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Techniques of Narrative essay
Techniques of Narrative essay
How to analyze dramatic irony
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The story, “Good Country People,” by Flannery O’Connor, is a third person limited narration which means the reader can only look into the mind of only a few of the characters. Those characters are Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga, or Joy. Schmoop discusses a deeper understanding about the narrator of the story. “The third-person narrator of "Good Country People" sees into the minds of Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga, but it presents Mrs. Freeman and Manley—the other two main characters—mostly through Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga's eyes. That's the limited part of the narrator's omniscience: It hops into some heads, but not all” (Shmoop Editorial Team). Another interesting factor about this story is the irony and tone in this story and how it adds toward each character. …show more content…
For example, in the beginning of the story, the narrator starts by talking about Mrs. Freeman. “Besides the neutral expressions that she wore when she was alone, Mrs. Freeman had two others, forward and reverse, that she used for all her human dealings” (433). The irony in this first line is that she is a “Freeman,” yet only has three different expressions. Another example of an irony that is easily noticeable is when Mrs. Hopewell considered Manley Pointer as “good country people.” “He was just good country people, you know” (441). The irony in this line is that in the end, Manley Pointer, whom is supposedly is “good country people,” ends up being a thief who steals Hulga’s prosthetic leg and runs and not only steals, but admits that he is not a Christian, making the line, “good country people,” a dramatic irony. However, one of the most ironic characters in the story is Hulga herself as she understands little of herself, regardless of the high education she holds in philosophy. For example, Hulga imagines that Pointer is easily seduced. “During the night she had imagined that she seduced him” (442). Yet, when they kissed, she was the one who was seduced and having the “extra surge of adrenaline… that enables one to carry a packed trunk out of a burning house…” …show more content…
Hopewell and Joy-Hulga, but also contains a humorous, yet judgmental tone in the story that defines the characters, mostly in Hulga. Hulga is considered the most ironic character in the story because of the little understanding she has of herself regardless of how well educated she is. She may consider herself the smartest woman in the story and may have pride in herself but what she doesn’t know is that Manley, a man who ironically sells Bibles and yet, is not a Christian, proves Hulga wrong in the end and makes her the one with stupidity. Using third person limited allows the reader to gather a deeper understanding of characters by using other characters that know them better than themselves. Overall, it is highly important to dig deeper into the story regarding narration by asking, who is narrating and why is his/her perception important and how does tone and irony contribute to the characters. In this case, the tone and irony gives the reader a better understanding of each individual character, both antagonist and
Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" is a story told through the examination of the relationships between the four main characters. All of the characters have distinct feelings about the others, from misunderstanding to contempt. Both Joy-Hulga, the protagonist, and Manley Pointer, the antagonist, are multi-faceted characters. While all of the characters have different levels of complexity, Joy-Hulga and Manley Pointer are the deepest and the ones with the most obvious facades.
“Good Country People” is a story about Joy Hopewell, a very well educated young woman living in the rural south. Joy lost a leg in a hunting accident when she was ten and since then had been forced to wear a wooden replacement. She also had a weak heart and it was this affliction that forced her to remain amongst these “good country people” whom she considered to be intellectual inferiors. Though she had great confidence in her intelligence she had very little self-esteem. Joys’ handicap made her feel ugly, so ugly that much to her mothers’ dismay, she had her name legally changed to the ugliest one she could think of, Hulga. One day a traveling bible salesman named Manley Pointer made a sales call and ended up having dinner with the family.
O’Connor, Flannery. “Essays and Letters On ‘Good Country People’” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 6th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2007. 233-234.
O’connor, Flannery. "Good Country People" The Bedford Introduction To Literature, 5th ed. Ed, Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,1999. 393-406
O’Connor, Flannery. "Good Country People.” The Story and Its Writer. Charters, Ann. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/ST. Martin's, 2011. 662-676. Print.
In “Good Country People” there are two characters who believe that they are superior to others. Mrs. Hopewell describes herself as having “no bad qualities of her own” (DiYanni pg.189). She also takes it upon herself to categorize the people she meets as either, “good country people” or “trash,” (pg.188, 189).There do not seem to be any shades of grey in her thinking. Joy/Hulga Hopewell also sees herself as superior, but her superiority lies in her intellect. She makes it known that were it not for her ill health she would be at a university teaching people who “knew what she was talking about” (pg. 191). Although Joy/Hulga believes herself to be intellectually superior she is fooled by the Bible salesman to such an extent that he is able to steal her wooden leg (pg. 200).
The names that O’Connor used throughout the story “Good Country People” gives the reader a quick glimpse into the character’s personality and their purpose in the story. From Mrs. Freeman as free to Mrs. Hopewell as hope, O’Connor placed a great deal of thought into each of the character’s names that were used in story. Her ultimate purpose for choosing each of the names was to a affirm Christian values, while at the same time lowering the view of the nonspiritual way of
Joy/Hulga, as the story?s main character, is the singly most significant character to the themes of this story. She is characterized as brilliant and academically sophisticated, yet naïve to the feelings and motivations of others. Ironically, Hulga has a Ph.D. in philosophy, yet she has a very narrow view of her world and no insight into other people?s true character. This contrast in Hulga?s character is the topic of one of the story?s themes: academic knowledge is not to be confused with common sense.
Beginning with Mrs. Hopewell, the title of the story comes from what she likes to call the poorer and less fortunate people that live off the land and work their whole lives just to hang on to some scrap of a life. This is how she views these people. She believes that they are good country people not a bad seed among them, that they are all eager to help out and bow in humility to the upper class. The gullible nature of Mrs. Hopewell betrays her true vision of a situation. She is one of those people who are all goody-goody to people who they view as less fortunate. She’s a person that commends or speaks for the people she knows nothing about. Altogether this is her true weakness that is taken advantage of by Manley Pointer. One of ...
In the beginning of the story we are told that Joy is Mrs. Hopewell’s daughter, and she has an artificial leg. Joy is highly educated she is also quite bitter. Joy first revels her utter rudeness when she calls Mrs Freeman’s Daughters Glynese and Carramane, Glycerin and Caramel.
She believes that having faith in God is for the inferior “creatures” of the “Good People Country.” She claims that she is experienced and so, she does not need to have faith. She believes that there is no good or evil. On the other hand, Manley is a man of faith. Manley Pointer, the traveling Bible salesman, represents the Christian morality in the “Good People Country.” Manley uses his Christian faith to get the things that he need including food, money and Hugla. Manley seduces Hugla, but she claims that he does not appeal to her emotions. Hugla learns the hard way that there is evil when Manley took her leg and refused to give her back. She realizes that this world has both good and bad. Manleys’ Christian identity turns out to be fake. Manley seems to be a con artist who uses the Christian character to win not only sexual favors from Hulga but also her prosthetic leg. Hulga’s manner of dressing brings conflict between her and her mother. Mrs. Hopewell thinks that the dress her daughter is wearing is for a six-year old. This behavior shows that despite Hulgas’ Ph.D and changing her identity by name she still behaves like a small child. Joy’s name change to Hulga was also a cause of conflict between her and her mother. Mrs. Hopewell saw these actions as immature and rebellious. Mrs. Hopewell feels that her daughter pondered until she decided to give herself the ugliest name she
In "Good Country People," Flannery O'Connor skillfully presents a story from a third-person point of view, in which the protagonist, Joy-Hulga, believes that she is not one of those good country people. Joy is an intelligent and educated but emotionally troubled young woman, struggling to live in a farm environment deep in the countryside of the southeast United States, where she feels that she does not belong. Considering herself intellectually superior to the story's other characters, she experiences an epiphany that may lead her to reconsider her assumptions. Her experience marks a personal transition for her and constitutes the story's theme--the passage from naïveté to knowledge.
Hulga’s wooden leg is symbolic for her fractured identity. Reviewing over the novel, “Mrs. Hopewell excused this attitude because of the leg (which had been shot off in a hunting accident when Joy was ten)” (O’Connor 274). With Joy loses her leg at such a tender age, it affected her lifestyle in many different ways. It changed the way she thought of herself because she was not comfortable in her skin. Hulga was not able to participate in activities that other kids were growing up could. The identity question of who Joy was and who she was starting at such a developing age. When Mr. Pointer took Joy into the woods to a tree house, "When the salesman insists that she show him her love is true by taking off her wooden leg, Hulga mistakenly trusts in love for the first time" (Leigh 369). The way Hulga looked, shows how much of a change in her comfort zone was brought out. It convinced the audience that for the first time someone made Mrs. Hulga feel the vitality of
Hopewell or Hulga. The narrator throughout the story seems to square in on the bad qualities of the characters, like when describing Mrs. Freeman as annoying through Mrs. Hopewell’s view, saying “Nothing had been arrived at by anyone that had not first been arrived at by her” (O’Connor 1) Here Mrs. Hopewell listing as well as emphasizes the characteristics she doesn’t like about Mrs. Freeman, not only making Mrs. Freeman look bad, but also making Mrs. Hopewell look bad as well by making her seem like a judgemental person. The readers are also given a pessimistic view on Hulga’s character, like when stated that “Mrs. Freeman’s relish for using the name only irritated her” (O’Connor 2), this gives the impression that Hulga has a sense of selfishness and is easily bothered. The narrator, however, makes it known that these characters aren’t all bad, like when a sympathetic spot is made when talking about Hulga’s heart condition the readers are informed that “with the best of care, Joy might see forty-five” (O’Connor 3). When giving this character a sense of vulnerability, the readers can see that Hulga has somewhat of an excuse for her behavior. By providing a good with the bad narration style, the readers are more likely to trust what the narrator is saying, since they reveal everything about the
In “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Conner, education, religion, and physical attributes play a major role in forming ones’ identity. “Good Country People” is a fairly complex story of life presented as a simple tale about good country people. Religion being one of the most prominent beliefs playing contradictory roles in the main characters of the story, however, the important part is the false impressions Hulga and Manley Pointer have created for themselves. Education and religion show both positive and negative throughout the story, the author shows the differences in the characters and how much education plays factor in the two main characters’ lives, and that religion is not always used for good. Those two points by themselves are very