“The Salt of the Earth”: Feminism and New Historicism in Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People”

The story “Good Country People”, by Flannery O’Conner is a work that uses characterization in a new and interesting way to help shape and present the characters of this story. One of the main characters is Hulga Hopewell, also known as Joy Hopewell. This characters name plays a very ironic role in the story. Through the use of such a peculiar name O’Conner helps to develop and build the characteristics of Hulga. In the story “Good Country People” the use of the name Hulga (Joy) Hopewell helps to further build upon the characterization of Hulga and give the reader a deeper understanding of the character.

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.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find," by Flannery O'Connor, shows a family trip to Florida which end to an unexpected death at the end of the story. In the progression of this story, O’Connor has presented women as naïve with graceful images. Women are presented as the weaker sex while men are given more importance and powerful roles. In this regard this story can be viewed as feministic point of view. Feminism is self-awareness among women about women’s rights on the base of political, social, and economic equality to men (Thompson 18). Feminist Criticism offers a Unique understanding of Flannery O'Connor’s short story A Good Man is Hard to Find because it reflects

Mary Flannery O’Connor is considered one of the most successful short story writers in history. She composed her works during a period of prosperity and economic boom following World War II. Although the economy was thriving, the 1950’s were a period of struggle for women’s rights, as well as other minorities. (Digital History) Based on her success, one could conclude O’Connor exceeded all barriers against women during the fifties. Flannery O’Connor’s life experiences based on her faith, her novels, and the time period of the 1950’s contribute to her unique writing style.

Flannery O’Connor introduces her reader’s too unique short stories. They are “Good Country People” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, having too similar characters in different setting, but with the same symbolic meaning. The comparison between Hugla from “Good Country People” to the grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to find” is interesting, because they both suffer the same fate. In every short story O’Connor has created a intellectual individual who comes to a realization that their beliefs in there ability to control their lives and the lives of other are false. They enviably become the vulnerable, whereas they assumed it would be different. O’Connor has placed two misguide characters, that deem themselves to be manipulative and compulsive. At the end up of each short story they become vulnerable. Hugla from “Good Country People” and the grandmother from “A Good

Our Life is a matter of choices. Live well and have faith and it will never go wrong. Our lives can be full of crazy ups and downs that shape our views on how life should be lived. With a similar ideology, author Flannery O’Connor’s depicts her own life struggles using different aspects and details throughout her novels and short stories. O’Connor lived by the basis that life must go on no matter the hardships. In her novels she represented various characters who made wrong choices and due to those choices suffered extreme negative consequences. Despite her struggles, O’Connor made the choice to continue on in her life yet many of her novels contradicted that same idea by having characters in her novels and short stories suffer consequences for making the wrong choices. Because the

Flannery O’Connor was a short story author from Savannah, Georgia. She has produced many critically acclaimed pieces and has won several awards for them. Two distinct pieces she wrote are titled The Life You Save May Be Your Own and Good Country People. While both of her stories are unique, the underlying storyboard and character creation process that O’Connor used is the same throughout her stories. Her stories usually involve one or more self-centered woman, a younger person who become the victim of egregious crime, and a conniving male driven by his own motives. Good Country People and The Life You Save May Be Your Own do not stray from this rule. In either story, the narrative is driven around a shocking tragedy that is very unexpected. Even though in the tragedies committed in the book always have a belligerent and a victim, it is not easy to discern who amongst the two are the antagonist and the protagonist. In either of these narratives, the tragedy that occurred within the stories blurs the line between antagonist and protagonist.

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.

Characterization is the biggest component that helps build on the themes of identity in the short story “Good Country People” written by Flannery O’connor. The theme itself is dependent where as the characters are independent of each other. The characters behaviors build within each other.

Some critics have argued that Richard Wright’s women are “flat, one dimensional stereotypes, portrayed primarily in terms of their relationship to the male character”. (Quote, p540) However, in Uncle Tom’s Children, Wright resents three very distinct types of female characters who did not fit this description. Wright portrays women as an Avenger, a Sufferer and a Mother figure whose actions propel the stories to their final conclusion. In the story “Bright and Morning Star” Wright places the protagonist, Aunt Sue, in a domestic environment. “Her hands followed a lifelong ritual of toil” (pg222) as she cleans and cooks. Interestingly, Aunt Sue is the only heroine in the stories, who shows a different type of bravery than perhaps shown by

Glaspell develops the theme of gender roles by what Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters fret about at the crime scene. For instance, the first concern that Mrs. Peters voices revolves around Mrs. Wright’s fruit preserves and implies that the women are housekeepers. Both the Sheriff and Mr. Hale remark about how the women are “worryin’ about her preserves” and “worrying over trifles” (Glaspell 3). Later, when the men go upstairs to look for evidence, the women decide to bring Mrs. Wright’s apron, fruit, shawl, and quilt for her in prison. To further establish Mrs. Wright as a domesticated housewife, Mrs. Peters suggests that Mrs. Wright wants her apron “to make her feel more natural” (Glaspell 5). Because of what Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discuss at the crime scene, Glaspell verifies that the women play the role of housekeeper and cook.

Writing from very different perspectives, O'Connor and Walker have both captured something of significance about country people, the South, and the relationships between mothers and their daughters. Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is about an African-American family that consists of a mother, Mrs. Johnson and her two daughters, Dee-Wangero and Maggie whereas Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People” is comprised of a Southern white family of a mother, Mrs. Hopewell, and her daughter Joy-Hulga. Joy-Hulga and Dee-Wangero both fought with their families and experienced emotional conflicts themselves. The link of the two stories and the characters is that Joy-Hulga and Dee-Wangero are educated women who both look down on their families, wish to

A Critical Character Analysis of Flannery O 'Connor 's “Good Country People”, “A Good Man is Hard to find”, "Everything That Rises Must Converge".

The political differences that were kin to the geographical locations between the North and the South strongly dictate the representation of the role a woman held within Victorian society. The calm country setting of the South created an obedient and domestic representation of women, while the hardships of urbanization in the North forced women to take on a more masculine role –where working is more typical and accepted –thus demonstrating the role of women in the North as more independent than women of the South, but still obedient to men. The female heroine of North and South, Margaret Hale, exemplifies the traditional role of a Victorian woman as demonstrated by Ellis’ The Daughters of England, where the “proper sphere” of women is within the “private and domestic life” and not the political or public world which is the sphere belonging to men (103). However, Margaret only demonstrates these expected Victorian womanly constraints when she is living in the South in Helstone. Once Margaret transgresses the geographical and physical boundaries of the South into the North (Milton), she breaks free from her expected gender role as the ‘quiet and obedient’ woman that the Victorian era stressed so heavily as ideal, and becomes part of the political and public sphere that is dominated by men. Once in the North, Margaret Hale is forced to adapt to Milton’s social standards which has her embodying a more masculine role in order to claim agency. Through Margaret’s constant