Good Country People By: Flannery O’Connor. Project by Betina Julien & Hailey Parks.

Flannery O’Connor Flannery O'Connor was born on March 25, 1925 and died on August 3,1964. She was an American writer and essayist. O’Connor went to Peabody Laboratory School and graduated in 1942. She went to college in Georgia State College for women and graduated in 1945. In 1946 she was accepted into Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa where she went to study journalism. While she was there she got to know several important writers and critics who taught in the program.

Writer’s Background continued……. Just like the character Hulga, O'Connor was sick too and was expected to live a short life. She was raised on an ancestral farm which she used as the setting in the story “Good Country People”. Her writings reveals an uncanny grasp of the nuances of human behavior. The literary influences that are evident from the story itself would be “foreshadowing”. Most of her stories were basically about the Catholic life she lived.

O’Conner’s other famous works. A Good Man Is Hard To Find. Everything That Rises Must Converge. These two other works are typical for the writer. The themes in the story are consistent with themes in other works by O’Connor. Mostly all of her writings literal forms are foreshadowing.

Technical Details Setting Characters Point Of View This story was written in a country setting. Most of the conversations took place in the kitchen. The climax occurred in the barn loft with the main characters. The setting helped to bring about the theme of the story “Good Country People”. Hulga (Main Character)- Gullible, smart, independent. “If you want me, here I am – LIKE I AM”. Manley Pointer (Bible’s Salesman)- Deceitful, evil, thief, crafty. “You don’t see anymore real honest people unless you go way out in the country”. 3rd person Omniscient. Narrator knows the thoughts of all the characters in this story. The Narrator knows Hulga’s thoughts as well as Manley Pointer’s.

Plot Structure Exposition Introduces the characters and the setting. Narrative Hook The story of Joy’s leg. Rising Action: Conflict- Joy’s leg Conflict- Bible seller  Climax When Joy and Pointer get intimate in the barn loft. Falling Action Pointer taking her leg off and eyeing it creepily. Resolution “Some can’t be that simple,” They believed that pointer was a simple Christian country boy, and boy did they think wrong.

Theme and Quotes “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. We chose this as our main theme because Manley Pointer seemed like a “good Christian man”, but he was a liar and a thief. “It takes all kinds to make the world” “It was hollow and contained a pocket flask of whiskey,” – Manley Pointer was hiding his sins behind his bible cover.

Irony “It was hollow and contained a pocket flask of whiskey,”. Manley Pointer was hiding his sins behind his bible cover. The irony behind this was that you cant judge a book by its cover and this is exactly what Hulga’s family did. They believed he was a “Good Christian man” because he was selling bibles and was very kind, but behind the book cover there were many sins. He fooled them and took advantage of Hulga.