Nicholas Crow
Mrs. S. Aiken
English 1102-45
Sept. 30, 2009
The Meaning Behind Their Names
Flannery O’Connor, a devout Catholic writer who liked to attack opposing religious views through her stories, debases the fundamentals of Nihilism in her story “Good Country People.” O’Conner uses multiple direct descriptions to get her point across as well as several types of symbolism. The symbolism used in the characters’ names tells much about the character as well as giving the story another layer behind the literal descriptions provided. Glynese, Carramae, Mrs. Freeman, Mrs. Hopewell, and Manley Pointer, and Hulga (Joy) Hopewell carry more than just titles in their names. These names give subtle insight to the meaning of O’Connor’s story.
Mrs. Freeman has two daughters. Glynese and Carramae (which Hulga calls Glycerin and Caramel) are only brought into the story as indirect characters, but their names suggest their purposes in it. Glycerin, a redheaded eighteen year old with many admirers, irritates Hulga because she has not ever had attention from males. Caramel, a fifteen year old whom is already married and pregnant, reminds Hulga that she will never have any attention from males. Therefore, Hulga transforms the normal names into ones that identify with things that disgust her. Glycerin (a component of fat or oil used in soap) and Caramel (a sickeningly sweet desert) become antagonistic of Hulga’s abnormal life.
Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Hopewell serve as opposite sides of Hulga’s life. Mrs. Freeman, a free thinking, free speaking realist who is fascinated with disease and deformity, brings Hulga a gossip’s real life view of the world free from the bonds of good Christian morals. Mrs. Hopewell brings (as the name implies) hope through good Christian values. She sees the good in anyone and is proud of her ability to make good a bad situation. Therefore Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman become the little Angel and Demon sitting on Hulga’s shoulder, not forcing their opinion, but constantly attempting to spread their influence from the breakfast table.
Manley Pointer’s name has special significance because it is not his real name. His first name, Manley, signifies that he will fill a void in Hulga made by lack of any significant male presence. His last name, Pointer, implies that he will reveal, or point out something in Hulga’s life. However this is a false name and therefore the male presence he fills is truly empty. The revelation provided about her life is about falsities. The best physical description to mirror his name comes with the Bible he takes out in the hay loft. A hollowed out bible filled with secular, and perverse items brings his character’s true meaning to light. He is a true Nihilist, and he shows Hulga what it truly means to believe in nothing.
Hulga Hopewell was not always named as such. She was once Joy Hopewell until an accident caused her to lose her leg and change her outlook on life. She responds to both names. To her mother (Mrs. Hopewell) she is Joy, but to Mrs. Freeman she is Hulga. This duality of names suggests a dual life. Hulga has callused herself through knowledge and suppressed her innocent ten year old self into the thing she is most ashamed of, her artificial leg. O’Conner uses the name Joy to show the Christian side, and Hulga to show the perverse, Nihilistic vantage points of Joy’s life. It has been twenty two years since the accident and Mrs. Hopewell still calls Hulga (even though she had her name legally changed) Joy. O’Conner uses this number on purpose. During the crucifixion of Jesus he refers to Psalms 22 which tells of a cry of anguish and a song of praise. This once again suggests the duality if Hulga’s character, a Christian girl who has buried her faith and innocence in the science of the world. This leaves her believing in nothing and proud of it. Enter Manley Pointer.
Flannery O’Conner’s story leaves Hulga with her innocence stolen, and her belief structure destroyed. O’Conner uses many layers of symbolism to bring about this demise of nothing worshipers. However, the names utilized give the reader quick inferences of the character’s personality and purpose. From Hopewell as hope, to Hulga as hideousness, O’Conner has labeled the characters with a great deal of thought toward her ultimate purpose. A purpose of affirming Christian values, and debasing secular views.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Things They Carried Essay
Nicholas Crow
Mrs. S. Aiken
English 1102-45
Sept. 9, 2009
Two Carrying, One Carried
In “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien describes a scene out of his experience in the Vietnam War. In this scene a small unit who has managed to keep themselves out of harms way loses one of its members, Ted Lavender, and exact revenge for their fallen comrade by destroying the village of Than Khe. O’Brien tells this story in short bursts with no chronological value. Instead the story is broken into sections dealing directly with sets of items carried. These sections each give the reader a little more insight to O’Brien’s narrative, and each develops the characters a little more. Of the ten characters presented, Martha, Ted Lavender, and Lieutenant Jimmy Cross are the most essential to the story. This is because they are the story, and the reader learns essential developmental facts about them through the things they carry.
Martha carried nothing. She is a student living in New Jersey far away from Vietnam. She is an indirect character and no lengthy descriptions are given about anything she carries. She is a memory living in Jimmy Cross’s wallet through pictures, in his rucksack through letters, and in his mouth through a pebble. She is the cause of Jimmy’s daydreaming and thus indirectly responsible for Ted Lavender’s death. The fact that Martha carries nothing symbolizes her real purpose in war. Martha had no place there, and though he tried to pretend, she was nothing to Jimmy. She was merely a mental escape for Jimmy and nothing more.
Aside from all the items he carried which define him as a soldier, Ted Lavender carried an M-79 with 34 rounds, a starlight scope, tranquilizers, and several ounces of premium dope to combat the “unweighed fear” he carried (1038). This fear drove Ted to carry an extra eight and three quarters pounds of grenade ammunition. In the world Ted is walking through, weight is deadly. Extra weight can drive a soldier to exhaustion and make it impossible to fight back when strength is required. The additional ammunition symbolizes a shield to Ted. This shield is more important to him than his endurance. Ted would not be able to overcome his fear and make the march without this ammunition. Ted also carried a starlight scope which made his shield even stronger. The ability to peer through the darkness allowed Ted to make it through the night without breaking down out of fear. These two items made it possible for him to perform his duties as a soldier. Ted also carried tranquilizers and dope as an escape from his wartime world. This release from his world ended with his escape from life. It caused him to lower his shield and landed him face down on it. The items Ted carried were there for the same reason, to combat his fear. However, these two items neutralized each other, leaving him only with his fear, and a bullet in his head.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from Martha, two photographs of Martha, a pebble (white with flecks of orange and violet) from a beach sent from Martha, a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, a .45 caliber pistol, strobe light, and responsibility for the lives of his men. The Martha free items Jimmy carried all define him as an officer and symbolize his true place. He is to be in Vietnam leading his men through the paddies, into combat, and out alive. However, the false love of Martha which he carried in pictures, pebbles, and letters all served as his escape out of Vietnam. They took him to New Jersey with Martha, and away from his heaviest burden, the lives of his men. This daydreaming on whether or not Martha is a virgin, what is implied in the letters, who took his picture of her, and what the pebble meant to her allowed Jimmy to escape from the world of war he was submerged in. They were an escape to a place where Martha carried nothing. This daydreaming lowers his guard and Ted Lavender dies in front of his eyes. He has now lost a life for which he is responsible and in hatred for his failure, he burns Martha’s pictures in the bottom of his foxhole. All that is left now are the things that make him an officer and his despair for losing one of his men. Jimmy then burns Than Khe, trying to burn out his despair as he burned out Martha, leaving only the officer Jimmy describes in the closing paragraphs of O’Brien’s story.
Tim O’Brien masterfully laces a graphic wartime scenario throughout descriptions of a select few soldiers rucksacks, but these item descriptions do more than give a physical description. The items give insight to the character’s personality, desires, and most of all, their fears. This allows the reader to understand the reasons for the events in the story, and the thought process behind the destruction of Than Khe.
Mrs. S. Aiken
English 1102-45
Sept. 9, 2009
Two Carrying, One Carried
In “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien describes a scene out of his experience in the Vietnam War. In this scene a small unit who has managed to keep themselves out of harms way loses one of its members, Ted Lavender, and exact revenge for their fallen comrade by destroying the village of Than Khe. O’Brien tells this story in short bursts with no chronological value. Instead the story is broken into sections dealing directly with sets of items carried. These sections each give the reader a little more insight to O’Brien’s narrative, and each develops the characters a little more. Of the ten characters presented, Martha, Ted Lavender, and Lieutenant Jimmy Cross are the most essential to the story. This is because they are the story, and the reader learns essential developmental facts about them through the things they carry.
Martha carried nothing. She is a student living in New Jersey far away from Vietnam. She is an indirect character and no lengthy descriptions are given about anything she carries. She is a memory living in Jimmy Cross’s wallet through pictures, in his rucksack through letters, and in his mouth through a pebble. She is the cause of Jimmy’s daydreaming and thus indirectly responsible for Ted Lavender’s death. The fact that Martha carries nothing symbolizes her real purpose in war. Martha had no place there, and though he tried to pretend, she was nothing to Jimmy. She was merely a mental escape for Jimmy and nothing more.
Aside from all the items he carried which define him as a soldier, Ted Lavender carried an M-79 with 34 rounds, a starlight scope, tranquilizers, and several ounces of premium dope to combat the “unweighed fear” he carried (1038). This fear drove Ted to carry an extra eight and three quarters pounds of grenade ammunition. In the world Ted is walking through, weight is deadly. Extra weight can drive a soldier to exhaustion and make it impossible to fight back when strength is required. The additional ammunition symbolizes a shield to Ted. This shield is more important to him than his endurance. Ted would not be able to overcome his fear and make the march without this ammunition. Ted also carried a starlight scope which made his shield even stronger. The ability to peer through the darkness allowed Ted to make it through the night without breaking down out of fear. These two items made it possible for him to perform his duties as a soldier. Ted also carried tranquilizers and dope as an escape from his wartime world. This release from his world ended with his escape from life. It caused him to lower his shield and landed him face down on it. The items Ted carried were there for the same reason, to combat his fear. However, these two items neutralized each other, leaving him only with his fear, and a bullet in his head.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from Martha, two photographs of Martha, a pebble (white with flecks of orange and violet) from a beach sent from Martha, a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, a .45 caliber pistol, strobe light, and responsibility for the lives of his men. The Martha free items Jimmy carried all define him as an officer and symbolize his true place. He is to be in Vietnam leading his men through the paddies, into combat, and out alive. However, the false love of Martha which he carried in pictures, pebbles, and letters all served as his escape out of Vietnam. They took him to New Jersey with Martha, and away from his heaviest burden, the lives of his men. This daydreaming on whether or not Martha is a virgin, what is implied in the letters, who took his picture of her, and what the pebble meant to her allowed Jimmy to escape from the world of war he was submerged in. They were an escape to a place where Martha carried nothing. This daydreaming lowers his guard and Ted Lavender dies in front of his eyes. He has now lost a life for which he is responsible and in hatred for his failure, he burns Martha’s pictures in the bottom of his foxhole. All that is left now are the things that make him an officer and his despair for losing one of his men. Jimmy then burns Than Khe, trying to burn out his despair as he burned out Martha, leaving only the officer Jimmy describes in the closing paragraphs of O’Brien’s story.
Tim O’Brien masterfully laces a graphic wartime scenario throughout descriptions of a select few soldiers rucksacks, but these item descriptions do more than give a physical description. The items give insight to the character’s personality, desires, and most of all, their fears. This allows the reader to understand the reasons for the events in the story, and the thought process behind the destruction of Than Khe.
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