Good Country People
Some can't be that simple," she said. "I know I never could." This is how the story ends and somehow, it seems to cover the entire short story. What we see is not always what we get and the way that people do present themselves is seldom what we will also find deep in their souls.
The short story presents a few casual characters, rather dull country people who live in an undetermined cluster in the countryside. The author presents Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter Joy, who had turned her name to Hulga, as well as the Freemans, Mrs. Freeman and her two daughters, Glynese and Carramae.
Our attention is drawn to Joy-Hulga, who from the beginning draws our whole attention. She seems to be an excellent representative of what Baudelaire has defined as the "esthetics of the ugly." She had a hunting accident when she was ten and has ever since had a wooden leg from knee downwards. She is not only content with her physical ugliness, but seems to cultivate it as a good of her own, as a trademark if you like, in favor of intellectual richness. She is very cultivated, went to college and has taken her PhD in philosophy. She is a true intellectual, but an intellectual who cannot express herself in the society, perhaps because of her physical handicap, perhaps because of the fact that she has a heart disease and is bound to die young. The author ironically points out towards the fact that she is wasting all her knowledge...
She is helpless and now realizes that she is truly in need of saving. Now, O'Connor seems to be suggesting, she is actually in a position where the Word of God, which actually does promise salvation, may come to her. It speaks of the virtue of humility, which she is now in a position to develop -- not because she realizes it as of yet but because she is
Good Country People by Flannery O'Connor is a story that illustrates how deceptive appearances can be and what errors are made when people hide behind their own cliched perceptions instead of thinking clearly about situations. The main plot of the story involving Hulga illustrates this theme. As well as this, O'Connor offers many other references to the theme via the other characters, the events and symbols in the work. An
Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor and "Indian Camp" by Ernest Hemingway When Coming of Age is Too Much The coming-of-age story is a classic of literature, from The Adventures of Huck Finn to Catcher in the Rye and The Outsiders, and learning the lessons of being an adult is never easy. The journey from childhood to adulthood requires a loss of innocence and idealism, which sometimes come at a very
Hulga is just as vulnerable as anyone else is, although she does not want to admit it. Hulga's leg also symbolizes her vulnerability and her pride. She is the only one who touches it, and it is part of what makes her unique and different. While she is ashamed of it, she is also intensely proud of it, because it, like her education, sets her apart from others. It is
Good Country People: Metaphor and Irony Joy Hulga is the main character of Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People." She represents the proud, young educated student who has renounced any faith in Christ. As her mother Mrs. Hopewell puts it to Manley Pointer, the Bible salesman, "My daughter is an atheist and won't let me keep the Bible in the parlor" (O'Connor 278). Manley turns out to be both Joy's double and
Everything That Rises Meets Good Country PeopleThe characters and situations of Flannery O�Connor�s stories give a unique glimpse into a grotesque world of the South�a world that O�Connor used to draw meaning about the moment of grace that touches and changes characters� lives forever (Fitzgerald). To do this, she often focused on the relationship between mystery and manners in everyday Southerners� lives, but did so in a way that relied
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