Ironically, the grandmother seems to perceive that evil comes in pretty packages. This can be noticed in the statement, ".trees [that] were full of silver-white sunlight and the meanest of them sparkled."" Perhaps one of the most noticeable ironies O'Connor utilizes is in the grandmother's statement "In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady."" For surly the grandmother does not actually expect to be found dead by the road. This dialogue serves a double purpose as it leads to the next literary item.
The previous statement by the grandmother is perhaps the most noticeable example of foreshadowing in O'Connor's work. In fact, this literary device is one of the first features a reader will pick up on. O'Connor's use of foreshadowing in this story is obvious or even border line exaggerated. When she tells us that the grandmother "wouldn't take [her] children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it,"" one can only immediately suspect that this family will encounter the killer. Obviously, O'Connor wanted her readers to realize that horrible things are in store for the less than perfect family should they fail to open their eyes. More warnings appear when the family stops at Red Sammy's for lunch. The grandmother thinks she has found a like mind in Sammy when, in all actuality, the reader's know as Sammy tells his wife to " hurry up with these people's order- that he is anxious to get the family out of his restaurant. Later, the reader sees the author at work again foreshadowing events to come when the grandmother and Sammy and his wife discuss the Misfit, and the possibilities of the criminal making an appearance at the restaurant. Nevertheless, the family goes on about their lives, seemingly oblivious to their fatalistic shortcomings: their inability to live life on anything other than a superficial level, with no regard for moral or religious standards.