O'Connor, Good Country People: A difference of indifference
O'Connor, '''Good Country People'' -- Jerz: American Lit II (EL 267)
The girl looked at him almost tenderly. "You poor baby," she murmured. "It's just as well you don't understand," and she pulled him by the neck, face-down, against her. "We are all damned," she said, "but some of us have taken off our blindfolds and see that there's nothing to see. It's a kind of salvation."
Even though Hulga and the boy share atheistic beliefs, it seems like Hulga actually tries to convert the boy (before she knows the truth), suggesting that she sees value in atheism, whereas the boy seems like he couldn't care less one way or the other.
Comments
An interesting passage ...
She's an atheist, but she also says they're all damned. How can you have one without the other? If she doesn't believe in salvation, then how can she justify damnation?
I like the idea of removing a blindfold just to see nothing, which is the same as wearing a blindfold: you can't see anything. O'Connor playing with words?
Posted by: Matt Hampton | April 23, 2006 12:08 AM
It does seem that the boy was only focused on fooling her into giving up her leg. But what to make of his fascination with people's prosthetics? He was the collector of O'Connor's deformities.
Posted by: Jennifer DiFulvio | April 3, 2006 8:42 PM