Flannery O' Connor's "Good Country People"

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1. - Introduction.

The biographic features of a writer usually have an influence on the development of his or her literary creation. The biographic influence is especially strong on the literary work of Flannery O'Connor. Her life and experiences are reflected through her work in themes, characters, descriptions and style. There are two important features of her life, which had marked the short stories and novels of Flannery O'Connor: The South of the United States and her religion, Catholicism. These two aspects are reflected in her vision of life, society and above all in the vision of the human race.

"Question: To whom or to what do you attribute your view of human being?

Flannery O'Connor: Probably to being a Catholic and a southerner - and a writer." 1 [Flannery O'Connor from Magee, R. M., Conversation with Flannery O'Connor, 1987: 58]

2. - Flannery O'Connor's biography.

Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah (Georgia) in 1925. Her family was deeply Catholic. The Catholicism in the South of the United States, a minority religion, is called "Old Catholic." She spent her childhood in this important city of Georgia. But in 1938 the Flannery's family had to move to a town called Milledgeville because of the illness of the father, lupus. He died some years later.

O'Connor was the only child of the family, and also she was very shy and introverted. She always had a great difficulty in order to mix with people. When she finished her degree course of Social Science, Flannery O'Connor started her independent life. Firstly, in 1947 O'Connor joined the camp of Spencer Trask for writers in New York. Finally she moved to Connecticut with Sally and Robert Fitzgerald. But in 1951 Flannery was diagnosed as having lupus, t...

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...y and mind. The name is opposite to her real name Joy, with Catholic features. Hulga is the character who rejects society, Catholic religion and any human contact. But Joy is the personality inside Hulga who wants to mix with people. When she is with Manley in the hayloft and he has her wooden leg, Joy-Hulga dreams about the possibility of staying with him the rest of her life: " "Put it back on," she said. She was thinking that she would run away with him and every night he would take her leg off and every morning put it back on again."

6 [O'Connor, Flannery: A Good Man Is Hard to Find- "Good Country Peole", 1980: 193.].

The most part of the main themes of Flannery O'Connor are shown in "Good Country People": The reflection of Flannery O'Connor's Southern society, the Catholic vision of human being and her tendency to the grotesque and violent situations.

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