Naïveté in Flannery O'Connor’s Good Country People Essay

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. I. The Kitchen A. Introduction of the characters B. Symbolic use of names in Free.man and Hope.well C. Introduction of the outside world II. The Bible Salesman A. The façade of names B. The absence of other men C. Separation from the Outside world III. The Barn Loft A. Opening the gate for failure…

Flannery O’Connor was a southern belle born in Savannah, Georgia in 1925. She was a Catholic girl living in the Bible belt of the country. She lived in “two different worlds” (Meyer, 421); the fictional world that she created for her stories and her personal life. In her stories, she used exciting characters so that she could live through them and live an “interesting” life. She uses her stories to portray totally unanticipated, but totally plausible things. “O’Connor’s stories present complex experiences…

The Significance of Names in Flannery 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…

Feminism and Historicism play a major part in Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “Good Country People”, first published in 1955. The story focuses on the importance of identity and the parallels between truth and deception. In “Good Country People”, the Hopewell family, maintain a small farm in rural Georgia with the help of tenants the Freemans. The pious Mrs. Hopewell’s mottos ‘nothing is perfect’ and ‘it takes all kinds to make the world’ are manifested in her unmarried thirty-two year old daughter…

The Modernist South “Good Country People” is a short story written by the Modernist writer Flannery O’Connor. According to The Critics, “Good Country People” is a bildungsroman where the main character, Joy, experiences a brief journey that matures her view of the world. Joy or “Hulga” is a well educated, philosophical woman of thirty-two,but as the story begins, she is portrayed as an immature adult whose maturity level has been stunted due to a childhood accident that left her emotionally scarred…

“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…

Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" In "Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor, uses symbolism in the choice of names, almost to the point of being ironic and humorous. These names center around the personality and demeanor of the characters. Hulga, once known as Joy, simply changed her name because it was the ugliest she could think of. Mrs. Freeman's name is ironic because she is burdened by the land that she works, so is not really free. Mrs. Hopewell?s name is also ironic…

Within Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People”, one would find many paradigms of imitations and foolishness and none of the “good country” personalities the title so tries to imply and uphold. This short story encompasses the lives of these false characters, each tried and fated within the hardship named life, but no retribution so necessary than Hulga’s. Her flamboyant distress of distinction and judgment alters her state of belief and turns it into an ironic form of Nihilism, or faith in nothing…

Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" has a steady demonstration of irony, much of it based on the title of the story. Ignorance is also a major issue in the work, both Ms. Freeman and Ms. Hopewell exhibit this clearly. However ironically, Hulga exhibits this with her knowledge. She takes pride in her own intellect and in her knowledge of existentialism. Hulga's existentialist ideas come crashing down because of her naïveté and lack of dependence on others. Hulga believes she is self sustained…

Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People,” describes the lives of a mother, Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter, Joy and the irony of their relationship. This passage from the short story expounds on their character development through details of their lives. The selected paragraph uses a matter-of-fact tone to give more information about Mrs. Hopewell and Joy. Flannery O’Connor has given an objective recount of the story, which makes the third person narrator a reliable source. Mrs. Hopewell’s feelings…