Literary Analysis

Jordan Simpson

English 1020

February 17 2014

Ms. Katheryne Laborde

Literary Analysis : “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” & “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

In the historical short stories, “ A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by Flannery O’Connor and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been ?” by Joyce Carol Oates, both stories illuminate the evil aspects within the context. Although the stories contain two contrasting plots, both authors use a variety of literary devices to clearly display the evil aspects of each story through there protagonist characters.  Flannery O’Connor and Joyce Carol Oates vividly use irony, imagery, and foreshadowing to effectively display the evil within both short stories.

In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” and “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” both authors use foreshadowing to depict the evil that will be occuring in the stories. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find “ the grandmother expresses how she wishes not to  travel to Florida because she fears the escaped “Misfit” himself. She continues stating, “Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people" (138). O’Connor foreshadows the encounter with the Misfit, which ultimately leads to their deaths.  Likewise in Oate’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Connie lies to her parents about where she is actually going, describing the place as “a drive-in restaurant where older kids hung out” (615). Connie later ends up leaving with Arnold Friend, and nothing else is heard from her. Both authors used the literary technique of foreshadowing to clearly convey the evil presence within each story.

Secondly, Flannery O’Connor and Joyce Carol Oates vividly use descriptive imagery to clearly illuminate the evil presence within both short stories. Flannery O’Connor describes, “ His hair was just beginning to gray and he wore silver-rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look. He had a long creased face and didn’t have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun”(145). O’Connor vividly uses imagery to create a visual image of Misfit and his dark presence. Joyce Carol Oates states, “He looked at her. He took off the sunglasses and she saw how pale the skin around his eyes was, like holes that were not in shadow but instead in light” (865). She describes the pale and wrinkled appearance of the antagonist character, Arnold Friend. Both authors uses imagery to describe the evil presence of the protagonist characters Arnold Friend and the Misfit.

Lastly, both authors use a strong choice of diction to clearly convey the evil presence of their protagonist characters. In O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” she uses literary irony to effectively display the evil presence of the Misfit. While the grandmother is attempting to persuade Bailey not to go to Florida, they unfortunately end up traveling towards Florida and encountering the Misfit. Shorty after wrecking on the highway, June Starr states “But Nobody’s killed”. However, it is highly ironic how the family ends up along the highway murdered by the Misfit. Joyce Carol Oates also uses irony to introduce the presence of the protagonist, Arnold Friend. While the protagonist is named Arnold “Friend”, he is far from a friend in the story. As the audience continues to read the story, ironically we learn that Arnold Friend is actually a devil-like figure that tempts Connie into leaving her home and family. Both authors use irony to clearly illuminate the evil presence of the protagonist characters.

In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” and Joyce Carol Oate’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” both authors use a variety of literary techniques to effectively convey the evil presence of the protagonist characters. Both authors strongly use foreshadowing, vivid imagery, and irony to clearly depict an evil presence within both stories. As Flannery O’Connor clearly narrates “A Good Man Is Hard Find” she effectively uses foreshadowing, imagery, and irony as she describes the unfortunate murder of an innocent family. Similarly, Joyce Carol Oates uses these literary devices to clearly convey the evil presence of Arnold Friend as he takes Connie away from her home. Both author effectively used foreshadowing, descriptive imagery, and irony to clearly display the evil presence of the protagonist characters.

White Trash Primer: Survival of the Fittest

Jordan Simpson

English 1020

March 30 2014

Ms. Katheryne Laborde

White Trash Primer: Survival of the Fittest

In Lacy M. Johnson’s short story, “White Trash Primer”, it vividly describes the story of a young woman makes drastic changes and undergoes several hardships throughout her young, adult life. She tells the story from a unique point of view, as if the reader was going through the hardships of the narrator themselves. This not only gives the audience a closer sense of the story, but illuminates the hardships and struggles the narrator experiences. Between having to move out of your family home, to getting raped, the narrator holds no bars against telling the story. Within it the short story the narrator begins to look at herself as “White Trash”. Her family could barely make ends meet, and this forced her to step up when the time came. She had to either mature and use the opportunities she was given, or survive without regards to herself or anyone else. In this personal memoir, the narrator is portrayed as a survivor due to the acts she performed to overcome her times of hardships and struggle.

One of the first instances that opened up for the narrator, was living in a family where the finances were a daily struggle. At a certain point, the family has to resort to selling their family farm because they could not keep up the necessities to maintain it. This was significant, being that their farm was expected to produce and sell products to the community. Facing this time of hardship, one would understand how someone would hate to see his or her family miserable and suffering in that manner. This would be the “spark” of the survivor instinct within the author.

As a result of her family losing their farm, the young narrator pursued a job without her parents knowing, just as anyone else would in that situation. She applied to a local Wal-Mart, but was sadly denied employment. She understood that her family needed to survive, so she did what she had to do and took the necessary actions. She applied to that Wal-Mart 6 times until she was given a job. With all of the hassle of simply trying to get the job,  she could let go of what she needed to do for her family. To save money, she would bring peanut butter sandwiches to work instead of buying lunch. She even goes a step further, when the narrator mentions that she is in college, along with working forty hours a week at Wal-Mart.

So what else could go wrong within the life of the narrator? She is a young adult, in college, working 40 hours a week to provide for her family. Her possibly losing her self-dignity and her morals is the answer. But, its all apart of surviving  as she is making use of what she has been given. She meets a young woman at her job who later begins to match her up with older men on dates. When the men finish their dates with the narrator, they bring her back to their homes and have sex with her. After, the men bring the narrator shopping and send her to nice places for the weekends. The narrator then meets a character that changes her mind about everything and she decides to make a change. The narrator meets a man who drives a Harley-Davidson motorcycle who she happens to like and he treats her better than almost any other man. He treats her with respect and he doesn’t elicit anything from her. She realizes that she must change and she begins to take her life seriously. She quits her job at the Wal-Mart and becomes a full time student and becomes happy when her family is there to attend her graduation and receive her diploma. She did what she had to do and she survived!

In conclusion, the narrator of  “White Trash Primer” can be considered a survivor. She did what was necessary for her to survive. She obtained a  job while in school, saved funds for her and her family, and took the necessary actions to survive. She would have sex with men, and they would buy her clothes and take her out for dinner in return. The narrator used the the gullible aspects of the men she had sex with to aid in her survival. This would have continued until she met the man on the Harley-Davidson who gave her hope,  and made her realize she needed to make more of herself as a person. Facing all those hardships at such a young age, and her having to mature so rapidly, she did what she had to do to survive.

Forever Lost

Jordan Simpson

Poetic Response

“Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the

Hospital for the Criminal Insane”

by Atheridge Knight  

5/2/2014

Forever Lost

The day grew late, as I had awaken from a short nap of my third floor bunk. Time escaped my mind, as I marked on my cell wall like a blackboard in grade school classroom. Chatter about how Hard Rock had been turned into a “normal” nigger quickly grasped the attention of us inmates. It seemed as though they had taken Hard Rock from our cell for a couple of weeks although it was only a couple of days. Time escaped my mind, as I waited on the return of my cell mate. The prison guards took their proper positions, as I could see Hard Rock making his way back to general population. Hard Rock approached the doors to general population and was quickly surrounded by armed security like a herd of wandering sheep.

I stood up in amazement, as the rigid and rough Hard Rock that I shared a bunk with was seemed to be replaced by a big, calm child. I reminisced about the encounters that I experienced, while bunking with the Hard Rock himself. The vicious shankings that I witnessed and the countless number of days spent in the hole seemed to be replaced by a large fellow full of innocence. Hard Rock entered into the doors, and the testing quickly took place. I nervously watched from my cell, as the guards instructed an incarcerated hillbilly to tease Hard Rock like a ill-mannered child. The hillbilly viciously yelled, “you black son of a bitch”, and Hard Rock did nothing.  I quickly became astonished, as I was aware that this was not the same Hard Rock that I shared a bunk with couple of days ago.  The testing proceeded by the guards.

The prison guards mumbled to Hard Rock, “What’s your first  name?”. After about three delayed minutes Hard Rock replied. My spirit was crushed knowing that the Hard Rock that I once knew was replaced by a mindless vegetable. What ever operations or procedures they performed on Hard Rock would never leave him the same. The outraged, strong- voiced Hard Rock that we once knew would never walk the cold floors of our cell. Although we had heard that Hard Rock was finally a “normal” nigger, there was nothing normal about this Hard Rock that have been placed through these tests. The Hard Rock that I knew was known not to take any shit from anybody and I was even known to risk his freedom to prove it. However, as I laid back in bunk the thoughts of the “real” Hard Rock began to evaporate from my mind. All of the countless days spent in the same hole seemed to disappear, and the only thing that remained was the large, scarred body of Hard Rock. The guards escorted this new figure back to my cell and the mindless Hard Rock stared at me for minutes.  After looking at what was Hard Rock for a couple of minutes, I quickly turned over in my bunk and gazed at the marked up wall. The destroyer and doer of things that I once knew was forever lost.

Simile:  I marked on my cell wall like a blackboard in grade school classroom

Metaphor: Hard Rock that I once knew was replaced by a mindless vegetable

Alliteration: The prison guards took their proper positions

Consonance: I stood up in amazement, as the rigid and rough Hard Rock that I shared a bunk with was seemed to be replaced by a big, calm child

Assonance: All of the countless days spent in the same hole seemed to disappear and the only thing that remained