Skip to main content

What could be a thesis statement for the short story "Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor?

Your thesis statement is your position and lets your readers know what you intend to prove in your essay. The following are some ideas of possible positions you could take on Flannery O'Connor's short story, "Good Country People."


  • Flannery O'Connor's use of situational irony in this story highlights the motivations of the characters. Joy, who renamed herself Hulga, is Mrs. Hopewell's thirty-two-year-old daughter with a false leg and a Ph.D. She meets a simple young man who is selling Bibles door-to-door, and is described by her mother as "salt of the earth." She believes he is innocent but is fooled when he uses her intellectual vanity to rob her. 

  • Flannery O' Connor's story "Good Country People" is a study of the ways in which people deceive each other and themselves. Mrs. Hopewell deludes herself into thinking that if she has enough hope, things will turn out well for her daughter. She works at not seeing her daughter for who she is, but who she wants her to be. Joy/ Hulga uses her intellectual pride as a shield to keep others from knowing her in intimate ways. When she does concede to let someone in, Manley Pointer, she finds that he has deceived her completely. Manley Pointer is able to see Joy/ Hulga's weakness and exploit it for his own personal gain. He deceives others as a career and pastime. 

  • No one is what they appear to be, especially not Good Country People. Mrs. Hopewell had a value of simple, honest, good people. She distinguishes this type of people from "trash." No one she knew, though—including herself—fit her description of Good Country People. Her daughter was sullen, dishonest, and prideful. Her help, Mrs. Freeman, was unable to admit wrongdoing in any way. Manley Pointer presented himself as good country folk, but he was a liar and con man. Mrs. Hopewell herself was self-deluded and shallow. She pretended to be kind and caring, but it was superficial at best.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more