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Does Mrs. Hopewell's Use Of Christian Policies In The Red Scare

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By the end of the Cold War, Americans analyzed each other for traces of communism. When a guilty culprit arose, Americans stripped them of freedom and bound them to life in a cell. Fear of subsisting as one of these guilty culprits crept into the lives of Americans, creating the Red Scare (History.com Staff). The Red Scare dared Americans to strive for distinguishing factors between themselves and communists. Soon Americans used the Christian title to rule out any traces of communism against them. Only one ironic problem remains with this theory, communists can now pose as Christians and cripple America. Flannery O'Connor demonstrates this ironic concept of how communists use Christian clichés and the innocence in belief that Christians only …show more content…

To present the use of Christian clichés, O'Connor introduces the character Mrs. Hopewell. In fact, from the beginning O'Connor presents her favorite sayings. "Nothing is perfect" abides as her first favorite saying, then "that is life", and finally "other people have their opinions too" (O'Connor, 151). Every time Mrs. Hopewell speaks out loud in the story, it forms a cliché. Throughout the entire story, Mrs. Hopewell also holds good intentions to help her daughter. This act creates the persona the people with good intentions speak in Christian clichés. Allowing O'Connor to blind the reader of Manley Pointers evil intentions by creating this persona. In fact, Manley Pointer uses seven Christian clichés before his true intentions are revealed. He uses "He who losest his life shall find it" and "You can never tell when you need the word of God, Hulga" (O'Connor, 157, 161). He also uses Christian clichés of thought. For example, how Christians enjoy walking in nature to see what God made, or giving their life up for Christian service, or trying to save everyone. Every single Christian cliché O'Connor utilizes expertly to blind the reader of Manley Pointers true intentions. This action demonstrates to readers how a communist might blind Americans with their use of Christian clichés to hide their true …show more content…

Mrs. Hopewell holds the title of a Christian in "Good Country People" and Pointer still blinds her of his true intentions. When these two characters first meet, their conversation starts with Mrs. Hopewell claiming the title of a Christian and pushes his way through the door (O'Connor, 155). Mrs. Hopewell impatiently took him into the parlor, despite him pushing into her home and pushing her to buy a Bible. Eventually Pointer manipulates Mrs. Hopewell into welcoming him into her home through claiming people don't like good country people like him (O'Connor, 156). This act instantly changes Mrs. Hopewell's intentions from attempting to get Pointer out of the house so she could eat dinner, to inviting him to dinner. His manipulation changes her perspective and she believes he could not commit a bad act. On the contrary, she believes her atheist daughter Joy could commit a bad act. Pointer takes Mrs. Hopewell's innocent belief between good and evil to ironically manipulate her to believe he holds good intentions. Communists hold the capability to use this illustration of irony to hide their intentions similar to Manley

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