Making Connections

1. Having read “Good Country People” (p. 1300) and Lawrence Downes’s description of why he admires O’Connor (par. 6), can you see her influence in Downes’s style? Give some examples.

   Question

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   Making Connections: - Having read “Good Country People” (p. 1300) and Lawrence Downes’s description of why he admires O’Connor (par. 6), can you see her influence in Downes’s style? Give some examples.
2. Why do you think Downes chose to quote this description of Mrs. Freeman from “Good Country People”: “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” (par. 8)? What line would you have chosen as representative of “Good Country People”? Explain your answer.

   Question

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   Making Connections: - Why do you think Downes chose to quote this description of Mrs. Freeman from “Good Country People”: “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” (par. 8)? What line would you have chosen as representative of “Good Country People”? Explain your answer.
3. In paragraph 31, Downes says, “She died young, but not without saying what she wanted to say.” What do you think O’Connor wanted to say in “Good Country People”?

   Question

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   Making Connections: - In paragraph 31, Downes says, “She died young, but not without saying what she wanted to say.” What do you think O’Connor wanted to say in “Good Country People”?
4. Alice Walker says she is “delighted” by O’Connor’s characters, who are “miserable, ugly, narrow-minded, atheistic, and of intense racial smugness and arrogance, with not a graceful, pretty one anywhere who is not, at the same time, a joke” (par. 1). Can you apply those adjectives to the characters in “Good Country People”? Do they delight you? Explain your answer.

   Question

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   Making Connections: - Alice Walker says she is “delighted” by O’Connor’s characters, who are “miserable, ugly, narrow-minded, atheistic, and of intense racial smugness and arrogance, with not a graceful, pretty one anywhere who is not, at the same time, a joke” (par. 1). Can you apply those adjectives to the characters in “Good Country People”? Do they delight you? Explain your answer.
5. What do Downes and Walker have in common in their admiration of Flannery O’Connor? In what ways do they differ?

   Question

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   Making Connections: - What do Downes and Walker have in common in their admiration of Flannery O’Connor? In what ways do they differ?
6. Both Downes and Walker refer to peacocks—Walker in her title and Downes in paragraph 9. In “Good Country People,” Hulga/Joy is said to be “as sensitive about the artificial leg as a peacock about his tail” (par. 125). Flannery O’Connor raised peacocks at her home in Milledgeville, Georgia. Why do you think peacocks are a potent symbol for some of the themes and character traits O’Connor examines in her work?

   Question

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   Making Connections: - Both Downes and Walker refer to peacocks—Walker in her title and Downes in paragraph 9. In “Good Country People,” Hulga/Joy is said to be “as sensitive about the artificial leg as a peacock about his tail” (par. 125). Flannery O’Connor raised peacocks at her home in Milledgeville, Georgia. Why do you think peacocks are a potent symbol for some of the themes and character traits O’Connor examines in her work?