Good Country People; An Insightful Glimpse

Essay by wmstaneyUniversity, Bachelor'sA, May 2004

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Throughout many of the literary works of Flannery O'Connor, one can catch the reflections of her own life spread throughout the stories and characters she creates. The themes she deals with are often ones that she struggled with in her own day to day life. O'Connor's piece, Good Country People, is no exception. One of the main characters, Joy, or Hulga as she preferred to be called, is a logical positivist only taking into account things that are right in front of her face. She feels that faith in things that cannot be explain by fact, such as God or love, are merely illusions, a weakness only simple minded people fall prey to. Her perception leaves nothing to look forward to in life, nothing to anticipate, nothing but nothing.

The notion that this world is in itself the be-all and the end-all was considered an absurdity to Flannery O'Connor and she was not slow to correct anyone who might challenge her ideologies.

This message is found recurring again and again in "Good Country People". By examining the different literary devices and literary perspectives used, such as her reverse feministic approach and imbedded contradictions through mirroring characters, one can begin an in depth study of what Flannery O'Connor was trying to get across to her audience.

In an attempt to overcome the stereotypes put upon female authors of her time, Flannery O'Connor made an effort to fashion herself a serious writer worthy of critical attention traditionally denied "lady writers" of the South. Traditionally, the only writers who were worthy of respect and praise at the time that O'Connor wrote some of her best works were men. In an effort to curb some of these prejudices set against her for being a woman, O'Connor wrote with more masculine...