Good Country People

by Flannery O Connor

Created by: Angel Juntura, Cortland Williams, Jordan Kamanuwai-Berry, Caitlin Jones

Interactive Activity
If you answer yes to the following questions, walk to the left side of the room.
If you answer no to the following questions, walk to the right side of the room.

Yes/ No

Do you think you are bound to your faith for life?

Yes/ No

Would you try to convert your

child if he/she believed in a
different religion?

Yes/ No

Do you believe you have control over your life?

Building Background: Biographical Information

Flannery OConnor

Born in 1925 in Savannah, Georgia

Grew up in the Bible Belt as a Roman Catholic
Apologist for Roman Catholicism
Father died of systemic lupus erythematosus when she
was fifteen
She died from lupus, after a ten year battle, at the age
of thirty-nine.
Many of her stories are Southern Gothic Literature
Religion is a recurring theme in her stories

Building Background: Historical/ Cultural Context

Good Country People was
published in 1955 in A Good Man
is Hard to Find
The time is after the Civil War, and
many social views were changing
in the South
The South always had a strong hold
on religion

Building Background: Genre

Southern Gothic Literature
Southern Gothic literature is a genre of Southern writing. The
stories often focus on grotesque themes. While it may include
supernatural elements, it mainly focuses on damaged, even
delusional, characters

Building Background: Setting

South
The setting of this story is a farm in Georgia around the late 1950s

Vocab
gaunt - extremely thin and bony; haggard and drawn, as from great hunger,weariness, or
torture; emaciated

abashed - ashamed or embarrassed; disconcerted

valise - a small piece of luggage that can be carried by hand, used to hold clothing, toilet
articles, etc.; suitcase; traveling bag

insinuation - an indirect or covert suggestion or hint, especially of a derogatory nature

succession - the coming of one person or thing after another in order, sequence, or in the
course of events

feverishly - excited, restless, or uncontrolled, as if from fever

reverent - feeling, exhibiting, or characterized by reverence; deeply respectful
forlorn - desolate or dreary; unhappy or miserable, as in feeling, condition, or appearance.

Article
The following article is about nihilism and its effects on an individual's
behavior, or how an individual's behavior can bring on the belief of nihilism.
For example, depression can lead to nihilism, or the other way around.
Nihilism is the belief that all values or pointless and that nothing can be
known or communicated. It is usually associated with pessimism.
In the story, Hulga's character greatly revolves around her belief in nihilism.
...I don't think she felt much better after getting her leg stolen at the end....
http://www.iep.utm.edu/nihilism/

Discussion
Theme(s) of the story?
Did you notice the irony in the story? (hint: characters names and their
personality)
What do you think Joy realizes at the end?
Does Mrs. Hopewells views change?