Essay on Good Peoples Country - 732 Words

Choose three or four characters from Cat’s Cradle and Good Country People and discuss them in terms of existentialism and nihilism? amp;#9;In both Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonegut and Good Country People by Flannery O’Connor the authors show how a character is corrupted and changed from an existentialist to a nihilist. The existentialist ends up losing their faith in life, and is left believing in nothing. They then turn to being nihilist after having the only thing they believed destroyed. In both stories the author uses both existentialist which is corrupted by nihilist. Existentialism is a philosophy centered on individual existence and personal responsibility for acts of free will in the absence of certain knowledge of what is right†¦show more content†¦They then believe that life has no purpose or meaning and they are terribly disappointed. This is a prime example of existentialism. After some time Manly and Hulga begin kissing. Next, Manly tries to persuade Hulga to tell him that she loves him. Then, he busts open his case, finds alcohol, porno playing cards, etc. and then takes her leg f rom her. He leaves her on the loft alone with no way to get down and flees. In his hollowed-out bible, he keeps a flask of whiskey, a deck of pornographic playing cards, and a small blue box of condoms. He has been believing in evil since he was born because evil is the absence of good nothing. Hulga means, by amp;quot;nothing,amp;quot; her existential philosophy, that life has no meaning or purpose. Manly again means evil. When Manly is referring to amp;quot;nothing,amp;quot; that is nihilism. amp;#9;In Cat’s Cradle the existentialismt is Julian Castle and the nihilist is Newt Hoeniker. Newt is the midget and son to the maker of the atomic bomb. He says, quot;No dam cat, and no dam cradle,quot;shows that Newt doesn’t look deeply with his imagination for the cat and cradle. This signifies his failure to search for meaning inShow MoreRelatedGood Country People882 Words   |  4 PagesGOOD COUNTRY PEOPLE by Flannery O Connor The short story Good Country People was written by O’Connor. The story introduces us to well-educated a woman who was thirty-two years old. This woman has an artificial leg which was shot off in a hunting accident when she was ten. She went to college and earned a doctorate in philosophy. She has a heart condition; so she cannot work and has to live at home with her mother. The name given to her is Joy but she changed her name to Hulga. She mocks her motherRead MoreGood Country People1609 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Good Country People† Questions 1) My initial response to the story’s title is that the short story was going to be about a happy family that lived in the country and drama to make the story interesting. At the start, it seemed as if anybody that was from the country were â€Å"good† and never did anything wrong throughout their entire life. The story basically begins right after Mrs. Hopewell says, â€Å"the reason for her keeping them so long was that they were not trash. They were good country people†Read MoreThemes Of Good Country People769 Words   |  4 Pages Flannery O’Connor’s short story â€Å"Good Country People† depicts Hulga, a highly educated woman and has a PhD, is being jerked around by an immoral bible salesman. â€Å"A good man is hard to find† is a story of a grandmother and her family murdered by a horrible man who called â€Å"the misfit† during the road trip. Although â€Å"Good country people† and â€Å"a good man is hard to find† are written by the same author, many elements in those two stories cause them have similar themes in religion, misplace trust andRead MoreGood Country People Essay1058 Words   |  5 PagesIn Flannery O’Connor’s story, â€Å"Good Country People† the symbol of traveling Bible Salesman Manley Pointer’s hollow bible outwardly represents an image of faith and morality, appearing to be full of the word of God, while holding items that are in direct conflict with biblical morals. Manley Pointer is not the person he presents h imself to be when he meets Mrs. Hopewell. Thus, he resembles the hollow bible, acting directly opposite of who he really is to purposefully deceive others. Deception isRead MoreGood Country People Review1406 Words   |  6 Pageslessons, but real life experience is what makes people wise. Being smart is not the same as being wise. A person can be smart, he or she can have many degrees and diplomas, but unless he or she have experience life, they will not be wise. Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"Good Country People† shows that people can be well educated and not be wise. Joy and Mrs. Hopewell think that they have the world figured out, but when they encounter Manley Pointer, a â€Å"simple country boy†, they will finally see the world as itRead MoreIrony in Good Country People748 Words   |  3 PagesIrony in â€Å"Good Country People† Flannery O’Connor uses characterization, and the themes of good versus evil and the psychological and physical problems of the characters, to create irony in the story. The characterization of both Mrs. Hopewell and Joy/Hulga creates irony, which begins with their names. Then the theme of good versus evil, demonstrated by the belief that country people are â€Å"good†, also creates irony. The story is about a farm owner, Mrs. Hopewell, her onlyRead MoreIdentity In Good Country People1559 Words   |  7 PagesIdentity in Good Country People Characterization is the biggest component that helps build on the themes of identity in the short story â€Å"Good Country People† written by Flannery O’connor. The theme itself is dependent where as the characters are independent of each other. The characters behaviors build within each other. Firstly, the main character in this short story is thirty two year old Joy who is now known as Hulga. Her character is described as vulnerable to other people but in her eyes isRead MoreGood Country People Essay984 Words   |  4 PagesThe short story â€Å"Good Country People† by Flannery O’Connor reveals that evil comes in many disguises and that it will try to harm believers and even nonbelievers. Manley Pointer’s character serves as evil and is similar to the serpent in the bible. Manley Pointer has crafty evil ways, he is malicious, and deceitful just as the serpent was to Adam and Eve in the Bible. Manley Pointer is introduced as a good country simple young man who is going around selling Bibles. He tries to sell Mrs. HopewellRead MoreTheme Of Good Country People1126 Words   |  5 Pagesstories â€Å"Good Country People†, â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†, and â€Å"The Storm.† I believe that the theme across these stories is to be ware of the wolf in sheep clothing. In these stories, there was an antagonist that posed as a protagonist who even though their intentions may have looked well skin deep, the underlying intentions against the main character were not of good intent. I will describe certain situations in each of the three stories that show the theme I have noted. I believe that a good personRead MoreSummary Of Good Country People 830 Words   |  4 PagesAlexandra Dorman Mrs. Ermis English 1302.02N 1 November 2014 Summary of â€Å"Good Country People† In each of Flannery O’Connor’s works she inhabits a Christian aspect or theme. In O’Connor’s short story Good Country People, a 32-year-old atheist woman named Joy is faced with the representation of evil in our society. The protagonist Joy believes that her name doesn’t fit who she is. Because of this opinion she decides to legally change her name to Hulga. When Hulga was 10 years old she was in a hunting