Country Good People - Coursework Example

Country Good People Introduction “Country Good People” is one of Flannery’s most frequent and successful anthologized stories. The author published it in her first short stories and the overall theme focused on family conflicts. It was published in her collection back in 1955. The short story illustrates the themes of moral and evil, how one encounters violence, and folly behind intellectual pretence. The story revolves around Joy who lost her leg in an accident. She undermines everyone in the region in because she is highly educated. The author has reflected her life and history in the themes developed in the story. The first reflection is based her philosophy; religion and environment, while the second reflection is based on her location; southern region of USA. The story is an ideal lesson to the elite. It emphasizes on respect, appreciation, and humility. Joy is the protagonist and thinks to be preferred from her academic achievements. Her prides lead to her lesson. Discussion Mrs. Freeman is a key figure in the story; there are several interactions between her and Mrs. Hopewell. Mrs. Freeman has been working in Mrs. Hopewell’s fields for the last four years. The two frequently communicate in the kitchen when taking breakfast, though Mrs. Freeman is exceptionally noisy. This connection has made Mrs. Freeman be made responsible of the whole household (pg 2). Mrs. Freeman had a neutral tone which she wore when she was alone. Despite that expression, she had other two expressions which she wore when dealing with other human beings. She was quite emotional and had mood swings from time to time. She always pretended to be serious and did not see the need to show the other of her expressions. She had the tendency of thinking that she was right, and all her opponents were wrong (pg 2). Every morning, Mrs. Hopewell woke at around seven o’clock and lit the cooking gas; she also lit the gas that belonged to her young daughter Joy. She treated her like a child though she was 32years old and highly educated. She had an artificial leg because she had lost her leg in a hunting accident in her childhood (page 2). By the time Joy woke up, the mother had been already eating breakfast. Joy would first rush to the bathroom, after she is through with the shower, the mother would ask her to come. At this time, the mother could hear some background whisper from Joy and her other two sisters; Caramel and Glycerin. Glycerin was eighteen and had many admirable features, while Caramel was only fifteen and pregnant. Her mother always complained that she could not keep anything in her stomach because she kept on vomiting. All in all, she was extremely proud of her daughters; Caramel and Glycerin (pg 3). Joy’s mother had many experiences; she had divorced her husband and did not have anyone to accompany her in the fields. There were many farmers working in their fields, and they needed some supervision, this was to ensure they finished their duties in time. Most of these farmers were women and thus extremely noisy. Mrs. Hopewell frequently asked Joy to accompany her in the field, and the response was quite hostile. She gave ugly remarks and changed her face. The mother would get annoyed and respond, “What kind of girl are you? I do not want to see you around here” (pg 3). With time, she excused the attitude because her daughter had a broken leg. This was because all through joys life, she took her as a child and did all that Joy wanted. From childhood, her name was Joy, but when she reached twenty years, she changed it legally to Hugla. Her mother was not happy about it because it was the ugliest name she ever thought of. The pain was severe especially when she remembered how beautiful her previous name was. She had changed her name to Hulga. It was related to battleship (pg 4). At first, Joy tolerated her mother because she saved her from walking in the fields, unlike the other two sisters. She also found it impossible acting rude to Mrs. Freeman. The name Hulga came from Mrs. Freeman who referred Joy as so, when she found her on her ugly face when asked to go to the fields. Joy did not like it, but Mrs. Freeman persisted especially when she was not warned. Mrs. Freeman did not use the name when Joy’s mother was around, but when they were out together, she would say something and add the name at the end of the statement. Joy would redden and scowl as if someone had intruded her privacy. Time passed and she started considering the name as her personal affair. At first, she had arrived at it through its ugly sound before hitting to its fitness. She also had a vision that the name would work like the previous ugly sweating Vulcan. Vulcan stayed in a furnace and was thought to communicate with the goddess. Joy saw the name carrying a lot of creativity acts. She found it like an achievement to change her name into Hulga and dropped the respect for her mother. Mrs. Freeman’s aim of using the name was to illiterate her, but later turned out to be of fun and enjoyed the fact (page 4). Hulga later realized that there was something her that fascinated Mrs. Freeman. She later realized it was all about her artificial leg. This brought her back in the days when she heard her mother talking of the hunting accident. When she came in the kitchen after waking up, she would walk silently. Mrs. Hopewell would think that she is silent because of the ugly sounds from her leg. Hulga would boil some eggs and eat them by her own (pg 4). From time went, she was never referred to as joy any more (pg 5). Protagonist The main character in the short story is Joy. She is terribly disrespectful all through the story. Instead of being the role model to her younger sister, she turns out to be the inferior company. She does not appreciate the love from her only parent; Mrs. Hopewell. She has always understood Joy’s condition and treated her in a special way. She goes on and changes her name, which was against the mother’s will. The name is ugly; she got it from Mrs. Freeman’s sarcasms. She chose the name because she thinks it is the ugliest name she could ever think of. She also relates the name with some supreme power (p 5). The author places her as the protagonist as her behaviors meet the title. What she thinks she is different from what she portrays to be. She thinks she is more salient than the rest (Mrs. Freeman, Man Pointer, Mrs. Hopewell, and the neighbors) because she more educated. The title is ironic in reference to Joy. This pride haunts her and falls in the hands of the bible salesman whose loses her leg. Through this loss, she learns of evil and criticizes her previous convictions that the universe means “Nothing” (pg 6-7). Conclusion This is a short story but, it has a lot of weight and inspirations. Joy is the subject in the story; she symbolizes the elite in our communities. The key lesson we learn from this is that pride leads to a fall. She also thinks she is superior in reference to her educational background. We learn regardless of our status; we should be humble and respectful. Our achievements in life should neither change our personality nor our behavior. We also learn the importance of appreciating; Joy hardly appreciates her mother’s love. With these values, we can live happily as a community with one being available for the other thus enhancing growth and integration. Work cited O'Connor, Flannery. Good Country People. Retrieved on 6th December 2011. Available at: http://faculty.weber.edu/Jyoung/English%206710/Good%20Country%20People.pdf Read More