Southern Stereotypes Essay Example for Free

Southern Stereotypes Essay Grotesque roams in the South whereby grace transformed into violence it becomes realization. In 1955, Flannery O’Connor wrote Good Country People, where she uses the distorted side of humans to aware the reader of the powerful reality of spirituality. Mostly the characters are used to represent grotesque. A female character in particular that O’Connor uses is Joy Hulga, a rather fanatical character who denies Southern stereotypes and is a â€Å"virgin ogre† who is a misfit. Southern belles are the way in the south that will have a place to fit. In this particular story O’Connor uses females to demonstrate a Southern social code. The society where these ladies are placed is one where a lot is expected. â€Å"The Southern Belle grows up (in genteel style), gets married (becoming a Southern lady), and like the larger American culture’s stereotypical woman, fulfills her highest destiny when she is wife and mother† (Pierce 1). Carramae has the attributes to truly be a southern belle who is a blonde that at age fifteen had come to be both a wife and a mother. Then on the other side her sister, Glynese an eighteen year old redhead with many admirers. Glynese wasn’t one to settle for crumbs she was worth a ’36 Plymouth and to get married by a preacher. Both â€Å"Glynese and Carramae are both fine girls,† (O’Connor 5) that any mother would be proud to be affiliated with and brag about and any man ready to escort such pretty ladies. â€Å"These Southern ladies are caricatures of normal girls who court young men, marry, and produce children† (Westling 518) representing the ways of a fine South. Unlike fine girls Joy Hulga denies the traditional Southern stereotypes of women. A common stereotype that O’Connor expresses is beauty within the exterior. Joy Hulga is always being compared to Glynese and Caramae and mostly because they are the belles while Joy Hulga is â€Å"a large blonds girl who has an artificial leg† (O’Conor 1). Joy Hulga has never fulfilled or fitted in a normal role or even danced, â€Å"any woman who fails to fulfill these roles is typically portrayed as either laughable, pathetic, or terrifying (and, in some cases, all of the above† (Pierce 1). She is now characterized as a thirty-two year old lady, whose life has passed beneath her eyes with no chance of a normal southern life converting her into a bitter egocentric person. She walks around stomping in a sluggish matter transmitting a depressing atmosphere. Aside from not having exterior beauty she has a Ph. D in philosophy. Any mother could brag about her daughter becoming a teacher but never a daughter who obtained a Ph. D. Due to the extent education she has she becomes an atheist. Since she thinks that she knows the truth about salvation, it brings herself into thinking she is superior than people because they haven’t opened their eyes to understand that there is no real salvation. â€Å"She looked at nice young men as if she could smell their stupidity† (O’Conor 3). Jo Hulga’s exterior and mindset juxtapose Southern life. Joy-Hulga’s very extensive character denies the Southern life who becomes a â€Å"virgin ogre† that is a misfit. O’Connor uses grotesque to establish characters creepy qualities. She has given Joy Hulga a distorted side to deny Southern stereotypes. It’s realism or just grotesque.