“The Farmer's Children” is a horrible story. The stepmother told two children, Cato and Emerson, to go to the barn and protect their farm equipment. Since the children were poorly dressed and the weather was extremely cold, the boys froze to death. The author, Elizabeth Bishop, used a wide range of literary techniques (foreshadowing, symbolism, and allusion) to convey her message. Bishop wrote this story to convey the idea that lonely abandonment is a deep pit to fall into. You will have to pay the consequences; Cato and Emerson died because they were left unattended. The technique used by the author was foreshadowing. When Bishop mentioned the children's father and Judd, a man employed by the family, went into "business" (Bishop, page 287), their business was suspicious. Instead of looking for ways to increase security in the barn as they should have, they took late-night trips into town and drank. Cato and Emerson's father could have used this time elsewhere. He should have spent more time with his children than having fun. Later the stepmother told the boys to go to the stable. The boys didn't have the right clothes, but their stepmother said, "Well, Judd has his blankets over there." ( Bishop, page 289) This is the moment when readers are aware of what is really happening; Judd isn't at the barn, he's out with the boys' father. The children must take the adults' place in the stable and watch out for thieves. Other evidence was stated that "The two boys sat on one side, the two older girls sat on the other, and Gracie Bell on her mother's lap at the end." (Bishop, page 288) From this excerpt, the reader knows that there is a division in the family. The children were not mixed with their half-siblings. Their stepmother did not... middle of paper... stepmother and stepsisters, and then her thoughts returned to her father; she loved him dearly. (Bishop, page 293) The stepmother did not exuberate or extend her love to Cato and Emerson. She didn't seem to care about the two boys. Cato and Emerson died in that empty stable as a result of their loneliness. You might think the mother deserved to die, but that's Bishop's writing technique. He used the allusion to make readers believe that the boys would escape the cold just like Hansel and Gretel escaped, but the twist gave flavor to the story. The symbolism helped readers grasp a clear image. The foreshadowing helped the readers by providing information and allowing them to come to their own conclusions. Normal people would think that in these stories the antagonist always ends up dead, but they are wrong. The innocent had to suffer and die, all alone.