Good Country Irony-Good Countr - 915 Words

Good Country People#8221; by Flannery O#8217;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: #8220;Good Country People.#8221; 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. #8220;The reason for her keeping them so long was that they were not trash. They were #8216;Good Country People,#8217;#8221; according to Mrs. Hopewell. Ironically one of the first things we learn about Mrs. Freeman is that her previous employer has called her #8220;the nosiest woman ever to walk the earth.#8221; Then, as the story progresses, we†¦show more content†¦Paradoxically Manley Pointer in a symbolic way has taken her shame away by taking her artificial leg, although he had no plans of doing her any good. True to the irony of his being #8220;Good Country People#8221; Manley Pointer has no intentions of helping Joy/Hulga deal with her remorse. Dorothy McFarland describes this irony in similar fashion in that #8220;Hulga surrenders to love in a scene in which her physical grotesqueness is not only emphasized but becomes the very means of love#8217;s expression and fulfillment. Though this scene of the Bible salesman removing Hulga#8217;s wooden leg is objectively ludicrous (and O#8217;Connor#8217;s handling of it is full of irony), Hulga herself is, for the first time, completely without irony#8221;(39). Although the character of Joy/Hulga at this point in the story may be completely without irony, the story itself is rich in irony from beginning to end. Particularly the phrase #8220;good country people#8221; has become increasingly ironic. Right down to the end of the story when, (speaking of that #8220;good country person#8221;, Manley Pointer) Mrs. Hopewell says, #8220;I guess the world would be better off if we all were that simple.#8221; Ironically as she speaks M anley Pointer is making off with her daughter Joy/hulga#8217;s wooden leg and her eyeglasses, after abandoning her in the loft of the old