Temptation In Flannery O Connor's Good Country People

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St. Cyril of Jerusalem once said, “The dragon is by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the father of souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon.” The dragon is a symbol of temptation, always present, always watching. People will either fall into temptation or have to avoid and deny it. This symbolism of temptation is portrayed in many of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories. Pride and vanity are visible in Hulga in “Good Country People,” General Sash in “A Late Encounter with the Enemy,” and Mrs. McIntyre in “The Displaced Person.” Hulga is a perfect example of pride and vanity in “Good Country People.” She received a PhD in philosophy which leads her to believe she is better than everyone she is around. When Manley Pointer, a Christian man, came to …show more content…

Hulga in “Good Country People” so strongly believed that she was not only smarter than everyone, but better than everyone. Her sense of pride and vanity led her to be tricked by a man she assumed she could take advantage of. General Sash in “A Late Encounter with the Enemy” thought everyone around him was in love with him; that he should be the center of attention. However, when the most significant moment of his life happens, his dying, no one around him notices. The pride he had in himself was not shared among other people, and he was too vain to notice. Mrs. McIntyre in “The Displaced Person,” was extremely prideful, she thought she could do as she please and not care about the consequences it had on other people’s lives. When she could no longer manipulate people, her pride had gotten the best of her, no one was present for her in her time of need, just as she was not present for others in their time of need. Each of these characters shares the characteristics of vanity and pride; each of them is the perfect symbol of temptation, the dragon, in the short stories by Flannery

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