Although this is obviously not stage direction from the script, it seems like such an opening scene would be powerful and an excellent way to begin the play. I enjoyed reading the interpretations from all the different designers and behind the scenes people. I had no idea how much thought went into the details of producing a play.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JenniferDiFulvio/

Coverage
amazing
Critical Approaches to Flannery O'Connor
stay on track
puzzle pieces
assimilation
Hughes' "Tamborines" & "The Weary Blues"
Frost's "A Considerable Speck"
Ch. 12
interpreting views
pride of the peacock
O'Connor, '''Good Country People'' -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
Middle aged Girl Scout
To fold or not to fold
response to O'Connor
darkness to light
dumb oxes
slip up?
central idea
catalogues
missing parts
Predicament
River of symbols

Depth
Critical Approaches to Flannery O'Connor
slip up?
River of symbols

Interaction
puzzle pieces
interpreting views
pride of the peacock
missing parts
River of symbols

Timeliness
puzzle pieces
interpreting views
pride of the peacock
missing parts
River of symbols
dumb oxes

Discussion
puzzle pieces
interpreting views
dumb oxes
River of symbols

Xenoblogging
Contributions to Brenda's blog.
Flannery O'Connor starring in the role of Mrs. Freeman, a Good Country Person
Had Bevel lived...
Ruby's quite a gem!
The River
Contributions to Matt's blog.
Tangled up in Blue
Oral hygiene
Being put to the test
History lesson
Frosty, this known man
Flashing (of) the bird
They should've gone to Tennessee
Contribution to Terra's blog.
Good Country People
Contribution to Jay's blog.
Comments: Resurrection Blues Part I

Wildcard
River of symbols

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?

I have found that I am the most successful when answering test questions when I reread the question over and over throughout my writing. Often it is possible to trail off on a point that is not as necessary to the answer as it should be. By rereading the question, I am able to stay focused and keep my answer on track.

I wonder if James' siblings needed this as much as he did and how it changed them to read this book. It seems that James couldn't integrate the parts of himself without knowing where he came from and that he almost knew that what he would find out would be a rich history that would give him a new way of thinking about himself.

McBride's mother shows much wisdom in regards to her sisters, who were trying to leave pieces of themselves behind to become "American". This is a struggle faced by so many people in our country, what of their origins to retain and what to disregard. But as his mother notes, those pieces of oneself are sure to fight their way to the surface again. Just as she denied her Jewishness to her children, but it obviously seeped in in valuable ways.

This is read so quickly it gives energy and a sense of song.

"Droning a drowsy syncopated tune
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon."

This also refers to song, but is such a mouthful of words it requires the reader to slow down. Hughes is so successful in these two poems conveying sound through his word choice.

What a great way Frost has of expressing the idea that a writer might have - even this microscopic bug with a "mind" is something on his page. When having difficulty writing one would appreciate any sign of thought at all.

This seems like such a simple, straightforward idea, that we must persuade our reader that our claim is true. However, I have found that often I find myself questioning my claim while I am writing. I know this is necessary and should be used to provide objections and then proof for why these objections don't hold up, but it often just succeeds in stopping me dead in my tracks and making me wonder if I chose the right claim.

This points out the importance of reading beyond the words, not just reacting to the characters. We may disagree with or love a character, but what do we think about the use of the character in the story or the idea the author is trying to get across?

Was the priest feeding some kind of vanity as represented by the peacock? Or did he see in it the beauty created by God? It is hard to say what O'Connor wants us to think since she deals with religion in such an ambiguous way. In the beginning of the story, the peacock seemed to focus his attention "on something no one else could see". O'Connor may mean for the peacock to represent an all-knowing figure looking out at the inevitable future.

Hulga asks the question that reverberates throughout O'Connor's works. And again we have an intelligent/ignorant "child" needing some serious guidance. I seem to think also that there is always one parent of some type rather than two. It reminds me of how every Disney story requires the mother to be absent. I've often thought that many of the events would not take place if there were a balanced family system. Not to say at all that single parent famillies are unbalanced in any way, but that O'Connor perhaps uses this as another "deformity".

Then she chooses her nephew the Boy Scout to do the same duty she had done. An archetypal reading of this excerpt might see this as a reference to the encroachment of death. Sally likes how the old and the young look together when her nephew is on stage with her grandfather. Perhaps she forgot to change her shoes as a sign that she did not want to age any further than she already had.