First of all, I'd like to start off by saying that "Good Country People" was one of my favorite reads that we had to do all semester.
Now on to business! The contrasting styles presented in "The Swimmer" and "Good Country People" don't really seem to contrast at all. They both started out as unimportant(I could care less) type of stories. They progressed into intriguing proses when they added a touch of curiosity to the mix. I was curious about what was going on in the swimmers head to make him forget those events in his recent past. I was curious about Hulga and why she was so distant and anti social.
I think the common link between these two stories is their surprise endings. Who would have thought that the boy selling the bibles would have turned out to be the snake that he was. It totally caught me off guard. I thought I was going to read about how Hulga finally finds love but instead I read a disturbing story about treachery and deceit. I was shock and appalled. The story kept me on my toes and made me want to read more.
"The Swimmer" was just a weird story. Who swims across an entire county? Who does that? I thought this story was also good at surprising the reader and leading them up to a surprise ending. I still don't really get this story but I know that throughout the story I was curious about the life of its main character.
The essential comparison between these two short stories is they both interested the reader with vague descriptions and mini details. They kept me alert and curious and had twist at the end.
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6 comments:
I completely agree with you, Nelson. As i was reading both of these stories, i felt the same way you did. They both seemed like there was no point to them and i couldn't help but think "who cares?". I actually wrote the same sort of thing in my blog stating the the clear similarity between the two was that they both started off as seemingly unimportant pieces of literature until we read endings of both. It wasn't until the end that we discovered what the authors message was in each of their stories and i agree with you that that is the clear similarities of the two stories.
Well, since you have the same thoughts as him I basically have the same feelings about what you said. I'm just not going to write it in such detail as the other.
I disagree that you felt the stories had no point. Every story has the events leading up the main point, which is usualy as the end.
I agree with you though on the points that main message was at the end and the one was to not judge before you get to knw someone and also the simple things in life can make you the happiest at times, and dont let those moments slip away.
I definitely agree with you about the fact that both stories seemed to be pointless and then at the end there was a complete twist and you were shocked by the ending. However, I also was disappointed with the endings because it was like the authors really didn't tell us exactly what happened with the characters. I thought there was a definitely lack of resolution and it really bugged me.
I agree with you about the suprise endings! I was completely taken aback when he was trying to take her leg from her in "Good Country People." It was both random and disturbing! Also, I agree that it would have been better to know more about the main character in "The Swimmer," because not having any real details left us very confused at the end.
Oh come on Nelson! How could you be surprised that he took the leg? I mean, honestly, I was grossed out. The leg was used.....that's nasty. I didn't think the boy was completely naive. He's a traveling salesman, he HAS to be a good con artist. The way O'Connor describes Hulga you have to think there is no way that boy is interested in her! Something had to be a foot. It wouldn't make sense for her just to say...oh they fell in love and that was that. No way. Taking the leg? Okay, a bit gross and albeit odd. However, you had to have known that something outrageous was going to happen based on the plot outline before that.
Nelson, I couldn't agree more. At the beginning, I couldn't stop thinking about how much I didn't care about the swimmer or Hulga.
I also thought that Hulga was going to find love in the end. How wrong I was! I still wonder what the swimmer is about too. I have my own thoughts about that, but I still do not know what it is about either. I loved the way that the authors left us all waiting til the end of the story though to tell us what happened. And also the fact that they did not fill in all the pieces.
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