Good Country People

Use one or both of these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of each activity.

“Spin-Off”

In this activity, students will create a short narrative for a character readers do not get to meet in the short story.

“Good Country People” is written from the third-person omniscient point of view. The author chose to give readers access to the minds of Hulga and Mrs. Hopewell and see other characters through their thoughts. Mrs. Freeman and Manley participate in the narrative, but readers do not have direct access to their thoughts. Carramae and Glynese Freeman are mentioned in conversations but do not make an appearance in the action.

What would life look like for Carramae outside her mother’s fixation with her morning sickness? Is Glynese actually interested in the suitors her mother knows of? What about other mentioned characters? How did the woman with the glass eye fall for Manley’s tricks? Who are the “Negroes” who live beyond the back pasture? Consider each of these characters as the possible protagonist for a spin-off—an alternative narrative that focuses on a minor character in the original story.

• Choose an “unseen” character and write a 1-2 page narrative from their perspective.
• You can write from the first-person or third-person point of view, but be sure to express the thoughts and feelings of the spin-off character.
• Incorporate dialogue between two or more characters.

Be creative with this activity. Imagine creating a world for your character like a television spin-off series would; think House of the Dragon, Grown-ish, or Agatha: Coven of Chaos. What world will you build in your spin-off?

Teaching Suggestion: Students should create narratives with a strong focus on characterization, world-building, and point of view. If there is hesitancy in getting started, you might encourage students to pre-write. They can make outlines, character breakdowns, or story maps to brainstorm and streamline their ideas. While the focus is on creating a world for a supporting character in the narrative, consider encouraging students to employ similar literary devices, symbols, and motifs from the original short story.

Differentiation Suggestion: You might encourage advanced learners to create their narratives in TV format. They can write scenes and dialogue versus paragraphs and descriptions. Their spin-off scripts should still be short in length, but due to the change in format, the page requirement might stretch to 4-5 pages.

Paired Resource Extension:

If students choose to complete this activity in screenplay format, the following resources explain the basics.

• This 7-minute video on formatting a screenplay reviews all the basics. It has plenty of examples and suggestions.
• Students can manually format, or they can save time by using free scriptwriting software.

“Charting Changes”

In this activity, students will create a chart comparing how characters change from the beginning to the end of the story.

Well-developed, dynamic characters change throughout a story. From the beginning to the end of “Good Country People,” several characters face obstacles and situations that cause a shift in the way they view the world. For example, what is the difference between the first time Mrs. Hopewell uses the phrase “good country people” to the last?

Make a chart with enough spaces for Mrs. Hopewell, Hulga, Mrs. Freeman, and Manley Pointer. Listing character traits and evidence from the text, trace how each character transforms throughout the narrative—or find evidence that the character is static and does not change.

• Create columns labeled beginning, middle, and end.
• Using quotations or paraphrasing, list evidence for each character’s change or lack of change.
• Changes can include attitude and belief shifts, physical transformation, motivations, and actions.
• When you are done, look at your chart and decide which character changed the most by the end of the story. Gather into a small group with 2-3 other students to compare and contrast your character charts.

Teaching Suggestion: Charting changes in characters can help clarify motivations and plot progression. You might suggest that students keep their charts handy for reference as they respond to essay prompts.