JenniferDiFulvio

From my oral presentation:
Here is my thesis and questions regarding it using each of Roberts' Critical Approaches.

Thesis: “The Artificial Nigger,” “The River,” and “Good Country People” succeed at portraying moments of epiphany to varying degrees. Using the following critical definition of epiphany allows for the comparison of the three main characters’ epiphanies based on: 1) the actual life-changing events they experience, 2) their capacities for self-awareness and 3) their inherent deficits.
Definition of epiphany (Myers): “[an] inspirational moment…inevitably preceded by a crushing awareness of one’s unworthiness and by a shedding of self-sufficiency.”

Critical Approaches
Moral/Intellectual
How successfully does the use of epiphanies convey O’Connor’s message? What, in fact, is O’Connor’s message to the reader?
Topical/Historical
How is O’Connor’s use of the moment of epiphany for Mr. Head, Bevel, and Joy/Hulga connected to her southern Catholicism?
New Critical/Formalist
Do the details about the characters affect the success of the epiphany? (ex., youth, arrogance)
Structuralist
Are the characters portrayed as active or passive protagonists? Is this difference significant in determining whether an epiphany occurred? If Bevel actively takes his own life, does he become self-sufficient? Or is the realization separate from the resulting actions?
Feminist
Comparing Hulga with Bevel and Mr. Head, does O’Connor give Hulga more or less ability to experience the moment of epiphany? Is this related to her being female?
Economic Determinist/Marxist
Do the economic/social situations of the three characters have any effect on their abilities to experience the epiphanies? Would they be less likely to experience them if they were wealthy?
Psychological/Psychoanalytical
Does the character need to have a mature ego to experience the “crushing awareness of one’s unworthiness”?
Archetypal/Symbolic/Mythic
Is the moment of epiphany a “search for paradise” or merely a lesson from O’Connor about the ineptitude brought about by arrogance?
Deconstructionist
Could the epiphany be merely a way for O’Connor to express her religious views and not a development for the characters? What is the meaning of epiphany?
Reader-Response
Does the reader create the idea of the epiphany? How would different readers of various religions interpret such a concept?