyond the parameters of this essay, it is interesting that in the grandmother's mind wearing her best clothes prevent any misgivings about her status as a lady IF she was to die. But as the Misfit later points out, "there never was a body that gave the undertaker a tip." The grandmother's perceived readiness for death is a stark contrast to her behavior when she encounters the Misfit; for she shows herself to be the least prepared for death.As the trip progresses, the children reveal themselves as funny, spoiled brats. O'Connor's desire to illustrate the lost respect for the family and elders among the young is quite apparent in her illustrations of the children. One evidently notices another foreshadowing image when the family "passed by a cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island." It is not an accident that the number of graves "five or six" matches the exact number of people in the car. There are 5 people and a baby. Furthermore, this particular foreshadowing image leads directly into the next one:"Look at the graveyard!" the grandmother said, pointing it out. "That was the old family burying ground. That belonged to the plantation.""Wheres the plantation?" John Wesley asked."Gone With the Wind," said the grandmother. "Ha. Ha." The grandmothers reference to the plantation as "gone with the wind" can be seen as an image symbolizing the familys state at the end of the st...
