Naïveté in Flannery OConnor’s Good Country People Essay -- OConnor G

Naà ¯vetà © in Flannery O'Connor’s Good Country People In "Good Country People," Flannery O'Connor skillfully presents a story from a third-person point of view, in which the protagonist, Joy-Hulga, believes that she is not one of those good country people. Joy is an intelligent and educated but emotionally troubled young woman, struggling to live in a farm environment deep in the countryside of the southeast United States, where she feels that she does not belong. Considering herself intellectually superior to the story's other characters, she experiences an epiphany that may lead her to reconsider her assumptions. Her experience marks a personal transition for her and constitutes the story's theme--the passage from naà ¯vetà © to knowledge. O'Connor crafts the story so that the plot does not actually begin until insight into the characters has been provided. The limited omniscience persona of the narrative voice alternates between Joy and her mother, Mrs. Hopewell. The exposition provides an understanding of how the characters have developed the personality traits they possess when the drama begins to take place, which is on a Friday evening during the Spring sometime during the mid-1950s. The exposition demonstrates how Joy develops the social and philosophical assumptions that deeply affect the way she sees herself and relates to others. A view into Joy-Hulga's past reveals why she has so much internal conflict and needs to empower herself through the constant judgment of others. What most strongly sets her apart from others is her prosthetic leg, which she has been wearing since her real leg was shot off at ten years of age in a hunting accident. Enduring teasing and other social hardships caused by her disability has led... ...she has also lost the foundation of her identity, her leg. She is faced with the realization that she has been naà ¯ve all along. In her pattern of being quick to make assumptions to build her own self esteem, Joy-Hulga has not used her intelligence in a socially beneficial way. The results of her shocking experience could be one of many, but considering Joy-Hulga's personality, she is likely to become even more defensive, hostile, and antisocial. She might become less willing to trust others, especially those who come across as "good country people." One would hope, however, that Joy will continue to recognize and admit her own naà ¯vetà © and to make fewer assumptions about the naà ¯vetà © of others. Work Cited O'Connor, Flannery. "Good Country People." Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw, 2002. 181-194.