EC Selections

 Force, Enforce

"The Use of Force": Consider that the doctor’s anger is a result of the situation---the urgent need to get a diagnosis, the fear of the spreading disease (that impending “darkness” threatening the social order), his inability to control the situation.  In part, this story dramatizes conventional assumptions about the patient-doctor relationship, and the breakdown of that relationship—more broadly, what happens when our expectations and understanding of the social order, and how certain kinds of social “transactions” operate, don’t function as expected?  It may also be seen more broadly to be about power—what/who is given power/authority in society, and the other/underside of power (powerlessness), and how those relationships can reverse (note the doctor’ s feelings about the girl are ambivalent—she doesn’t play her “role” in the order of things as she should, but the doctor also admires her force of will).  The doctor is ambivalent about his own position vis a vis above (as suggested), and the” use of force” in the story can be looked at from several angles—the girl as a vexing  force (as noted above); we can say the doctor’s use of force is “reasonable,” given the circumstances and need to get a diagnosis (and note that he says he “could have” torn the girl apart—i.e., this is a figure of speech, not literal); yet, in the external conflict  between doctor and patient, the narrator learns something disturbing about himself-- and here lies an internal conflict--  and, more broadly, about the underside of social order, the veneer of professionalism, etc; something perhaps darker about human nature….it is also about “science” combating “ignorance.”  Some of these same themes and tensions can be traced in Williams’ poetry.

Review the sample essay, and my comments on that essay, from which many of the above comments were sourced.

A Worn Path

View the story as a kind of fictional "quest"--look up the "quest theme in literature" on Google, or just type "quest" in Wikipedia to get an overview of the quest theme, which should help frame the story, as Phoenix imagines herself, not consciously, to be on a "quest."  If the protagonist does imagine herself to be on a quest, how might this help with her internal conflict--a disavowal of, or refusal to accept the fact that her grandson in no longer alive, and in any case a means of helping her deal with her loss, if not avoid completely confronting it. Lots of interesting image/symbol patterns in this story... see below

Again, when analyzing short stories, look for evidence of the main character's conflict, the terms of the conflict (often a combination of internal and external), and how the character changes as a result (change can be more or less subtle, and sometimes very subtle); theme is revealed though character interaction, dialogue and description; through elements of set, symbol (elements of set often take on symbolic value within a story), and a character's observations of these things.  Third person narrators in short stories are often focused through a particular character.  So, as in first person narration, it is up to readers not to mistake what narrators tell us for "objective" fact, but to take it as evidence revealing a particular character's conflicts, state of mind, etc.  Some short stories do, however, have "omniscient" narrators, which readers can trust are giving us the "whole" story, i.e., letting us see what goes on the the minds of various characters, and not limiting perspective to only that character--"Story of an Hour" is an example....

In A Worn Path, though we see primarily through the eyes of the Phoenix, other elements of the story, such as passages of dialogue with other characters, allow us to see through/around her sense of things...

 Here are SEVERAL SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF THE STORY TO CONSIDER (taken from my comment on a class blog post):

The opening description of the set and the the old woman herself are chock full of symbols--the color of the rag and the fact that it is a rag, the time of year--look for patterns and repetitions throughout the  story, and contrasts--the descriptions of her cheeks in par. 2, her name, the time of year and description of the day in the first sentence....consider details of the path, the journey, the paper windmill...consider her own comments as she progresses on her journey and its symbolic value--the passage of thorns,then sun so high, then the "trial," and so on; consider the people she meets and their  interactions, dialogue, etc. It's not just a "walk" for her, right, but a kind of quest? You see her weaving a fictional journey out of the realities of the path? Chart patterns throughout the story and examine some of these details as they attempt to communicate a larger theme... rereading the beginning of a story after coming to its end can also often yield valuable insights--embedded meanings that simply looked like innocent description at first... consider the discussion of the "boy," the final image of the story, and this: is the boy really still alive, or alive only in Phoenix's mind? if the latter, how does this effect your interpretation of details of the story and understanding of the protagonist? How does this connect with the final image and the name, "Phoenix" (look up the myth of the Phoenix in Wikipedia, or even Dictionary.com)?

Hungry For…?

One way to view “The Hunger Artist” is as an examination of the social, cultural, and personal contexts of art and the artist. How does it explore/comment on the relationship between art, artist, and audience; the artist's relationship to his own art, including its formal aspects and the medium itself (what is the Hunger Artist's medium? you may consider this as a kind of performance art); the relationship of the artist to society and to the everyday life?

The story questions the goals, purposes, and motivations of art, as well as socio-economic factors that may influence art and the artist, beyond the desires and visions of the artist him/herself in dialogue with her/his chosen medium. How does the story explore the way audience considerations can effect, even partially shape, the artistic production? How seeing art as popular "entertainment" imposes certain limitations on art and artist? From this point of view, what is it about this artist's art that may require the imposition of certain "formal" limitations, and how does the artist feel about this?

One way to see the conflict of the story, then, is between the Hunger Artist's desires and visions for his art, his responsibility to this own vision, and the socio-economic factors of its promotion and reception.

Remember: the essence of all stories is CONFLICT: i.e., there is a reason we refer to "protagonist" and "antagonist"; "hero/"antihero"  ("antihero" not to be confused with "antagonist"--i.e, the "hero" of a story is often actually an "antihero," in the traditional sense-- check the terms on Wikipedia), etc.  Try to get a handle on what the focal character's central conflicts are--with whom? internal (psychological, within a character), external (with forces impinging on a character from the outside), or a combination (in most stories we are reading, the latter), and the theme will follow...

YGB (primary colors?)

OK, since “Young Goodman Brown,” due partially to the style but also the ideological contexts and the time period in which the story was written, may prove somewhat troublesome, I've decided to open with a general comment that may be of use (for a bit of background on the author, click the "Nathaniel Hawthorne" link above the story):

To begin, a definition of “allegory” (from Dictionary.com):

A story that has a deeper or more general meaning in addition to its surface meaning. Allegories are composed of several symbols or metaphors. For example, in The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan, the character named Christian struggles to escape from a bog or swamp. The story of his difficulty is a symbol of the difficulty of leading a good life in the “bog” of this world. The “bog” is a metaphor or symbol of life's hardships and distractions. Similarly, when Christian loses a heavy pack that he has been carrying on his back, this symbolizes his freedom from the weight of sin that he has been carrying.

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I will add that in a typical allegory, there is often a very clear, or one-to-one meaning between the symbol or image and its signification. Though “Young Goodman Brown” is not a strictly typical allegory in this sense, it may be helpful to think of “Young Goodman Brown” as an allegory, but also as a representation of the protagonist’s more or less conscious internal struggle with Puritanism. In allegories, images, character names and descriptions, and actions normally have a strongly symbolic value, and are not meant to be taken (just ) literally: the story can be more or less “realistic,” but reader understands that every aspect of the story is to be “read” not for its literal value, but its symbolic of “moral” value; but realize that while a typical allegory will often have obvious and fairly clear-cut symbolic equations between an image and its moral signification, and often work with a clear opposition of, for eg. good v evil, Hawthorne complicates this dialectic. Writing in the mid-1850s, Hawthorne had an uneasy relationship with his puritan background (the deeds of his ancestors, as presented in the story, are factual), and his story questions and challenges the dualistic “morality” of a puritan worldview.

You can get a pretty clear understanding of how this world view operates by closely studying YGB—what he sees, hears, says; his behavior, and how he changes in the story—Suffice it to say that YGB remains a “puritan” to the end, and is unwilling/ideologically unable to “see” the deeper implications of some of the things he sees and hears, as well as his own actions (the narrator is careful to tell us that some of these are involuntary) in the wilderness; this may touch on the larger moral concern of the story, which questions a strict and exclusive Puritanism.

Since we can interpret the images and symbols of this story as a dramatization of the more or less conscious conflicts in YGB’s mind re Puritanism, many of the narrator’s descriptions and recountings reveal a double message—both representing the puritan, dichotomous worldview and in more subtle ways challenging it. (Btw, the narrative perspective is “focused third person,” or “limited omniscient,” meaning a third person narrator, outside the story per se, but presenting things primarily,  though not exclusively, as experienced by the protagonist.)

Specific images, symbols, and scenes to consider:

Characters’ names, and Young Goodman Brown’s initials as an acronym for…? (see below, color symbolism, then make the connection to the “Puritan”problem)

Character descriptions (attend to the “resemblances” the narrator notes)

Consider esp., in addition to Faith, the “figure of a man” (who is this “elder person”?)—an interesting way to introduce a character, as first glimpsed by Brown, who is to be understood as not so much a specific “individual,” in the usual sense (well, this is an “allegory”), but who plays an essential role in the story? What is this role? Notice how he leads YGB through a very carefully structured dialogue, or sequence of reasonings, designed to bring YGB to a certain point along another sort of “path” in the story (toward what sort of realizations? Is it successful?) Also note how this “figure” disappears toward the middle of the story—or does he... simply transform?

Setting and other details:

Patterns of color symbolism—pink (is not a pure color, but a blend of…?); vis a vis sharp/bold color contrasts: red and other “primary” colors v. black;

Salem village v the wilderness (and the description of the “path” through it, and how YGB responds to things along the way—his thoughts are revealing)

Light v dark, night v day, and the time of day that YGB makes his journey

As noted above, the scenes involving YGB's "dialogue" (read internal dialogue?) with the "elder person"; consider this also as the doubling (flip side or counterpart) of another kind of "dialogue"--i.e., if dialogue is understood as a series of questions and answers--mentioned more than once in the story.

Both audio and visual images: the “black cloud” Brown sees in the woods that hides the stars, contrasting with what he sees—and hears-- in the cloud;

Brown’s reactions to the “message”—perhaps only partly understood—of the cloud

The description of the meeting in the woods and how it doubles a particular environment in the day time world; consider how some aspects of what Brown hears and sees may be suggesting a kind of understanding of the world and his relationship to it that he never fully comprehends or accepts, and which accounts for the disturbing ending of the story—Brown’s bitterness and misanthropic attitude. Some things the minister says lead him toward this understanding, but other comments seem to divert him from this realization, which make sense if we read this story more as a dramatization of Brown’s internal, and not always fully conscious struggle with an oppositional, dualistic puritan world view, and the problems and conflicts that can be a consequence of such a world view. Attend carefully to the details of this meeting, both visual and audio images, esp. the complex, intriguing, and suggestive  description of the “hymn.”

The concluding scenes of the story—what does YGB understand about his “communion,” and what has he missed? (think of the irony of the word “communion” in this context)

Consider carefully the details of some of these scenes, and how they may both represent and challenge or undermine the premises of the puritan worldview. Is there a way in which puritan “morality” is actually immoral?

One final comment: because it is, at least in part, an “allegory,” Young Goodman Brown” can teach us a lot about how to “read”—i.e., interpret—literature in general, since even more “realistic” stories can be read between the lines in these ways, following image, symbol, and thematic patterns that may be subtly embedded in the details of the text. The allegory self-consciously encourages this kind of reading, forgoing the reality effect of a story grounded more particularly in everyday life.

Poe

Check the following link for psychoanalytic theorist Jacques Lacan's take on "The Purloined Letterhttp://www.lacan.com/purloined.htm

Ok--since this may be one of the more overtly philosophically challenging stories of the semester, I'll put some issues on the virtual table here.

Keeping clear a few facts, of plot and character, may help with analyzing this somewhat perplexing story.

First, who‘s who: The narrator moves things along for us, as he narrates events, but doesn’t have much of an identity in the story beyond that, though we can say he is intellectually curious.

“Monsieur G is the “Prefect of police,” more or less equivalent, in American terms, to a police chief or commander.

Minister D, part of the royal cabinet, is the thief, and also a “poet and mathematician.”

Dupin, a friend of the narrator, a sort of amateur detective (i.e., not a “professional”) solves the crime that the Prefect couldn’t. Dupin also admits to being a poet—though again not by “profession” (he has dabbled in “doggerel,” as he calls it) and also knows quite a bit about mathematics, though again, not by “profession”; his “liminal” position vis a vis these “professions” allows him to slip between the cracks of ideology of each.

As revealed by the ending (the contents of Dupin’s substitute letter), the conflict is between Dupin and the Minister D.

But one of the main themes of the story is how various “ways of seeing,” or ideologies, affect not only how we understand the world, but even what exactly we perceive.

As you read the story, consider the limitations of various points of view, how the inspector can “read”  the world in intense detail from one perspective, but completely misread it when from a non-empirical perspective. On one side we have science, measurement, objectivity, logic and on the other poetic perception or apperception, “reading” of that which is not quantifiable or subject to exactitude—expressions, character.  Notice that, ironically, the ability to read what is illegible, from the standpoint of pure “policial” detection methods, as represented by the Prefect, is what enables the “amateur,” Dupin, to solve the crime. Note that Dupin distinguishes between “mathematical reason”—logic applied only to quantity--and a higher form of “reason” that can blend science and imagination. Note that both Dupin and the Minister D challenge this dualistic division of the world into poet-“fools” on the one hand and scientific, “rational” authority on the other, as both blend these points of view, without being completely invested in either world view.

Other things to consider—doublings of plot and setting—: how many times is the letter “stolen”? The  letter must run a circuit (through the narrative of the story, in a sense) to arrive—where?

What is the relationship between the Minister D’s and Dupin’s letters? Where are they similar and where different, and how does this connect with other issues noted above?

In what setting does Dupin solve the crime? How is this different from the setting in which the Prefect attempts to solve it, and what does this suggest?

We distinguish the Prefect, above, and the world view he represents, from Dupin, but how does the fact that he sought to “consult” Dupin somewhat complicate his “role” a s the figurehead of a certain world view?

How does the story play with “foreshadowing”: certain comments and actions by Dupin at the beginning of the story in relation to events and themes as they develop during the course of the story?

What is the relevance of the conflict between Dupin and D? Note the similarity of (in) their names.

How is power figured in the story—what is it, specifically, that gives one power over others, and how might this connect with the main theme outlined above?

Don’t worry about the French and Latin; but, following is a translation of Dupin’s letter (end of story), and a brief summary of the two allusions to classical mythology:

“Such a baleful scheme, while not worthy of Atreus, is worthy of Thyestes”

Gloss:

ATREUS: The son of Pelops and brother of Thyestes. The two brothers quarrelled about the succession and Atreus served up most of Thyestes' children to him at a feast. Atreus was father of Menelaus and Agamemnon.

THYESTES: The son of Pelops and brother of Atreus. He seduced his brother's wife, Aerope, and she gave him the golden lamb which was the symbol of Atreus' power. Atreus took revenge by killing most of Thyestes' children and serving them up to him. The story forms the background to the Oresteia and is told by the Roman author, Seneca, in his tragedy, Thyestes.

Make of it what you will...

The Yellow Wallpaper

Here are some cautions, and some things to consider (gleaned from responses to previous bolgs...):

You might try a character analysis of the protagonist--what are the conflicts she may be experiencing (this could take some psychological digging, looking for needs, fears, lacks, etc, emotional, imaginative, and otherwise...don't overlook the sensual connotations!), based on the story's details, and how is her interaction with the wallpaper a way of working these out?

Since her husband forbid her to write down her feelings, consider her imaginative involvement with the wallpaper as her "creative" outlet/therapy. Rather than thinking the wallpaper "caused" her illness,   try studying if for what it reveals about the character's conflicts.

Examine specific scenes and details, things the character says and observes (first person narrator, in this case, so you have to read through her point of view).

Rather than imposing a class bias or judging the character (which often involves imposing a frame of reference, value system, etc., that may not be relevant to the story's specific setting or characters' situations, etc.), interpret/analyze the character's conflicts (as if indeed you were a detective, or in this case perhaps a psychoanalyst).

In a nutshell, consider the protagonist's (main character's) imaginative interaction/involvement with the wallpaper as symbolic of her internal conflicts (and external ones, as well, in the sense that she is being physically confined, as well as mentally/emotionally).

The story has a lot to say about the socio-cultural condition of women at the time, and the psychological consequences of a repressive ideology, including a purely positivist scientific--i.e., pre-Freudian--worldview (the science of psychology was just being developed in the 1890's; Freud's first major theoretical work, Project for a Scientific Psychology, was published in 1895).

Though not noramlly recommended, and though not tobe used/completely trusted as a secondary source, WikiPedia entries on "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "psycnoanalysis" (see esp "History"--"1890s") provide good overviews (caution: such open-source material must always be evaluated against more rigorous research in "certified" sources, such as peer-reviewed academic journals--the type listed in the "literature resource center," including the "MLA" databases).

                     

Devil's in the Details...

 There is a study sheet for this story posted to Blackboard. Please review it; also, review my comments on the "English 40" and "English" blogs under "Blogs from Previous Classes" to the right (3rd set from bottom of list; my comments also included below). Be careful avoid taking this story at face value--i.e., as simply about a kid trying to kill time at a boring job; this won't get you very far and won't pay off in terms of reader satisfaction. The real interest is in the patterns of imagery and symbols, which add depth to the conflict. This, like all good works of literature, is worth the time and effort put into reading it--in fact, its value increases in proportion to the time invested in it.

See the study sheet posted to BB for this story for specific suggestions.

Don't bet on the stock market--reading and creativity are the only constant investments...

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My comments from "English 40" blog:

The A & P, and the close "reading" of it Sammy does--i.e., his detailed description of it--suggest it is important to him. It can be seen as a microcosm for larger socio-cultural conditions, and Sammy's critical view of them, as well as class conflicts--think of the description of customers, the store itself--the lighting, flooring, how people move in the stores and behave; what the girls' naked feet touch, and what they're prevented from "actually" touching by what they touch; think about the "aisles"--not just the idea about motion through aisles (what sort of motion do they mandate?), but what's "for sale" in them; think about the different types/images of "eyes" involved in the story; think about Sammy's class fantasy of Queenie, and how this comments on his own socio-cultural and class condition vis a vis (imagined) others' Think about the town itself in which the store is embedded (the metaphor of a box in a box comes to mind...and there are plenty of other "boxes" to consider, esp. in a grocery store, after all...). Consider Sammy's description of his checkout station (think about the term he uses to describe it) and the sounds of the cash register. Yes, the description of the girls does contrast in many ways with the immediate setting of the store--it's not, then, that the girls themselves are so important to him, but what the represent for Sammy; just as when he says "I quit," it's not just his job that he's thinking of...

In any case, almost every observation Sammy makes can be taken on both literal and symbolic levels.

From "English":

Yes, the store goes on "functioning as usual," and this does seem to comment on Sammy's actions, leaving us with a question. Should we just chalk it up to his youth? Hmmm... think about how this story might foreshadow events in America and Europe in the mid-late 1960s, and whether or not these (primarily youthful) rebellions shared a similar fate....

Again, here, as in all stories,the story exists on both literal and symbolic levels. Details of Sammy's observations articulate his attitude and conflict; they become an indictment of working class, consumer culture, but also implicate him in it. The out-of-context appearance of the girls play a role in Sammy's internal drama, bringing to the fore his discontentment with his own position in the status quo, of which he remains, perhaps inevitably, a member, a "cog"in the machine of the class he criticizes, and is acutely, painfully aware of this in the end. Sammy imaginatively "casts" (not all the girls, it should be noted, though by implication they are all part of the same "class" Sammy imaginatively reconstructs--it's just that the others don't fit the part) Queenie--in an idealized fantasy of upper class lifestyle, a scenario that contrasts with his own socio-economic position, and is subtly aware of his own "role playing" and "typecasting," in the end (particular observation he makes when he actually gets close to the foil character in his internal drama--the more "real" she becomes--begin to  dispel the illusion--consider his comments on the sound of her voice).  Sammy's "class consciousness," his critical awareness of the mindless, mechanized, dehumanized, routinized, robotic class of which he is a part is relevant, as is his implicit realization of the mutual exclusivity of upper and lower classes, but his self-realization is crucial.  How do we know all this? the details tell us... the job of the essay?--show us.... 

Walker (who walks away...?)

 Hi bloggers (and blog watchers)--

As always, please read ENTIRE post before writing.

My comments for this story in "Blogs from Previous Classes" can be helpful: when checking a blog, remember to click on the title of the blog, not the particular story listed underneath it, then scroll down to find the story and read my comments under "comments;" you may also want to read the bloggers' comments to get a context for my own comments on those comments... I have recopied the most important one, from the "English" blog, below...

Also, check the study sheet in Blackboard, which includes some quotes from critics that may prove useful (full articles may be found in the Literature Resource Center database).

As always, it is important to indicate specific setting and main plot developments in the opening summary.  The demographics of the setting (the socio-economic, cultural/ethnic background) is important to establish at the outset. This is specifically a story about an African-American family, and the complex relationship of the characters to concepts of  "heritage\" in an African-American context  The story is told from a 1st person narrative perspective; Mrs. Johnson is the narrator. As such, it is very much her story (and secondarily Maggie's).  Much of the drama in the story, esp during the final scene involving quilt, stems from Mrs. J's conflicted relationship with one of her daughter's, Dee (note early scenes involving dreams, Mrs J's compensatory self-description in response to those dreams,  and Dee's attempts to "educate" Mrs. J and Maggie), vis a vis conflicting concepts of heritage as "lifestyle" (with the emphasis on style) v lived experience.  The title of the story implies which side the narrative ultimately seems to valorize

Consider character conflict as it interfaces with contrasting concepts of "heritage"; the mother and Maggie are one on side of this debate, and Dee and her friend on the other...though there are complications both ways, and the mother is, in a way, a touchstone figure for the side of the debate the narrator seems to come down on, though the story reveals the value of both....Again, as for character conflict and change, as noted above, since the narrative perspective is 1st person, though the eyes of Mrs. Johnson, she is the point of view character in this case, and the one within whom reside the main conflict and change, though Maggie, too, undergoes change--though that change is most significant as it relates to how Mrs Johnson resolves her own conflicts (if she does, completely).  (see my comments on the "short fiction eng" blog, 3rd set from bottom below of blogs from previous classes, where I elaborate this in a bit more detail, and suggest specific key scenes for consideration--see below on this post)

Here is my comment from the "English" blog (you may want to see that student's blog for the context):

The idea about the power of voice is interesting--you're thinking about Dee's forced attempts to "educate" her mother and Maggie? This is really the voice of a different cultural perspective, right?

When analyzing the story, consider the following issues:

If you look closely, the mother's relationship with Dee is quite conflicted, and she is actually much closer to Maggie, in character. Consider the dreams she has involving Dee, and also the final scene (Maggie and the mother on the porch as Dee leaves). Also, consider the contrast between Dee and Maggie as characters. This should lead to a discussion of one of the important themes of the story, heritage. But, again, this concept is ambiguous in the story. Through the interactions among the three main characters, Walker explores the complex and perhaps contradictory notions of "heritage." There are, at any rate, at least two perspectives on heritage that the story presents. One represented best by Dee, and the other be Maggie and her mother.

Consider especially scenes--the dialogue and character interaction--involving the butter churn and the quilt. Also consider the symbolic value of these items, as they relate to concepts of heritage. Consider the extreme detail of the narrator's reflections on these items, and what those details suggest and how they qualify one perspective  on "heritage."  Also consider Maggie's knowledge of these items, and how all this differs from Dee's views of/understanding of/attitudes toward these items and how this relates to her attitude toward her mother and sister as well, in terms of heritage.  Consider also the story's title. In addition you may want to consider how names, and name changes, figure into the conflicting, or at least contrasting, views of heritage.

To understand the power and defiance of Mrs. Johnson's response to Dee, RE the quilts, we have to understand her conflicted relationship to Dee, and how her own feelings of inadequacy vis a vis Dee are projected onto Maggie (ironic considering Mrs. Johnson's physical strength and resilience as a character--see opening scenes of the story, Mrs.. Johnson's dream, etc).  I.e., part of the realization that "hit" Mrs. Johnson in the climatic section of the story is this connection between the two of them, vis a vis Dee--they both have been "browbeaten," so to speak, by Dee--how so?

For more on Dee's character,  take a look at my comment on Patricia Evans blog ("current blogs"): here are the main points=:

Dee's lack of self-awareness: Consider, for eg, how her dress--symbolizing a superficial, intellectualized connection to one sort of "heritage"--contrasts/conflicts with her own more bodily connection to the concept of heritage (notice the dinner scene--how/what Dee eats...) Mama and Maggie represent, which seems to be valorized by the narrative.  Note how Dee's valuation of the quilts and churn are from a certain distance (what is that distance?) while a careful look at details of the scenes suggests she has no real connection --"personal" connection--to these items as Maggie and Mama do... yes, she is, in a sense, like the GM in O'Connor's "a Good Man..." a "misfit" in certain sense, while also, like the GM, somewhat in denial about her deeper connection to the heritage she rejects...

When analyzing secondary characters, like Dee, whom we can consider the "antagonist" in this case, while Mrs. Johnson and Maggie are "protagonists,"  we should start form her context within larger conflicts, which would first have to be clearly presented.  As suggested above, the concepts of and attitudes toward heritage in the story are somewhat complicated.  Dee's relationship to African and African-American culture is complex and contradictory. As noted above, the narrative makes clear that Dee rejects--in fact, attempts to fundamentally erase--a large part of her heritage, while at the same time being in denial of its fundamental--bodily--role in her identity (the dinner scene).   She also romanticizes select aspects of African-American culture in a superficial sense, whereas her connection to African culture is basically theatrical.  To do an adequate analysis of any character, the analysis must be done in context of the of that character's complete articulation in the story, otherwise we get an incomplete, partial view. 

to reemphasize, as noted above, the story makes clear that Dee's valorization of one aspect of her culture(the "African" part) is superficial, whereas her conflicted connection  to the  "African-American" aspect is very real.   Note one of the critics (article in Assignments) calls this embrace a "remote," intellectual, aesthetic connection. Several details of the story suggest she is only interested in the display of culture--both her "African-American" culture, which she at once rejects and selectively romanticizes (again, she is a complex and contradictory character) and her "African roots."

The general summary above takes into account the full articulation of that character; we can refer to several specific details from scenes throughout the story to support these generalizations, which we would do in an analysis of her character.

As always, when considering key scenes for analysis, as they help articulate conflict and theme,  consider all aspects of the elements of fiction involved: character action and interaction (with other characters and set, including particular objects), dialogue, details of set and symbol.

Please note that the goal of these extensive blog posts and selection of articles in Assignments is to help guide analysis  and provide background. 

Happy blogging  and analyzing!

Will the real Misfit please ....stand?

This story is chock full of suggestive symbolic details, everything from the  grandmother's white gloves to what she "sees" (or doesn't) in the final scene and everything in between; there is some significant detail at almost every "turn" (pun intended, as you will see)

This story is rich in detail, but don' t let the entertaining narrative distract you from the deeper story being told by the patterns of interlocking details---note how the grandmother's delusional, romanticized/fantasized, self-contradictory world view/value system is undermined in the story, esp after her encounter with the Misfit, and her desperate attempts to disavow what the Misfit represents to evade the void beneath....

Also, caution: avoid reading this as a story of "good" v "evil," since the deeper theme of the story deconstructs such human-invented values systems.  The GM (grandmother) certainly can be seen as misguided, but not "evil," the family as dysfunctional, as most families are, but again not in any way "deserving" what happens to them--the story calls into question all such rationalizations. As for the Misfit, he certainly should not be characterized as an agent of retribution; he "fits" into no concept of good or evil (note the ironies of his actually "fitting" the GM's image of a "good man") and is simply a force of nature--a representative of the brute reality that has no place in such binary world view/value systems; he slips between/through such categories (note the autobiographical summary of what he's been/done in his life, which stops short of his current "occupation"). Actually, nothing and no one "fits" into such neat moral categories in the story--no such comfort is offered in the final scenes. As I say below, note who/what is left standing (and what else lives ) in the end... well, there are no heroes in the story, and, unfortunately, as the Misfit might say, there ain't no vill'ins, neither...

From previous blogs on this story, the one second from the bottom of the list under "Blogs from Previous Classes" (third set up from bottom: it is subtitled "The Lesson": scroll down to the story, then click "comments" and scroll up or down to find mine):

Yes, all these ironies are interesting, but, to a great extent, this is a story about values and world views--belief systems that sustain us, and how those may often be illusions--if not self-delusional. Consider the grandmother as representing a kind of (deep South inflected)world view, and how that world view--what allows her to make sense of the world--is brutally ripped away--what's left? Consider some of the imagery toward the end of the story--description of the sky, what she sees as she looks up for the last time. Other image patterns in the story--such as red dust (characteristic of the Georgia landscape), would also be worth pursuing...

To get started, a few notes, images, questions, things to think about...

Who are The Misfits?: the Misfit, the grandmother, the monkey, Jesus, parrots on a shirt…  a lot of things don't seem to "fit" the reality of their contexts...

Study the character of the grandmother: dress, values: as suggested by her stories, things/people she describes (including the “negro child”), comments to kids, dialogue with Sammy, the Misfit. Consider the story’s title in terms of the story’s conflict and grandmother’s character

Consider the relationship between the grandmother and the Misfit

Who's the real "misfit"?

Note carefully the details in the following scene (quoted below) and others near the end of the story.  Consider how scenes like this one, and others near the end of the story, imply character conflict, change, possible realizations or lack thereof; of course, these scenes should be interpreted in context of the grandmother’s character and distorted world view, as it is established in the first half of the story. Also, in context of what takes place after the accident, and in contrast to the grandmother’s previous observations and behavior, consider how both the Misfit and the grandmother describe the sky in negative imagery, as a “cloudless sky” and, in another related image, as a sky without clouds but also without sun.  (In the following scene, this latter image is repeated for the second time, through the grandmother’s point of view, consciously or not; the image was first presented through the eyes of the Misfit, during the initial meeting of the two characters after the accident)

“Alone with The Misfit, the grandmother found that she had lost her voice. There was not a cloud in the sky nor any sun. There was nothing around her but woods. She wanted to tell him that he must pray. She opened and closed her mouth several times before anything came out. Finally she found herself saying, "Jesus. Jesus," meaning, Jesus will help you, but the way she was saying it, it sounded as if she might be cursing.”

Closely consider the final scene, and the final image of that scene--the grandmother's last desperate attempts to make the misfit fit, the look on her face after she is shot, but what she is finally, in death, left looking at (as the narrator describes it, echoing the consciousness of the misfit, but generalizing that perception...).  Between the expression on the grandmother's face, and the expressionless sky...is the conflict, the essential realization (on the reader's part), the ambivalence of the grandmother's realization  (the eyes open, but in death, to all there ever was/is, of her world... but did she--see?)

Who's left standing at the end of the story (i.e., who/what lives)?

The story's chock-cull of irony.  Who's most in-touch w/reality (despite names), who's most out of touch with it?

Closely study the grandmother's character--what is she capable of accepting/understanding/believing, what not.

The end of the story may indicate the greatest "misfit"--a lack of fit between what the grandmother believed she was up to, and the greater, existential, ontological context embedding the the grandmother, the Misfit--all of us..

Here's how one critic tries to sum up the critical debate about the ending:
"'A Good Man Is Hard to Find' is one of Flannery O'Connor's most discussed and most problematic short stories. The major difficulty involves the story's climax. Should the Grandmother's final act—her touching of the Misfit—be taken as a token of true, divine grace and spiritual insight? Or should the story be interpreted strictly as a naturalistic [read "realistic," "disillusioned"--i.e., without illusions/delusions] document [that is to say at least the reader is critically disillusioned, at the end, if not the GM]? Perhaps the Grandmother achieves no spiritual insight [or perhaps, chillingly, the possibility that  there is none to achieve? It's all our illusions, myths of our making, to get us through...]. One can find critics on both sides of the argument."  The evidence, it seems, points us in the latter direction....

Remember to establish, at the beginning of your essay, the GM/s self-romanticizing, self-deluding character and her out-of-touch world view, which is inconsistent with her surroundings as well as other aspects of her own character (her manipulativeness, for eg--even what she has for lunch is oddly inconsistent with what you'd expect a "lady" to eat, and the ingredients of the lunch itself or "misfits" with each other).  Notice how her world view leads her to misperceive situations during the story, the most serious and desperately willful of which of course takes place after the (over)turning point.  Then, note how the Misfit represents a brute reality that annihilates, or completely voids the GM's belief system, and how this generates the GM's conflict--the desperate attempts to make the Misfit "fit" (into what?), and struggles with/attempts to remain in denial about some of her own observations, in the final scenes, which suggest she may at least be unconsciously acknowledging the disillusioning meaning of the "Misfit." Does she ever make that final, what would be a self-annihilating, realization? Can she accept what the Misfit represents? In whose world view, finally, is the Misfit a misfit, and who is the real misfit ("real" the key...)? Explore some of these ironies, along with others noted below, and various sub-plays on "misfits."

From perspective of above: Who is the first one to "recognize" the Misfit (after the accident)? what is the irony?  Also, another irony, what enabled said person to recognize him (hint--not comic books?)

Well, perhaps the grandmother and Young Goodman Brown do have something in common (read the latter story, a fable set in a similar either/or value system, and see...)

SO, to sum up:

First read and reread this blog post, esp the par above beginning "remember to establish..." which outlines the main conflicts.

I also mention several specific scenes, details, and patterns of detail, above and below, you can consider to show how these conflicts develop

The focus of the essay should be the GM's self-deluding worldview and self-image, how this is out of sync with reality, and how it is contradicted by other aspects of her character, and how this world view is undermined by her encounter with the Misfit, and the reality he represents, which is basically an emptying of the GM's belief system.  

To prove the first part of this thesis, establish the problems with the GM's character and worldview; note details of scenes toward the beginning of the story--how she refers to herself, how she dresses for a mundane road trip (she appears to be  dressed to play a role inconsistent with the reality of what she is doing); not also the kind of world she imaginatively inserts herself into in stories, jokes, and other comments she makes along the way.  
Note how the accident symbolizes a turning point in the story, and how descriptions of her appearance change (compare to earlier) and what this suggests, regarding above thesis (note also the GM refers to an imaginary "accident" earlier, and the flaws in the way that is imagined, v what a "real" accident looks like--again, this shows the out-of-touch nature of her self image and worldview). 

Then go on to focus on key details, passages of dialogue, etc, in the second part of the story that show how the Misfit disrupts and basically erases the GM's belief system, while she  struggles to hold onto it and continues to willfully misperceive what the Misfit means by certain observation, and what he is--what he represents; show how she continues to remain in denial and struggles to make him fit her unrealistic world view  (though psychologically unable to accept what the Misfit represents,  there are, however, some indications that she unconsciously grasps it).  As part of this discussion, it is important to  note how the Misfit actually "fits" her concept of a "gentleman"---though she fails see the (bitter) irony

The above of course is general statement; these general remarks derive for specific evidence and details in the story itself.  If the story is carefully read, the above statements should "ring true"--i.e, they should bring several specific details to mind from throughout the story itself.  As is ALL analyses, remember to focus on specific details of scenes, provide necessary context, and avoid leaping to scenes toward the end without first establishing the GM's character so we can see what is at stake for her, and why she struggles against realization---we can't see conflict without first establishing  the terms of the conflict.

Plot:

An important plot event: the “accident”: the overturning of the car as, symbolically, a turning point. The grandmother’s worldview overturned (her worldview: somewhat perverted “old south”—how could it not be?-- which has its own internal inconsistencies, as this rubs against other aspects of her character)… disillusionment (who sees the cloudless sky, but w/no sun?) v. desperate attempts to hold on to this worldview…attend to details of the scenes, before and after the turning point, changes—the surroundings, grandmother’s dress, the dialogue, what happens to the shirt...

some of the revealing image/symbol patterns to trace:

silver-white sunlight / white sun / cloudless sky, but no sun [two characters, as the narrator notes, see it this way--see below, "Plot" --to see this, is to see... what?] /  white faces / pale eyes: important in this pattern, in terms of the central conflict and theme, and whether or not that conflict is resolved in any way, in the story's final scene, is both what is there and what is not there--i.e., what the grandmother "sees" finally is not so much a something as a....?

the irony of the story ending in bright [though not described this way] light, considering the darkness of the vision we're left with

yellow shirt with blue parrots / yellow faces / intense blue eyes

red clay / red road dust / pink dust / red depression / dust-covered trees

deep, dark woods / winding road w/sudden dips and rises /

monkey in a Chinaberry tree in Georgia / parrots on a shirt

The GM's appearance/dress and how it changes, esp the hat and what it comes into contact with after the accident

the functions of various two-dimensional images (comic books) and newspapers (as they indicate various ways characters are out-of-touch --with what?--even though a newspaper would suggest the opposite...)

Inversions: What's left standing, right-side up? What's been flipped--"oncet... we seen it happen"?

Names: the cat (and, assuming the grandmother named the cat, as who else in the story could, with such a name, as this reflects symbolically on her--on the central conflict, w/perhaps also a bit of foreshadowing); the girl