Good Country People by Flannery OConnor Essay -- essays research pape

Good Country People by Flannery O'Connor Good Country People'; by Flannery O’Connor is an excellent example of irony in literature. From beginning to end it has a steady procession of irony, much of it based on the title of the story: â€Å"Good Country People.'; In the beginning of the story we meet Mrs. Freeman, wife of the hired hand. She and her husband have been working for Mrs. Hopewell for four years. â€Å"The reason for her keeping them so long was that they were not trash. They were ‘Good Country People,’'; according to Mrs. Hopewell. Ironically one of the first things we learn about Mrs. Freeman is that her previous employer has called her â€Å"the nosiest woman ever to walk the earth.'; Then, as the story progresses, we learn she has â€Å"a special fondness for the details of secret infections, hidden deformities, assaults upon children';. It seems that for a â€Å"good country person'; she has a perverse curiosity in the macabre. She particularly enjoys hearing all the details of how Joy/Hulga had her leg literally blasted off in a hunting accident. As the story moves on we can see the conflict between Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter Joy/Hulga. Joy/Hulga treats her mother with disdain, and does everything she can to emphasize her own individuality. She professes to believe in nothing. She is a proud intellectual and has little doubt of her belief in â€Å"nothingness.'; However, ironically in the end she is proven to be very muc...