The Good Corn is a complexly written short story, although it only :: English Literature

The Good Corn The Good Corn is a complexly written short story, although it only involves three prominent characters. Elsie, who is one of the least prominent characters in text is referenced in the story throughout, as the girl or only Elsie. I have chosen Elsie as a character to contrast my views about because the text encourages the readers to have a less sympathetic response and approach to her but I seemed to have had a very compassionate and sensitive approach to Elsie and think that because the author hasn’t gone much into detail, in the narration, about her feelings, we are shrouded and made to loathe her character given the third person omniscient point of view. In the author’s context, the book was written in the 1950’s and is so forth, an outcome of white, male middle-class ideas about masculinity and femininity where males were the dominant species and the females were always referred to as the inferior race in general. Also ethnicity and culture played a great part in those times because most non – white people were considered to be greatly inferior and made to do degrading jobs like maids or servants. This is the context in which we are made to view Elsie. She is portrayed as an uneducated and is described as being short and dark, with a thick bright complexion. In the reader’s context being short or dark doesn’t mean much to us because, in this 21st century, multiculturalism is a big factor and even white people could look noticeably dark maybe because of a tan. Also having a servant or helper is now, not considered as much of a degrading job as before since and extensively large amount of servants lead equally sufficient and satisfied lives as any normal middle-class working person. Also, a significantly large amount of these servants are actually of the white population. Also, Elsie is represented as an uncaring, emotionless, un-maternal, morally irresponsible and a calculative and selfish person. The refusal of access into her thoughts and feelings coax the reader to see her as a just a body who is only alive for bodily pleasures rather than being an individual human being with personal suffering, guilt or self-conscience. This has once again occurred because of superiority issues where the narrator has chosen to be omniscient and has rejected Elsie’s thoughts and feelings. In the reader’s context, Elsie would be seen as a sexually promiscuous person as the text wants us to see her but we would also have questioned the reasons behind her being eighteen and so free with her body that she could bear two children in