Good Country People And Everyday Use: A Literary Analysis

There are various things that make up a piece of literature. For example: choice of diction, modes of discourse, and figurative language. Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano were great examples of authors that used these elements of literature. There are similarities and differences in A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson and From Africa to America. Though Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano shared similarities in experiences, they had different writing personalities, purposes, attitudes, tones, and relations with their communities.

Although the stories’ main components mirror each other, they still differentiate. For example, in “The Devil and Tom Walker,” everyone believes Tom has made a deal with the devil, whereas in “Young Goodman Brown,” the author questions the actuality

Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use” is a story decipating family and heritage. She released the story with a collection of other short stories called In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. This collection revealed Walker to be one of the finest of late twentieth century American short-story writers (Phy-Olsen). According to Cowart, the story address itself “to the dilemma of African Americans who are striving to escape prejudice and poverty.” One of the main characters, Dee, made drastic changes and would like her mother and sister to see things her way. Dee’s statement to her mother and sister regarding their disregard of heritage is very ironic considering the fact her name is a part of the family’s history, her new behavior, and her

"Good Country People" by Flanner O’Connor is an excellent example of the effective use of irony and character development. From start to finish there is a steady progression of irony that stems from the title of Good Country People. Some instances of irony are blatant, but others need a closer reading to find. It’s amazing the complexity of the characters that occurs in such a short span of pages. The success of “Good Country People” comes not only from O’Connor’s use of irony but also from the interplay among and the complexity of her main characters.

In the short story by O’connor, “Good Country People”, religion plays a major role in every aspect. From the characters all the way to the objects that are introduced in the story. The main characters which are Hulga and Manley have complete opposite views in life but Manley pretends he has the same as Hulga in order to accomplish his goal which O’connor puts into the story as dark humor in order to set a tone at the end of the story. In order for this to happen O’connor makes Manley a character which does not believe in religion at all and he pretends to be this good old country guy who is selling bibles and stumbles along the very unstable home of Hulga. Now Hulga in the other hand is a character that has minor religion beliefs but is a very isolated person who believes that everything has no meaning in the world according to Carle K. (55-56)

The story 'Everyday Use', written by Alice Walker, is a story of heritage, pride, and learning what kind of person you really are. In the exposition, the story opens with background information about Dee and Maggie's life, which is being told by Mama. The reader learns that Dee was the type of child that had received everything that she wanted, while Maggie was the complete opposite. The crisis, which occurs later in the story, happens when Dee all of a sudden comes home a different person than she was when she left. During the Climax, Mama realizes that she has often neglected her other child, Maggie, by always giving Dee what she wants. Therefore, in the resolution, Mama defends Maggie by telling Dee that she cannot have the

There are many themes within Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Good Country People”. Religion is definitely one of the more prominent themes that the story holds. Like most of O’Connor’s works, it plays a big part in the actions or characteristics of the main characters. This is all on the surface however. The more important and less accentuated theme is the various facades the characters create for themselves. These facades prevent them from facing their true “grotesque” selves. These facades also hide their weaknesses that they have no wish to face ort just can’t understand. People must be comfortable with every aspect of themselves, because certain people, who in this story

The short story “Good Country People” wrote by Flannery O’Connor is a story that shows many underlining themes about the people around us. One of the many underlying themes is that it shows that people are not always who they say they are, we see this when Hulga/Joy meets the Bible salesman, Manley Pointer. Also, people should not judge others by their looks, we see this when Hulga and Mrs. Hopewell think they are superior over everyone else. Throughout the story, Flannery O’Connor uses his description of characters, dialogue, and the use of the reality he created to show the underlying theme of the story.

Everyday Use begins with the narrator, Mrs. Johnson, saying that she will wait for her daughter Dee in the yard that she and Maggie made clean and wavy the day before (Walker, 1973). This first sentence shows the great lengths in which Mrs. Johnson and Maggie go to in order to make Dee happy. Having grown up this way, Dee has a feeling of entitlement. Maggie is nervous about Dee coming to visit. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that “no” is a word the world never learned to say to her (Walker, 1973). When the girls were younger, Maggie was burned badly in a house fire, leaving scars down her arms and legs. The scars on her body had not only damaged her body but her confidence as well.

A daughter who uses her mother's gifts in contrast to a daughter who preserves them, is far more valuable just like in “Everyday use” by Alice Walker because heritage values can be preserved. From here on, Walker utilizes a prideful tone which later shifts into an authoritative tone by illustrating a proud mother who becomes defensive because of her modern daughter’s opposing views.

The reading of other texts contributes to creating meaning for other texts. An example of this is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this novel is more easily understood when it is compared and contrasted to other literature works, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The aspects of the two novels that can be compared and contrasted are the plot development, characterisation, setting, narrative point of view, writer's context and themes and issues.

The short story “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor reveals that evil comes in many disguises and that it will try to harm believers and even nonbelievers. Manley Pointer’s character serves as evil and is similar to the serpent in the bible. Manley Pointer has crafty evil ways, he is malicious, and deceitful just as the serpent was to Adam and Eve in the Bible.

Realism, Naturalism, and Regionalism are just a few examples of the many styles of writing that exist. Each style of writing deals with a specific time period. Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat”, Henry James’s “Daisy Miller”, and Mary E Wilkins Freeman’s “The Revolt of Mother” are just a few examples of the literary works that represent these time periods. These literary works are perfect examples of the specific time periods each writing style was popular among certain authors. These stories allow readers to compare the modern times that we live in currently to the period these authors were in. They also allow the reader to branch out and be different.

narration. At first, I had no idea where this story was going to take the reader. The

“Everyday Use” is a short story written by a 1940’s black writer, Alice Walker. She did a fantastic job illustrating her characters. There are different types of character in her story from round to static. Her use of clear-cut symbolism prompts the reader to be able to take a deeper look into the characters of the story. When reading this story I felt anger for Dee, while for the narrator and Maggie I felt sympathy.