Good and Evil in Good Country People Essay examples -- people

Good and Evil in Good Country good deal In her short story, Good Country People,Flannery OConnor employs all the elements of humor, irony and, paradox intermingled within the system of Christian belief in evil and redemption. This is no more evident than in the character of Joy, the daughter, who had lost a leg in a hunting accident at the age of 12 and who at a time has a wooden leg in his place. Throughout the story, it becomes increasingly clear that Joys sensual affliction is closely paralleled by a unearthly one as well. As the narrative unfolds, the great lengths Joy has gone to recreate her inner self, her soul, are revealed in painstaking detail. It appears she has succeeded in fashioning her profess soul into a spirit that is as hard and unyielding as the prosthesis that straight off takes the place of her missing naturally soft and flexible appendage. In Christian society and belief, as well as many other religions, the one true possession that a person has total con trol oer is their everlasting soul. It is this spirit that makes one truly unique from everyone else. The fight within ones self between good and evil and the twenty-four hour period to day struggle to ensure that the goodness prevails is the focal point of a true believers life. It is only by this triumph on goodness that he can achieve Salvation in the eyes of God. Joy, on the other hand, seems intent on building barriers around her soul that would make it as unshakable and unfeeling as her wooden leg. As did the surgeon who had to perform the prosthetic surgery years before to replace a natural part of her physical body, she is apparently trying to perform this same function with the spiritual side of herself as well. She has taken great care to recreate her self into one th... ...ears were now completely useless. To be an atheist and realize, not that there is a God, but discover there is a Devil, must be a very scarey and disheartening experience. For if there is definitely one, there must be the other. Works Cited Asals, Frederick. Flannery OConnor The Imagination of Extremity. The University of Georgia squash Athens, Georgia, 1982. Brinkmeyer, Robert H. The Art and Vision of Flannery OConnor. lanthanum State University Press Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1989. DiYanni, Robert. Literature Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. McGraw Hill Boston, Massachusette, 1998. Eggenschwiler, David. The Christian Humanism of Flannery OConnor. Wayne State University Press Detroit, Michigan, 1972. Feeley, Kathleen. Flannery OConnor Voice of the Peacock. Rugers University Press New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1972.