Analysis of Good Country People by Flannery OConnor

Analysis of Good Country People by Flannery OConnor Good Country People by Flannery OConnor (1925–1964) is a story, in part, about the dangers of mistaking platitudes for original insights. The story, first published in 1955, presents three characters whose lives are governed by the platitudes they embrace or reject: Mrs. Hopewell, who speaks almost exclusively in cheerful clichà ©sHulga (Joy), Mrs. Hopewells daughter, who defines herself solely in opposition to her mothers platitudesA Bible salesman, who turns the clichà ©d beliefs of the unsuspecting mother and daughter against them Mrs. Hopewell Early in the story, OConnor demonstrates that Mrs. Hopewells life is governed by upbeat but empty sayings: Nothing is perfect. This was one of Mrs. Hopewells favorite sayings. Another was: that is life! And still another, the most important, was: well, other people have their opinions too. She would make these statements [†¦] as if no one held them but her [†¦] Her statements are so vague and obvious as to be almost meaningless, except, perhaps, to convey an overall philosophy of resignation. That she fails to recognize these as clichà ©s suggest how little time she spends reflecting on her own beliefs. The character of Mrs. Freeman provides an echo chamber for Mrs. Hopewells statements, thereby emphasizing their lack of substance. OConnor writes: When Mrs. Hopewell said to Mrs. Freeman that life was like that, Mrs. Freeman would say, I always said so myself. Nothing had been arrived at by anyone that had not first been arrived at by her. We are told that Mrs. Hopewell liked to tell people certain things about the Freemans - that the daughters are two of the finest girls she knows and that the family is good country people. The truth is that Mrs. Hopewell hired the Freemans because they were the only applicants for the job. The man who served as their reference openly told Mrs. Hopewell that Mrs. Freeman was the nosiest woman ever to walk the earth. But Mrs. Hopewell continues to call them good country people because she wants to believe they are. She almost seems to think that repeating the phrase will make it true. Just as Mrs. Hopewell seems to want to reshape the Freemans in the image of her favorite platitudes, she also seems to want to reshape her daughter. When she looks at Hulga, she thinks, There was nothing wrong with her face that a pleasant expression wouldnt help. She tells Hulga that a smile never hurt anyone and that people who looked on the bright side of things would be beautiful even if they were not, which could be insulting. Mrs. Hopewell views her daughter entirely in terms of clichà ©s, which seems guaranteed to make her daughter reject them. Hulga-Joy Mrs. Hopewells greatest platitude is perhaps her daughters name, Joy. Joy is grumpy, cynical and utterly joyless. To spite her mother, she legally changes her name to Hulga, partly because she thinks it sounds ugly. But just as Mrs. Hopewell continually repeats other sayings, she insists on calling her daughter Joy even after her name is changed, as if saying it will make it true. Hulga cant stand her mothers platitudes. When the Bible salesman is sitting in their parlor, Hulga tells her mother, Get rid of the salt of the earth [†¦] and lets eat. When her mother instead turns down the heat under the vegetables and returns to the parlor to continue singing the virtues of real genuine folks way out in the country, Hulga can be heard groaning from the kitchen. Hulga makes it clear that if it werent for her heart condition, she would be far from these red hills and good country people. She would be in a university lecturing to people who knew what she was talking about. Yet she rejects one clichà © – good country people – in favor of one that sounds superior but is equally trite – people who knew what she was talking about. Hulga likes to imagine herself as being above her mothers platitudes, but she reacts so systematically against her mothers beliefs that her atheism, her Ph.D. in philosophy and her bitter outlook begin to seem as thoughtless and trite as her mothers sayings. The Bible Salesman Both the mother and the daughter are so convinced of the superiority of their perspectives that they dont recognize theyre being duped by the Bible salesman. Good country people is meant to be flattering, but its a condescending phrase. It implies that the speaker, Mrs. Hopewell, somehow has the authority to judge whether someone is good country people or, to use her word, trash. It also implies that the people being labeled this way are somehow simpler and less sophisticated than Mrs. Hopewell. When the Bible salesman arrives, he is a living example of Mrs. Hopewells sayings. He uses a cheerful voice, makes jokes, and has a pleasant laugh. In short, hes everything Mrs. Hopewell advises Hulga to be. When he sees that hes losing her interest, he says, People like you dont like to fool with country people like me! Hes hit her in her weak spot. Its as if hes accused her of not living up to her own cherished platitudes, and she overcompensates with a flood of clichà ©s and an invitation to dinner. Why! she cried, good country people are the salt of the earth! Besides, we all have different ways of doing, it takes all kinds of make the world go round. Thats life! The salesman reads Hulga as easily as he reads Mrs. Hopewell, and he feeds her the clichà ©s she wants to hear, saying that he likes girls that wear glasses and that Im not like these people that a serious thought dont ever enter their heads. Hulga is as condescending toward the salesman as her mother is. She imagines that she can give him a deeper understanding of life because [t]rue genius [†¦] can get an idea across even to an inferior mind. In the barn, when the salesman demands that she tell him she loves him, Hulga feels pity, calling him poor baby and saying, Its just as well you dont understand. But later, faced with the evil of his actions, she falls back on her mothers clichà ©s. Arent you, she asks him, just good country people? She never valued the good part of country people, but like her mother, she assumed the phrase meant simple. He responds with his own clichà ©d tirade. I may sell Bibles but I know which end is up and I wasnt born yesterday and I know where Im going! His certainty mirrors - and therefore calls into question - Mrs. Hopewells and Hulgas.

The Glass Menagerie Amanda Analysis Essays

The Glass Menagerie Amanda Analysis Essays The Glass Menagerie Amanda Analysis Paper The Glass Menagerie Amanda Analysis Paper Essay Topic: The Glass Menagerie Mantas controlling behavior is what drove Mr.. Winnfield away, and is now s erring her son, Tom, toward a similar escape. This essay will explore several Of the symbols, b e they objects or events, Tennessee Williams uses to illustrate Amanda Winnfield as a character who, tragically, cannot move forward from her past. Two objects that really stand out are the cheap or imitation velvety looking CLC 10th coats, and especially the imitation fur collar that she always wears when going out in society (Scene II peg. 55). Both of them represent that Amanda is still trying to live in her pa SST as a southern belle with fancy clothing because they are both imitations of her past glam r and lavish clothes. One event that shows us that Amanda wants to remain a youthful bell el also occurs in the beginning of the play as well: it tells us that she resurrected [a dress] from that old trunk! (Williams, Scene VI, Peg. 769) and talks about receiving seventeen gentlemen c lealer one Sunday afternoo n in Blue Mountain. This shows that she is stubborn and is willing to do anything to convince herself that she is still the belle she once was. Vicar 2 Another important event that occurs in the beginning of the play is that we el ran that Amanda spends a lot of her time gazing at Mr.. Windshields portrait. Perhaps the is means that she misses Mr.. Winnfield even if she refuses to admit Also in Scene Ill, Amanda is described as wearing a very old bathrobe of the faithless Mr. Winnfield (Williams, Scene Ill, Peg; 759), so we can assume that Amanda is haunted by the rejection of the love of her life and the memory of her absent husband. Williams uses Mantas behavior towards Tom to show that she cares because she doesnt want him to turn out like his father. She badgers him to behave the way she expects him to, how to eat, where to go, and how to get ahead in his job, but as a result of Mantas controlling nature, the Winnfield family gets into a complicated situ action and all Tom wants to do is escape from the apartment, from this suffocating life ultimately Williams uses three symbols that reveal and develop Mantas character. On e is the character Jim OConnor: for Amanda, Jim represents the days of her youth, who en she went frolicking about picking flowers and supposedly having seventeen gentlemen callers on one Sunday afternoon because he reminds her of the life she once had, carefree a ND filled with affections and the attention of gentlemen callers. Another symbol is flowers, articulacy jonquils because Amanda always talks about them when mentioning her past. Lastly, t he apartments fire escape symbolizes the way for Amanda Winnfield to bring a man into the ho SE to save herself and her daughter from the fate Of becoming a spinster. She is always expecting g gentlemen callers to come and court Laura as they had when Amanda was her daughters age. Not one gentleman caller? It cant be true! There must be a flood, there must have been a tornado ! LAURA: It isnt a flood, its not a tornado, Mother. Im just not popular like you were in Blue Mountain (Williams, Scene I, Peg. 755). Vicar 3 The universal truth that learn from Williams The Glass Menagerie is that perhaps sadly, like Amanda, we all cling to the past, especially when we do not want to face reality or if We are in a difficult situation.