In “Good Country People” Joy-Hulga looks at everyone around her as inferior to herself. Her college education alone makes her feel better then the people she interacts with every day. She has an awful experience that leaves her helpless and alone, but it was not all bad. She learns how demeaning it is to use people and belittle them. She changes mightily because of this.…
The Misfit’s Awakening in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor is known for her grotesque tales, and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is no exception. The story follows a family’s journey to Florida and their encounter with a wanted criminal, the Misfit. The Grandmother lies and leads the family to a plantation with a secret panel. However, the plantation she remembers is in Tennessee and not in Georgia.…
Irony in Good Country People Good Country People by Flannery O’Conner, touches upon the identities of Christians of Southern America and also focuses on the part played by intellectualism and physical challenges in the development of identity of individuals. The entire plot is spiced with tearing irony. There are four clear sections in the story emphasizing the relationships between four prime characters. The irony of the story encompasses the social and religious parameters and the rude outlook about disabilities.…
In the article “The Good, Racist People,” Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses an event which resulted in Forest Whitaker being accused of shoplifting. What could possibly be a reason to assume Whitaker, a famous actor, had committed shoplifting? From Coates’ point of view, many others want to believe that this encounter was a misunderstanding that had nothing to do with race. Whitaker was accused of shoplifting and then was frisked, based only on his appearance. Coates then goes on to claim that the owner’s apology argued that the incident was a “‘sincere mistake’ and how the worker was a ‘decent man’ who was ‘just doing his job’ ”.…
The setting of the story takes place in a small town in the deep South of Alabama where there is racism and during the Great Depression. Also the town is very small, therefore creating conformity and a class system amongst the community. This helps conceive the idea of virtue because the people of the upper-class feel it’s their duty to help the poorer people; as well as portraying the time period that the novel takes place, which is during the early 1900’s where everyone had to be was conscious of their reputation and character versus now where everyone has the freedom to do what pleases them and be accepted for it. Also, since the city is small, everyone has a set job to do that benefits everyone. Mr. Underwood is the town’s newspaper editor, this is in the interest of everyone because they know exactly what is happening everywhere in the tow, they know what the traffic is like and even the weather.…
The meaning behind the short story Good Country People is left ambiguous by the author Flannery O’Connor. It is left to the reader to Infer the meaning by analysing the point the author is trying to make and how the author wants the reader to feel. The hidden meaning behind Good Country People is ultimate evil in characters that are otherwise deceptively polite. Situational irony in this short story helps the read find that everything is not as it appears in Good Country people.…
In “Good Country People,” O’Connor portrays Hulga as a know-it-all that seems to, in the end, know nothing. She wants to get into trouble with the Bible salesman and disgrace his supposed purity. In her attempt to disgrace Pointer, she suffers disgrace. In “Greenleaf,” Mrs. May’s controlling nature leads her to be deprived of control in the end. By trying to control the Greenleaf Bull, she ends up dead by its horns.…
America the Beautiful There is only one solitary factor that makes us all Americans; that is what makes it so beautiful! We all rise from diverse cultures, have individual customs, and have particular standards. The belief that all American’s have the freedom to be whoever we want to be, to accomplish whatever we want to take on, and to believe in the American Dream in its simplest form, is what links us together. Having Faith in this idea, and being able to put our past behind us, is what it means to be an American.…
Manley also tells her that “ [h]e wants to devote his life to Christian Service… and become a missionary because he thinks that is the way he can do most for people”(511-512). He even starts to talk nonsense, telling her about how his family is struggling and that he is basically on his own in the world. Everything that comes out of his mouth is sad or is something that makes anyone has pity for him. As soon as he enter the Hopewell’s home evil fills the home. His name, Manley Pointer, is a phallic name meaning he wants sex from someone.…
It is a very known fact the we as people are completely divided on the topic that there are good in the bad and bad in the good. In the short story “Good Country People” Flannery O’Connor, she illustrates that while some may be cold hearted and mean they still have some good and vulnerability within. She also uses the names of the characters as a sort of symbolism for readers to understand them even more.…
In this short response I have shown the moments, most prevalent to me, that occurred in the first two sections of the book entitled “East” and “West”. The moments in which I described represent Joy’s strife in trying to define herself as a human…
It is later noted that Joy changed her name to Hulga against her mom’s wishes. This is slightly humorous but also shows her rebellious and stubborn nature. Despite Mrs. Freeman having two daughters herself, they are merely mentioned and it is assumed they are not an integral part of the story and are instead a slight distraction for what’s to come. The title comes from Mrs. Hopewell’s description of her tenants, the Freemans, as being good country people. The mentions of the country and how these southern people tend to act is appropriately used as it is a piece of Southern Gothic…
Besides Hulga, Manly Pointer the bible salesman is the second biggest example irony in “Good Country People”. The reader would first presume that this man is the very definition of good country people; he turned out to be the complete opposite. Every presumption that one could have about a typical bible sales man, Manley Pointer was the opposite. The bible that he carried himself turned out to be nothing but a hiding place for “a pocket flask of whiskey, a pack of cards, and a small blue box…
In the movie Ordinary People, the main character, Conrad Jarrett, suffers from what appears to be either Major Depression or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The diagnostic criteria for Major Depression in the DSM-5 is: depressed mood most of the day, diminished interest or pleasure in most activities, significant weight loss when not dieting, insomnia, psychomotor retardation, fatigue or loss of energy, feeling of worthlessness, diminished ability to concentrate, and recurrent thoughts of death (Oltmanns & Emery, 2015) . Conrad displays many of these criteria. He experiences diminished interest or pleasure in most activities that he once enjoyed. This can be seen when Conrad quits the swim team because he no longer enjoys swimming, something…
It is hard to find the theme of this short story because it is difficult to establish which character this story revolves around. This is different from “Good Country People” because it is clear that the story revolves around Hulga. The repetitive use of trickery brings up the meaning of trust or lack there of. The narrator trusted his friend and followed his orders to find a non-existent Reverend Smiley. Jim Smiley trusted a stranger with his “Notorious Jumping Frog” while he went to go find his opponent a frog so he could hustle him, only to be later hustled himself.…