Irony and Characterization in O’Connor’s Good Country People

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

“This is true.” (O’Brien, 420) – with this simple statement which also represents a first, three-word introductory paragraph to Tim O’Brien’s short story, “How to Tell a True War Story”, the author reveals the main problem of what will follow. “Truth” – when looked up in a dictionary, we would probably find definitions similar to sincerity and honesty on the one hand, and correctness, accuracy or reality on the other hand. When looking at these definitions, one can make out two groups of meaning: While sincerity and honesty are very subjective, correctness or accuracy are supposed to be objective by nature. One can be sincere and still not report the truth, due to the simple fact

[I] knew that [my] eyes were filling with tears” (8). This man uses Joy-Hulga’s vulnerability to become closer with her, to tear down walls that she had had up for so long. He began to compliment her in ways she had never heard before, “You’re a brave sweet little thing and I liked you the minute I seen you walk in the door” (11). Soon the man was in Joy-Hulga’s head, “[I] imagined that the two of [us] walked on the place until [we] came to the storage barn beyond the two back fields and there, [I] imagined, that things came to such a pass that [I] very easily seduced him and that then, of course, [I] had to reckon with his remorse” (11). Soon enough the two of them were off on their own, Joy-Hulga had agreed to see him and he used her acceptance to lour her on more. “When they reached the edge of the wood, he put his hand on her back again and drew her against him without a word and kissed her heavily” (13). His kiss was the last step in breaking down Joy-Hulga’s walls, this kiss opened up all the opportunities he needed in order to break away and leave her with nothing but un-fulfilled desires of the life they could have had together. The reader sees Joy-Hulga become smitten with this bible

In Good Country People, the characters that experienced the tragedy can easily fit within either the protagonist or the antagonist box. In the story, the three main characters within the tragic event are a kind old mother, an arrogant disable college grad, and a seemingly simple bible salesman. After O’Connor gives the initial description of the characters, the characteristics that are usually associated with protagonist and antagonist.

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.

For instance, Joy legally changes her name to Hulga. She changes her name from Joy because she does not see herself as beautiful as such a name implies. In fact, the narrator says, "she had thought and thought until she had hit upon the ugliest name in any language" (132). Furthermore, Hulga never wears dresses or anything nice. Instead, she chooses to wear a "six year old skirt and a yellow sweat shirt with a faded cowboy on a horse embossed on it" (133). Hulga does not believe that any amount of makeup or nice clothes can improve upon her ugliness. This low confidence directly derives from her mother's dissatisfaction with her.

The two most important souls in the story "Good Country People" belong to Joy-Hulga and

To begin with, Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People,” describe the live of a mother, Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter, Joy and the irony of their relationship. During this time women were not seen as equal to men as they are in today’s southern society. Women had more of a domestic role, while men were educated and worked to support the family. In O’Connor’s “Good Country People”, the characters in the story provide evidence where they are stereotyping others. For example, the text states “She could not help but feel it would have been better if the child had not taken the Ph.D.” (O’Connor 370). This statement is from Mrs. Hopewell this statement shows how she thinks that education have not had positive affect on Hugla also, she does not have much desire for her daughter education. Than eventually stating “it

O’Connor also poses the contrast between the old and new South in her short story “Good Country People”. Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman represent the old South because of the way in which they carry themselves and their traditional beliefs and values. Mrs. Freeman works for Mrs. Hopewell who states “the reason for her keepin her so long was that they were not trash. They were good country people”(O’Connor 272). Mrs. Hopewell describes Mrs. Freeman and her two daughters as “two of the finest girls she knew and Mrs. Freeman was a lady and that she was never ashamed to take her anywhere or introduce her to anybody they might mett”(O’Connor

Firstly, the main character in this short story is thirty two year old Joy who is now known as Hulga. Her character is described as vulnerable to other people but in her eyes is seen as superior to every other character. The feeling of superiority plays a role with her numerous degrees in philosophy. The perspective of Hulgas identity to other people is indebtedness, this is because of her hunting accident when she was

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

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.

Good Country People by Flannery O’Connor is a story with a lot of ironic elements in it. These are mostly found in the way that the characters depict themselves in contrast of how they truly are. For example, Mrs. Hopewell says that she has no bad qualities of her own, but she is a constant liar is an how she happened to hire the Freemans in the first place and how they were a godsend to her and how she had them for four years. The reason for keeping them for so long was because they were not trash” (O’Connor 247). Mrs. Hopewell is not the only hypocrite in this story; Manley Pointer is also incredibly hypocritical, fake, and manipulative. He depicts himself as a “Bible salesmen”, but in reality he is a con artist. When Hulga opens up his Bible, she sees a flask of whiskey, cards, and condoms in it. This would be seen as incredibly offensive and sinful to a Christian. According to Thomas F. Gusset, “Joy/Hulga begins to discover that the Bible

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

"The representation of the grotesque is a characteristic of much 20th century writing" (Holman 61). Almost all of O 'Connor 's short stories usually end in horrendous, freak fatalities or, at the very least, a character 's emotional devastation. People have categorized O 'Connor 's work as "Southern Gothic" (Walters 30). In Many of her short stories, A Good Man Is Hard To Find for example, Flannery O 'Connor creates grotesque characters to illustrate the evil in people.