Good Country People Literary Analysis

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The Reality of Naivete Flannery O’Connor is a writer who understands the South in all of it’s simplicity, politeness, falseness, and naivete. The values of the South are easily observed but significantly more difficult to understand. O’Connor does both with excellence, and conveys her wisdom masterfully in the story “Good Country People”. The value O’Connor portrays most prominently in the story is that of politeness and “Chrustian service”(O’Connor 449). O’Connor uses both Manley Pointer and Joy/Hulga to bring out the many flaws and the general ignorant naivete of southern values. At the same time, O’Connor is just as aware of the parallel naivete of those from the South who think they can reject all southern values without really understanding their background. This can be found in Joy/Hulga’s interactions with Manley, who is …show more content…
Hopewell’s traditional southern values. Mrs. Hopewell, although she speaks a great deal actually says little of substance. For example, she loves to repeat the phrase “Well it takes all kinds of people to make the world go round” (O’Connor 452). The statement itself is nice enough, it encourages a bland tolerance, but Mrs. Hopewell’s repetition of it as a reaction to everything she is faced with causes the phrase to lose meaning. Instead of actually believing the statement, Mrs. Hopewell throws it up as a defensive barrier. If she can wall herself in with tolerance, then she never has to deal with any conflict, or challenge to her point of view. Joy/Hulga, as both Mrs. Hopewell’s daughter and an atheist who rejects southern values is representative of all the problems that Mrs. Hopewell wants to avoid. Joy/Hulga is constantly challenging her, saying things like “Woman! Do you ever look inside? Do you ever look inside and see what you are not?” (O’Connor 448). To which Mrs. Hopewell responds with confusion. She is so far from self-awareness that she cannot understand why anyone would want to think for
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