Writing Homework Help

Resources:

Flannery O’Connor, “Good Country People”

Philip Roth, “Defender of the Faith”

1. James Baldwin “Going to Meet the Man”
2. The is a one-pager like the previous version. Remember to write as much as you can fit on a single page, without paragraph breaks or indentations. Think of it as slightly more refined free writing, but it won’t graded like a formal essay.
3. Instructions: Answer ONE of the questions below and then submit. Your answer should fill a single page (as with our previous one-pager), and avoid summarizing the events of the story. Rather move immediately into analysis by answering ONE of the questions below as directly (as in, parrot the language of the question if you wish) as possible.
4. All of the questions are about Flannery O’Connor, “Good Country People”

1. Flannery O’ Connor writes, “Besides the neutral expression that she wore when she was alone, Mrs. Freeman had two others, forward and reverse, that she used for all her human dealings. Her forward expression was steady and driving like the advance of a heavy truck. Her eyes never swerved to left or right but turned as the story turned as if they followed a yellow line down the center of it. She seldom used the other expression because it was not often necessary for her to retract a statement, but when she did, her face came to a complete stop, there was an almost imperceptible movement of her black eyes, during which they seemed to be receding, and then the observer would see that Mrs. Freeman, though she might stand there as real as several grain sacks thrown on top of each other, was no longer there in spirit.” Most of the story hinges on Hulga’s relationship with her mother and the Bible salesman who meets them both, yet O’Connor begins her story with Mrs. Freeman. Based on the language of these opening lines, how does the narrator introduce Mrs. Freeman? What do her three characteristic facial expressions have to do with the main plot of the story and why does O’Connor associate her with the automobile?

2. To Mrs. Hopewell, there are “good country people” and there are “trash.” Partly this categorization of society may have something to do with her three favorite sayings: “Nothing is perfect. This was one of Mrs. Hopewell’s favorite sayings. Another was: that is life! And still another, the most important, was: well, other people have their opinions too.” . What are the results of Mrs. Hopewell’s perspective of other people on herself and Hulga? Now, compare Mrs. Hopewell’s sayings to the Bible salesman’s last lines: “‘I hope you don’t think,’ he said in a lofty indignant tone, ‘that I believe in that crap! I may sell Bibles but I know which end is up and I wasn’t born yesterday and I know where I’m going!'”  How does the Bible salesman fit into her social categories? What similarities do you see in the language used by Mrs. Hopewell and the salesman?

3. Hulga and her mother have a vexed relationship. Consider these lines: “When Mrs. Hopewell thought the name, Hulga, she thought of the broad blank hull of a battleship. She would not use it”; and “It seemed to Mrs. Hopewell that every year she grew less like other people and more like herself—bloated, rude, and squint-eyed.” Part of Mrs. Hopewell’s disdain may derive from Hulga’s name change—here are the lines in which the narrator provides Hulga’s perspective on her new name: “She had a vision of the name working like the ugly sweating Vulcan who stayed in the furnace and to whom, presumably, the goddess had to come when called. She saw it as the name of her highest creative act. One of her major triumphs was that her mother had not been able to turn her dust into Joy, but the greater one was that she had been able to turn it herself into Hulga.” What significance does each of these characters see in Hulga’s name? Citing evidence from this passage, describe their relationship.

4. Hulga’s sexual awakening is distinguished by detachment and analytical thought: “The kiss, which had more pressure than feeling behind it, produced that extra surge of adrenalin in the girl that enables one to carry a packed trunk out of a burning house, but in her, the power went at once to the brain. Even before he released her, her mind, clear and detached and ironic anyway, was regarding him from a great distance, with amusement but with pity. She had never been kissed before and she was pleased to discover that it was an unexceptional experience and all a matter of the mind’s control. Some people might enjoy drain water if they were told it was vodka. When the boy, looking expectant but uncertain, pushed her gently away, she turned and walked on, saying nothing as if such business, for her, were common enough.” Why does this experience produce feelings of autonomy and power in Hulga?