Critical Analysis Of Flannery O ' Connor 's ' Good Country People '

As I read Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, I find myself being completely consumed by the rich tale that the author weaves; a tragic and ironic tale that concisely and precisely utilizes irony and foreshadowing with expert skill. As the story progresses, it is readily apparent that the story will end in a tragic and predictable state due to the devices which O’Connor expertly employs and thusly, I find that I cannot stop reading it; the plot grows thicker with every sentence and by doing so, the characters within the story are infinitely real in my mind’s eye. As I consider these factors, the story focuses on two main characters; that of the grandmother, who comes across as self-centered and self-serving and

Most of Flannery O'Connor's stories seem to contain the same elements: satirical and regional humor, references to God and Christianity, violent similes and metaphors, lots of stereotypical characters, grotesque humor and often focuses a lot of description on character's clothes and faces. However, one of the most important elements of O'Connor's "Good Country People" is the relevance of names. Her choice of names seem to give indications about the personalities of the characters and seem to be more relevant to the story than what the reader would commonly overlook as simply being stock character names. Mrs. Hopewell losing her "joy" (both her daughter and her

Flannery O' Connor, a native of Georgia was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century. As a strict Catholic, O' Connor often displayed a sense of spiritual corruption within the characters in most of her stories. One of O' Connor's famous stories, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," reveals the image of spiritual deficiency inherent in the characters which foreshadowed a bloody end.

“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and “Good Country People” are two short stories written by Flannery O’Connor during her short lived writing career. Despite the literary achievements of O’Connor’s works, she is often criticized for the grotesqueness of her characters and endings of her short stories and novels. Her writings have been described as “understated, orderly, unexperimental fiction, with a Southern backdrop and a Roman Catholic vision, in defiance, it would seem, of those restless innovators who preceded her and who came into prominence after her death”(Friedman 4). “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and “Good Country People” are both set in the South, and O’Connor explores the tension between the old and new South. The stories are tow

Thesis Statement: In Flannery O'Connor's short story "Good Country People," the expulsion of the outside world allows for more emphasis on the symbolic nature of each of the active characters.

Flannery O’Connor uses his description of characters to show that people are not who always who they say they are. When we start reading the story we are introduced to Mrs. Hopewell, who is the mother to Joy/Hulga, who is stuck up and thinks that she is superior to everyone else and is an independent woman. She is a patronizing woman that does not care about anybody except for herself. She is a rude lady that is two faced when it comes to new people that she is meeting. Then we meet Joy who is thirty-two-year-old woman with a doctor's degree in Philosophy, who changed her name to Hulga at the age of twenty-one, she lives at home with Mrs. Hopewell because she has health conditions that have to deal with her heart and she needs to be taken care of. Also, with her health conditions she has a fake leg that got shot off in a hunting accident. Hulga always thought of herself superior to everyone because she had a doctor's degree and because she went to school to get an education. She thought that she could outsmart everyone that she lives with because she reads many books and has a lot of knowledge. Next is Manley Pointer, who is a traveling Bible salesman, he is portrayed as a good country folk with good intentions. He plays an act and tricks everyone into thinking that he is a nice and kind person, but him selling Bibles and believing in God is what catches Hulga’s and Mrs. Hopewell's attention because Hulga does not believe in anything but Mrs. Hopewell does believe in God. Lastly, we have Mrs. Freeman, who has worked for Mrs. Hopewell for the past few years because her husband is the farmer. The story does

In the short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find, written by Flannery O’Connor, the theme that the definition of a ‘good man’ is mysterious and flawed is apparent. The reader must realize that it is difficult to universalize the definition of a good man because every person goes through different experiences. Thus, these experiences affect his or her viewpoint and in turn flaw ones view on a good man. O’Connor conveys this theme through her excellent use of diction, imagery, foreshadowing, and symbolism as well as through a creative use of repetition and an omniscient point of view.

Manley Pointer, the antagonist of Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People,” is a character of multiple dimensions. He is considered a “good country people” by many of the characters in the beginning of the short story, including Hulga. However, by the end, it is revealed that he is not a reputable person, and is rather the opposite of the persona he portrays himself. Manley believes that he must act this way in order to make a living. There is a root cause to his flawed rational that must be uncovered, although some would argue that he is only a simple character and has no root cause to explain his behavior. However, Manley’s past is extremely influential to his actions and the person he claims to be.

An ardent Catholic as she was, Flannery O’Connor astonishes and puzzles the readers of her most frequently compiled work, A Good Man Is Hard to Find. It is the violence, carnage, injustice and dark nooks of Christian beliefs of the characters that they consider so interesting yet shocking at the same time. The story abounds in Christian motifs, both easy and complicated to decipher. We do not find it conclusive that the world is governed by inevitable predestination or evil incorporated, though. A deeper meaning needs to be discovered in the text. The most astonishing passages in the story are those when the Grandmother is left face to face with the Misfit and they both discuss serious religious matters. But at the same time it is the

Mrs. May belongs to a very important group of characters in the works of Flannery O'Connor: the widows. These kinds of characters usually are superficial and proud of their social position. Her widows have an excellent opinion of themselves and they usually feel superior to the people around them. Mrs. May, the protagonist of the "Greenleaf" shows all these features.

The concept of being a “good” person has painted the picture of how people have handled their lives throughout history. On the same note, this concept has also been the subject of much debate; such is the case in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. The protagonist, the unnamed grandmother struggles to find the “good” in others and herself. O’Conner uses foreshadowing, characterization, and a distinct point of view to make her point. In my interpretation, her point is that only through conflict and turmoil can good truly be found.

Flannery O’Connor, undoubtedly one of the most well-read authors of the early 20th Century, had many strong themes deeply embedded within all her writings. Two of her most prominent and poignant themes were Christianity and racism. By analyzing, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Everything that Rises Must Converge,” these two themes jump out at the reader. Growing up in the mid-1920’s in Georgia was a huge influence on O’Connor. Less than a decade before her birth, Georgia was much different than it was at her birth. Slaves labored tirelessly on their master’s plantations and were indeed a facet of everyday life. However, as the Civil War ended and Reconstruction began, slaves were not easily assimilated into Southern culture. Thus, O’Connor grew up in a highly racist area that mourned the fact that slaves were now to be treated as “equals.” In her everyday life in Georgia, O’Connor encountered countless citizens who were not shy in expressing their discontent toward the black race. This indeed was a guiding influence and inspiration in her fiction writing. The other guiding influence in her life that became a major theme in her writing was religion. Flannery O 'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, the only child of a Catholic family. The region was part of the 'Christ-haunted ' Bible belt of the Southern States. The spiritual heritage of the region profoundly shaped O 'Connor 's writing as described in her essay "The Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South" (1969). Many

Characterization is the most prevalent component used for the development of themes in Flannery O?Connor?s satirical short story ?Good Country People.? O?Connor artistically cultivates character development throughout her story as a means of creating multi-level themes that culminate in allegory. Although the themes are independent of each other, the characters are not; the development of one character is dependent upon the development of another. Each character?s feelings and behavior are influenced by the behavior of the others.

Flannery O’Connor was born on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia. She was an American writer. O’Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories in her life time. She was a southern writer who wrote in Southern Gothic style. In the Article, Female Gothic Fiction Carolyn E. Megan asks Dorothy Allison what Southern Gothic is to her and she responded with, “It’s a lyrical tradition. Language. Iconoclastic, outrageous as hell, leveled with humor. Yankees do it, but Southerners do it more. It’s the grotesque.”(Bailey 1) Later she was asked who one of her role models was and she stated that Flannery O’Connor was one she could relate to. One of O’Connor’s stronger works was “Good Country People” which was published in 1955.

Flannery O'Connor uses many of the same elements in almost all of her short stories. I will analyze her use of violence leading to the main character experiencing moral redemption. The use of redemption comes from the religious background of Flannery O'Connor. Violence in her stories is used as a means of revelation to the main character's inner self. The literature of Flannery O'Connor appears to be unbelievably harsh and violent. Her short stories characteristically conclude with horrific fatalities or an individual's emotional ruin. In all three of the stories, "Good Country People", "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", and "Revelation" the main characters experience some