Two Stories by Flannery OConnor - Book Report/Review Example

Comparison/Contrast of Themes "Good Country People" & "Everything That Rises Must Converge" Introduction "Good Country People" & "Everything ThatRises Must Converge" are the two stories by Flannery O'Connor. In "Everything That Rises Must Converge" Flannery O'Connor discusses the story of a boy Julian and his mother. His mother belonged to a prestigious and wealthy family and although they were no more rich but she still had the superiority complex in her. The author discusses the color discrimination that she had and the Julian takes revenge from her mother for her hatred for the blacks. While in "Good Country People", Flannery O'Connor discusses the story of a girl who had a wooden leg and the author uncovers different characters in the story some of which can be called good country people and actually are and some look good country people but actually are not. The girl Joy-Hulga, with a wooden leg was deceived by a bible seller who seemed to a good country man but actually loved collecting artificial body parts of people. The story tells about what people look and what they actually are. This paper compares and contrasts the theme portrayed in the two stories of Flannery O'Connor. The paper firstly compares the two themes and then presents the contrasting basis of comparison between the themes depicted in the two stories. The similarities that have been found through the comparison in the themes of the two stories are also then discussed. The basic themes although are in a way the similar, but there do exist contrasting depictions of the themes of both the stories. This is because from a single story, a number of themes can be depicted. There are various point of views presented in the stories which make possible depictions of various contrasting and similar themes. The basic theme of the two stories is that: Good Country People: "People are not what they seem to be like. There are very less good country people and those who seem to be good country people are not what their looks and attitude portrays." Everything That Rises Must Converge: "People think they know themselves very well, but actually they don't know and when they come to know about the reality, they are shattered into pieces." Comparison/Contrast of Themes The basic theme that comes out of both the stories is that people often think that they know themselves and what they know is the righteous and what other people believe in and know is completely wrong. They think they are the ones with the most prestige and good mind. But in actual, what the reality is is totally different from what they think and believe in. Thus, they don't believe in reality and live in their own shells of thoughts and beliefs. This was the case of Julian's mother in "Everything That Rises Must Converge" and also it was the case with Joy-Hulga in "Good Country People". The theme that was presented in "Everything That Rises Must Converge" was in a way conflicting with that of "Good Country People" from the aspect that in the later the theme was that there are very less people who are good and the good or bad people know in themselves what they actually are; as Mrs. Hopewell knew what she is and she was one of the good country people but the bible seller pretended to be a good country men but in actual he was not what he was pretending to be and he knew what he actually is. The later one is conflicting with the theme of the former in which Julian's mother thought she knew what she is but actually she didn't know what the reality is and what she is now. Thus from this aspect the theme presented in both the stories is totally different from each other. The theme presented in the story "Everything That Rises Must Converge" also included the superiority complex that people have and the color and race differences that are present in the minds of people. These differences come from their great ancestors who considered the black inferior and whites were considered from a prestigious class. The factor of discrimination was present in the story. Whereas in the story "Good Country People", there was also discrimination present but this was not on the basis of black and white but on the basis of being able and disabled. The girl Joy-Hulga had a wooden leg due to which she suffered from the bad scene that happened to her and being immobilize was also the reason for her shattered kind of life. In the story "Good Country People", the theme that was present was also that love makes people blind sometimes and they do things that they would have never done if they would have been thinking with their brain and not heart. This is what happened with Joy-Hulga and she told where her wooden leg was joining from. Whereas in the story, "Everything That Rises Must Converge", Julian's love for her mother was not even present in him and he thought of ways for punishing her mother for the superiority complex and the hate for the black people she had. Thus contrasting the two themes of the stories, in one it was love that led to a mistake and in the other there was absence of love that led to a mistake on which Julian had to regret for his whole life. Thus, Flannery O'Connor has presented a number of point of views from which we can depict a number of themes that are presented in the two stories. Some of these themes are also contrasting and some are similar as well. She has shown the different dimensions that are contained in people, their lives, their beliefs and their complexes. The theme presented in the story "Everything That Rises Must Converge" conflicts and sometimes is similar to the theme presented in the story "Good Country People". But the point of similarity that is present between both the themes is that you can never depict people from their actions and attitudes as how people look like and act is often deceiving. But the contrasting feature of the two themes is that people sometimes know what they are and sometimes they don't know their selves that they can depict about other people. Thus if we see the theme of the two stories from different dimensions there are a number of contrasting and similar features in the theme of both the stories. Conclusion In a nutshell, this paper analyzes the themes of the two stories "Good Country People" & "Everything That Rises Must Converge" and compares and contrasts these themes. The basic themes of the two stories are similar and also conflicting from various points of view that are reflected in the stories. So it cannot be said that the two themes are totally conflicting or completely similar but there exists similarities in some point of views of the themes and differences also in other point of views of theme. The basic theme of the story "Good Country People" is that people are not what they seem to be like. There are very less good country people and those who seem to be good country people are not what their looks and attitude portrays. While the story "Everything That Rises Must Converge" presents the theme that people think they know themselves very well, but actually they don't know and when they come to know about the reality, they are shattered into pieces. The basic theme that is common in both the stories is people are something else from their inside and totally different from what they portray themselves to be. But the conflicting point in the theme of both the stories is that the story "Good Country People" says that whatever people are from their inside or from their outside but they know what they actually are and what they are pretending to be. While, on the other hand, the story "Everything That Rises Must Converge" depicts the theme that people think they know what they are and believe in their own built preconceptions but the reality is totally different from what they think and in actual they don't know themselves. References 1. Flannery O'Connor. "Good Country People." Short Story Classics. 2004. 24 July 2007. 2. Flannery O'Connor. "Everything That Rises Must Converge." Short Story Classics. 2004. 24 July 2007. Read More