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The Literary Analysis Of 'Good Country People, By Flannery O' Connor

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The Literary Analysis is the bread and butter of literary writing. You will choose one of the stories that we’ve read in class (or a different story if you email me first with a pleasant request) and write a 4 (plus Works Cited) page paper, including 3 outside sources, presenting your interpretation. This interpretation may come from one specific critical lens or it may be a combination of lenses; it may also only concern one part of a story—for instance, the use of the plural narrator in A Rose for Emily or Hempel’s use of animals in The Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried. It is possible that you will come to the end of your paper with a fair and sensible understanding of the story. However, it is also possible—likely, even—that though you …show more content…

This is done for Joy/Hulga, as Hulga is frequently a miserable, morose character, lacking severely in joy. Hulga would be quite cynical, and would mock the children of Mrs. Freeman. O’Connor grew up in the Bible belt and is also known as a famous Christian writer. A way for her to apply this to her short stories is to criticize the faith that is not strong, but only surface deep. These themes pop up in “Good Country People” where the occupation of the thief is that of a Bible salesman. His faith is only a front to be able to steal items from other people. The third lens is that of a reader response lens. This lens depicts the story as without meaning, and that the reader has to decipher the meaning on their own. The reader response theory held prominence during the 1970’s and 1980’s, but is applicable to the works from other time periods (Harkin, 411). This is another story that can use this …show more content…

If reading from a feminist lens, the male is seen as a power controlling evil individual, and all of the females are powerless, as well as naïve and dependent on the males. If reading from a biographical lens, the various parallels between Hulga and O’Connor surface, implying that the story is a fictional retelling of the author’s life. If reading with a reader response lens, the reader controls the meaning of the story, but this can be done in two ways. If looking for general information, the reader controls the intermediate knowledge, and supplements another theory. If looking for general interpretations, the reader analyzes a controversial comment, and based on their background and history, interprets the comment in a certain way. All three lenses are valid for this story, and understanding all three assist in more fully understanding the whole

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Two southern set stories display the life of both Emily and Hulga who had dealt traumatic changes in their lives that lead to downfalls of retrieving love. Both Faulkner of A Rose for Emily and O’Conner if Good Country People showed readers the southern society back in the early to middle 1900s setting which involved two women of modern yet aged southern towns that both stories seemed to compare the usage of southern gothic , situation irony, and the revealing the protagonist lovers true identities Homer and Manly. Through the similarities of the stories, a variety of differences was brought along with the similarities such as the usage of southern gothic. The usage of southern gothic in the stories which was revealed around the climax of

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It becomes clear that Joy “thought and thought until she has hit upon the ugliest name in any language” (O’Connor 458). The ugliness of Hulga’s name is a sign of her negative attitude toward the world. Additionally, changing her name symbolizes the control that Hulga has over her own life (Colas 1). Because Hulga dislikes her mother, she deliberately changes her name in order to go against Mrs. Hopewell’s wishes. Hulga changed her name “to forever erase the part of her that her mother created” (Tyson 3).

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Symbolism has been seen as a very important role in Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Good country people”. Flannery O’Conner has written several short stories portraying herself as a Catholic writer who attacks religious views being opposed, though uses the fundamentals of nihilism portrayed through Hulga (Joy), a character from her story. She uses multiple frank descriptions and the usage of different types of symbolism to get the audience to understand her main points. The symbolistic use of names and an artificial leg give a vivid description of the main character and her views towards nihilism. The usage of names, name change and a prosthetic leg all link the main character’s nihilistic philosophy of life which leads to her tragic event.

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We even see this theme again in Good Country People. Hulga’s pessimistic view of the world is central to the story, allowing her to quickly judge the salesman for what he truly is when he pulls a flask out from inside the bible. This reoccurring theme, concerning our background and the way we judge people, must have been very important to O’Connor. Skillfully, O’Connor knits the theme into both short stories, miraculously basing the entire plot and characters around this central

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Flannery O’Conner uses the story “Good Country People” to show the reader, the many ways in which people can deceive each other and even themselves. O’Connor is religious in life and she uses religion to show the reader that even the most devoted can trick you. She also uses the names of the characters, to convey a whole other meaning. The author herself undercuts the characters to show the reader, how the character’s view on the world is wrong. It essentially makes the reader themselves question what they know and think about the world.

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