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Thematic essay on good country people
Thematic essay on good country people
Interpretations of good country people
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Disabilities Disabilities can come in many forms and can cause many attributes of a person to shift or change over the course of time. Webster’s Dictionary defines disability as “a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities,” as well as, “a disadvantage of handicap, especially one imposed or recognized by the law.” In the short story by Flannery O’Connor, “Good Country People,” we can see described one such person. Joy-Hulga shows both mental and physical conditions of her disability, but also the bravery to overcome her disability. Flannery O’Connor does a fine job showing the readers the difficulties of living with and overcoming a disability. Joy was a young girl when she became disabled. As described in the story, her leg was shot off in a hunting accident when she was just ten years old. Now as a thirty two year old educated woman, Joy’s mental state had been changed due to her disability. “Mrs. Hopewell, (Joy’s mother) was certain that she …show more content…
In the case of Hulga, the physical damage was done at the young age of ten, as told in the story. She was, however, able to care for herself and able to walk with the assistance of a false leg made of wood, and she had had over twenty years to learn to accept her disability. Hulga was, however, very sensitive about her false leg, as she explains to the new male interest in her life, “No one ever touched it but her” (O’Connor 456). The male interest she now had, was met as a Bible salesman, and was very curious and insistent about her false leg. As he continued to pry, Hulga explained, “It joins at the knee. Only at the knee” (O’Connor 456). She exclaimed this to her new beau to set his mind at ease and to keep him interested. The physical damage to her leg was a hindrance, but not a total debilitating disability. This being said, she was still not very interested in sharing information about her false
In her short story, O’Connor uses physical deformities to symbolize the character’s emptiness and a need for something greater such as spiritual fulfillment. Joy, also known as Hulga, is one of the characters in this narrative that has many disabilities. She has a prosthetic leg, a weak heart, and poor eyesight. Her false leg symbolizes pride. O’Connor wrote, “When Hulga stumped into the kitchen in the morning (she could walk without making the awful noise bus she made it-Mrs. Hopewell was certain-because it was ugly sounding); she glanced at them and did not speak” (447). This line suggests that Hulga deliberately makes the noise and does not try to hide her difference. According to Elizabeth Hubbard, a critic, there is more to the false leg than just pride. She wrote, “The leg’s wooden artificiality symbolizes the lack of life or vitality in that in which Hulga places her belief, the purely mechanistic way in which she understands sexuality, the body, and the human” (Hubbard 62). Hulga has never known the love of a man because she constantly looks d...
When an individual has to do a compare and contrast for a short story in the realm of literature, I believe that you have to take into account the deeper meaning in a short story. You have to read between the lines, one has to know what the symbols and what metaphors are. “A symbol is something that has a literal identity, but also stands for something else—something abstract—like an idea, a belief, or an emotion. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between one object and another that is different from it.” (Clugston, 2014) The reader needs to know that the author is using figurative language in the short story. Once the individual can understand this, the literature work will be significantly easier to do a compare and contrast essay.
birth. At the age of ten, Joy lost one of her legs in a hunting accident, and
In “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs. She hates to call her handicapped because she believes that hold her back. The author writes, “I certainly don’t like “handicapped,” which implies that I have deliberately been put at a disadvantage, by whom I can’t imagine (my god is not a handicapper general), in order to equalize chances in the great race of life” (21). In other words, she doesn’t want to call her handicapped, because she wants to live her life with equal chances even she’s not. Her positive attitude makes her more active. She’s trying to live a normal life with her disability. She hates being crippled, but she’s trying to get over it. If she had a negative attitude, she wouldn’t write about her own story. She wouldn’t do anything. I believe her positive mindset affects somehow to get rid of something that hold her back. She overcame the effects of her illness through positive attitude. Mairs and Jamison’s thoughts they have shaped their lives either positive way or negative
Mrs. Hopewell reveals to readers that “with the best of care, Joy might see forty-five [because] she has a weak heart” (1343). With Joy’s weak heart, she does not commit herself to men because she might have a fear of the two of them getting too attached, or even married, and her unexpectedly passing away. Joy purposely changes her birth name to an ugly name because she views herself as ugly with her artificial leg and her weak heart, when really, she might be beautiful. This is her way of dealing with her life, in the sense of maybe thinking ‘well I’m going to die at an early age anyways and with my conditions there is nobody out there that would love me so since I’m ugly, I’ll just change my name to an ugly name.’ When, in reality, there is someone out there that would love her just the way she is with her disabilities and all. Even if she is supposed to die at an early age, there is always a slight chance that she might live much longer than the doctors expected her to. In conclusion, the way we view ourselves is not always how others view us. We, especially as women, are much harder on ourselves with our self-image than anyone else would ever
What comes into one’s mind when they are asked to consider physical disabilities? Pity and embarrassment, or hope and encouragement? Perhaps a mix between the two contrasting emotions? The average, able-bodied person must have a different perspective than a handicapped person, on the quality of life of a physically disabled person. Nancy Mairs, Andre Dubus, and Harriet McBryde Johnson are three authors who shared their experiences as physically handicapped adults. Although the three authors wrote different pieces, all three essays demonstrate the frustrations, struggles, contemplations, and triumphs from a disabled person’s point of view and are aimed at a reader with no physical disability.
At the time the United States entered the war, the United States allies were exhausted and running out of soldiers and our involvement, including soldiers, supplies and support helped tip the scale back from Germany. If Germany would have won, it would’ve succeeded as a true world power. There’s many theories as to what Germany would’ve done with Britain, African colonies and Belgium. But it is clear that they would’ve had the power and control for the years leading into World War II. That type of dictatorship would’ve influenced civil rights in terms of religion,race, gender and equality. The United States could be a lot smaller if we had continued out isolation from the
Changing her name also reflects of how she feels about her mother. When Joy was ten years old, she was in a hunting accident where it caused her to have a wooden leg. This deformity causes Joy to view herself as ugly and unattractive. Joy is also detached from life and everything about it and she does not believe in God. Hulga’s belief in nothing, that there is no God, and she believes that she is smarter than all of the country people that she is surrounded by, end up teaching Hulga a valuable lesson. Given an opportunity to show her “power” with the character Manly, a simple-minded Bible salesman, she learns quickly that the person she was planning to manipulate ended up manipulating and making her look like a
In the book, The Short Bus, Jonathan Mooney’s thesis is that there is more to people than their disabilities, it is not restricting nor is it shameful but infact it is beautiful in its own way. With a plan to travel the United States, Mooney decides to travel in a Short bus with intentions of collecting experiences from people who have overcome--or not overcome--being labeled disabled or abnormal. In this Mooney reinvents this concept that normal people suck; that a simple small message of “you’re not normal” could have a destructive and deteriorating effect. With an idea of what disabilities are, Mooney’s trip gives light to disabilities even he was not prepared to face, that he feared.
Alliances is one of the main causes because, at first it was just the Triple Alliance ( Which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy) and the Triple Entente ( Which consisted of the United Kingdom, France and Russia). Germany was worried about one day having to fight a war on both sides(Document A), because they were right in the middle of Russia and France, so on any given day
In the story My Left Foot, Christy Brown was diagnosed at the age of three with cerebral palsy. Many people began to give up on him, but his mother did not. She told everyone that they were all wrong and that he was a normal child. She worked with Christy every chance she could get and tried to teach him how to write and read. One day his mother’s perseverance finally paid off. Christy was playing with his sister and saw her playing with the chalkboard. He wanted to play with it also so he picked up the piece of chalk with his foot and tried to write on the board. He could not get it at first but on th...
To try and offer collective security, NATo and the Warsaw pact were made, but once countries started building their sides, people needed a new form of collective security, thus the race to create a stronger military began and arms race began.
On September 1, 1939, World War II began. Many countries across the world announced their participation in the war. The United States, being a well-known country, was pressured and forced to joining the war for quite some time. Isolationism and interventionism were already existent, dividing the nation, making contemplation longer. Participate-or not? Unfortunately, the United States were visited with an abomination. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; subsequently, the United States concluded they were to join World War II. The United States helped many countries and their participation did not go unnoticed by anyone. The Germans were defeated. However, there are those who are citizens
By definition joy means a great feeling of pleasure and happiness. In Mary Flannery O'Connor's short story Good Country People, Joy Freeman was not at all joyful. Actually, she was the exact opposite. Joy's leg was shot off in a hunting accident when she was ten. Because of that incident, Joy was a stout girl in her thirties who had never danced a step or had any normal good times. (O'Connor 249). She had a wooden leg that only brought her teasing from others and problems in doing daily activities. Joy was very rude as well. In the story it speaks of her comments being so rude and ugly and her face so glum that her mother's boss, Mrs. Hopewell, would tell her if she could not come pleasantly than for her to not come at all. (O'Connor 249).
The alliance system formed when countries were reaching limits on their expansion and ability to grow their military. Countries during this time frequently compared themselves to others; however, they did so to ensure they were increasing in strength at a steady, if not quicker, rate. Western nations preferred to avoid war when possible, especially during the mostly-peaceful period of the 1890s. In order to ensure that they could concentrate on other more important subjects, countries allied with one another, in order to maintain domestic stability while decreasing the fear of a war decimating their economy. By eliminating the risk of going to battle, a New Imperialist nation was afforded the luxury of one less external worry, shifting concentration to internal issues. Countries could focus on fixing the problems that nationalism shielded their population from scrutinizing. The alliance system seemed like a noble idea: countries affiliating with one another to secure dependable relations. These good intentions were soon unnoticeable as the balance of power shifted. The balance of power, a condition in which an equality of power among countries is noted, assures that the threat of attack is null. The evolution of the alliance system, especially in the 1890s, marked “the final stage of the worldwide system of international competition.” Universal