The Literary Analysis Of 'Good Country People, By Flannery O' Connor

The Literary Analysis is the bread and butter of literary writing. You will choose one of the stories that we’ve read in class (or a different story if you email me first with a pleasant request) and write a 4 (plus Works Cited) page paper, including 3 outside sources, presenting your interpretation. This interpretation may come from one specific critical lens or it may be a combination of lenses; it may also only concern one part of a story—for instance, the use of the plural narrator in A Rose for Emily or Hempel’s use of animals in The Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried. It is possible that you will come to the end of your paper with a fair and sensible understanding of the story. However, it is also possible—likely, even—that though you

This is done for Joy/Hulga, as Hulga is frequently a miserable, morose character, lacking severely in joy. Hulga would be quite cynical, and would mock the children of Mrs. Freeman. O’Connor grew up in the Bible belt and is also known as a famous Christian writer. A way for her to apply this to her short stories is to criticize the faith that is not strong, but only surface deep. These themes pop up in “Good Country People” where the occupation of the thief is that of a Bible salesman. His faith is only a front to be able to steal items from other people.
The third lens is that of a reader response lens. This lens depicts the story as without meaning, and that the reader has to decipher the meaning on their own. The reader response theory held prominence during the 1970’s and 1980’s, but is applicable to the works from other time periods (Harkin, 411). This is another story that can use this

If reading from a feminist lens, the male is seen as a power controlling evil individual, and all of the females are powerless, as well as naïve and dependent on the males. If reading from a biographical lens, the various parallels between Hulga and O’Connor surface, implying that the story is a fictional retelling of the author’s life. If reading with a reader response lens, the reader controls the meaning of the story, but this can be done in two ways. If looking for general information, the reader controls the intermediate knowledge, and supplements another theory. If looking for general interpretations, the reader analyzes a controversial comment, and based on their background and history, interprets the comment in a certain way. All three lenses are valid for this story, and understanding all three assist in more fully understanding the whole