Holy Bummer Batman

The works of both John Cheever and Flannery O'Connor were both extremely interesting and each dealt with human emotion and crisis.

In Cheever's "The Swimmer" the character is developed in a way that is meant to
be likable by the reader. He comes off as somewhat of a goofball but in a
likable way. Descriptions such as, "and while he was far from young he had slid
down his banister that morning and given the bronze backside of Aphrodite on the
hall table a smack." and "He did not want to mystify or seem rude to the Grahams
nor did he have the time to liner there." These words portray the character as
friendly and a real 'go getter'. On his trip to swim across the county via
swimming pool the reader can begin to see that while the majority of the
neighborhood greeting him very kindly, there was something amiss and a turn of
events was likely. He began to tire on his journey and seemed to concentrate
more and more on the alcohol that awaited him at each pool stop. Only his
ex-mistress and a neglected neighbor greeted him reluctantly.
He
mentioned his wife and kids on a couple of occasions and at the end of the
story, when he made it home, he found the house locked up. First blaming this on
a "stupid cook" or a "stupid maid" he came to realize that the house was in fact
empty. This ends the story.
I feel that this story represented the
characters escape from the reality of his life through the use of alcoholism.
Not only did the author use direct reference to alcohol, but the use of liquid
(the pools) and his exhaustion toward the end of journey also represented
alcohol. I think that he was slowly 'drowning' in alcohol and fooled himself
into believing all was well. Perhaps this alcoholism is why his family packed up
and left, and his failure to realize and address the problem led him to create a
fantasy life.

O'Connor's "Good Country People" had a similar flavor to it. The main character was a woman who was going to die young, had lost a leg, and was incredibly rude and obviously very embittered with life. Her PHD was in Philosophy which likely added to her distaste for optimism and acceptance of the negative. She is described by her mother as, "the poor stout girl in her thirties who had never danced a step or had any normal good times." She also changed her name from Joy to Hulga. This has obvious intention. Joy represents happiness and joy, how could a bitter, helpless, and pessimistic girl live with that name? An ugly and rougher sounding name like Hulga could seem more fitting to a girl with this mind set. Hulga is so wrapped up in her bitterness that she is blinded by the young bible selling country boy's true intent. She leads the boy on with malicious intent of her own but he ends up pulling one over on her. When he was done with her she didn't have a leg to stand on. He turned from bible boy to a kid with a bottle of booze, porno cards, and anti-christian beliefs. He steals her leg and tells her he's stolen a glass eye from a girl in the same manner before.

In "The Swimmer" the character is a likable guy but his inability to deal with life leads to his being alone without his family. In "Good Country People" the character is very unlikeable but like the former possesses an inability to deal with life. And she too is left alone in the end, only instead of loosing her family, she looses what is dear to her, her leg.

Cheever's style deals primarily with the life of one man. He adds brief visits with neighbors and friends but the story focuses on one character. Flannery uses multiple characters in his story. The bitter girl, her mom, and her mom's know it all friend. While both stories are told effectively each has its own approach that makes it work.

Cheever's aims at getting to know the character as a friendly man. One who seems to be 'floating' through life, and hints throughout the story of an ominous end to the story. You start thinking of his drinking and the mistress and the drinking and the drinking, and his exhaustion, and the drinking, and know somethings gotta go wrong. With Flannery you grow to dislike the main character, but you grow to like the mom, care less for her friend, and grow curious about the boy. These elements add more dimension to the story. Your not quite sure where it is going to go, but when it gets there your not sure to feel bad for the girl, or say that's what she gets. She was rude, mean to her mom, she misled a teenager about her age and planned to have sex with him, and she was generally unlikable. The kid ends up 'one upping her', so you almost feel that there was a moral to this story. One of Karma and what goes around comes around. Where is in Cheever's its more of how avoiding problems with more tangible means of escape will ruin your life as you know it. Either way both characters lost something very important to them. And both stories rocked.