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Good Country People By Flannery O Connor

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In "Good Country People," by Flannery O'Connor, there are four distinct characters, each with their own opinions and morals. Mrs. Hopewell categorizes her hired help, Mrs. Freeman, and a traveling Bible salesman named Manley Pointer as "good country people." However, the term "good country people" takes on various meanings throughout the story. Mrs. Hopewell believes that she and her daughter Joy—who has adopted the name Hulga—are superior to everyone else. In contrast to their rural neighbors, they are educated and sophisticated. According to Mrs. Hopewell, being good implies treating people nicely. She also believes that adopting a positive outlook on life is crucial. Joy, on the other hand, has a unique perspective on goodness. She sees …show more content…

Hopewell refers to Mrs. Freeman and Manley Pointer as "good country people," she means it in a superficial sense. To her, they are pleasant individuals who don't cause trouble or stir up drama like some of their neighbors do. However, both Mrs. Freeman and Manley Pointer have ulterior motives that reveal their true nature. Mrs. Freeman is nosy and manipulative; she enjoys gossiping about others behind their backs while pretending to be friendly to their faces. She uses her knowledge of other people's business to gain power over them or get what she wants from them. Manley Pointer initially presents himself as a devout Christian who wants to save souls by selling Bibles door-to-door. He manages to charm Joy into going on a walk with him where he reveals his true intentions - seducing her for his own pleasure while stealing her prosthetic leg as a trophy. Joy/Hulga's world view contrasts sharply with her mother's ideas of goodness and kindness towards others because she doesn't believe in God or any higher power that would dictate morality. She sees the world as a bleak, meaningless place where nothing has any inherent value or purpose. For her, being "good" means rejecting societal expectations and living according to her own desires regardless of what others

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They kiss somewhat more and Manley at last takes Hulga 's leg. She gets furious, however Manley declines to return it. He opens up his Bible to uncover it 's holding bourbon and cards; things being what they are he is a trick craftsman and Manley Pointer isn 't his genuine name. Hulga gets angrier with him, yet Manley packs up his stuff and discloses to her that, in spite of her instruction, he, a basic book of scriptures businessperson, figured out how to trick her. He at that point keeps running off with her leg, abandoning her powerless in the

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82 Words | 1 Pages

Joy/Hulga affects a cynical façade, claiming not to believe in anything. (As she tells Manley, "I don 't have illusions. I 'm one of those people who sees through to nothing.") Yet by the end of the story, Joy/Hulga 's carefully constructed façade is shattered; through the dramatic irony in her absence of self-awareness to the situational irony pervading the final scene, O 'Connor ultimately reveals Joy/Hulga as an innocent who is shocked when she witnesses the beliefs she once espoused as embodied in Manley

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1147 Words | 5 Pages

These two protagonists’ similar motives for their lack of closeness is because of the lack of understanding and communication between both mother and daughter. Joy-Hulga’s relationship with her mother Mrs. Hopewell consists of snide remarks and often time isolation. Nevertheless, in the story the lack of communication between Joy–Hulga can be seen when she locks herself in the bathroom (O’Connor 187). Joy-Hulga becomes so enraged with her mother at one point and ends up telling her to learn to accept her for who she is (O’Connor 190). Consequently, she further wrecks the daughter and mother dynamic; this adds to Joy-Hulga’s frustrating ordeal of trying to escape her mother’s unwillingness of accepting her.

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"She says I'm a fine person and I'll show them all. I asked her why. She said never mind, but I shouldn't feel bad if I find out everybody isn't nice like I think." (PR 9, pg. 26).

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756 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout much of O’Connor’s works, there is this idea that a character needs redemption, as Dorothy Walters suggests in her book, Flannery O’Connor. Walters also states when these characters are enlightened, it is often “through catastrophe.” In O’Connor’s “Good Country People,” this salvation through violence occurs for Joy. Through the evaluation of Joy’s downfalls in character and her misinterpretation of Manley Pointer, Joy has a horrific experience that will forever change her perspective and reform her overconfidence. Before Joy/Hulga even meets Manley Pointer, readers understand that she has a lack of experience in the real world.

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1142 Words | 5 Pages

Makes Me Wanna Holler The book Makes Me Wanna Holler is an autobiography by Nathan McCall. Nathan McCall grew up in pourtsmouth,Virginia. Nathan McCall was a smart kid growing up in a close protective family in a black working class neighborhood. The book is about Nathan McCall life and the decisions he made.

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522 Words | 3 Pages

Since the hunting accident, Joy-Hulga has proclaimed herself as a atheist; she refuses to allow her mother who is a Christian have her Bible in the general living area. Oliver explains how Joy-Hulga has "replaced these missing items with an artificial leg and an artificial belief" due to the "nothing" that Joy-Hulga worships throughout the story (234). The "nothing" she worships comes from the "philosophy of nothing" according to Oliver (236). Joy-Hulga sees philosophy as her religion and her safe haven. With philosophy she believes she can outsmart Manley Pointer and seduce him.

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Hulga is a spinster in the story. She was single and in her early-thirties. Later in the story we learn Manley Pointer is not the “good” country person Hulgas originally thought. Manley Pointer and Hulga go to the loaft inside a barn close by. While inside the barn Maley Pointer asked Hulga to show him how to

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543 Words | 3 Pages

Flannery O’Connor, in her short life, wrote one novel and many short stories that impact literature to this day. She wrote two superb short stories, A Good Man is Hard to Find and Good Country People, which have many similarities hidden in the theme of their complex text. While both stories include themes about religion, identity, and the way we view others, the endings are astoundingly different. Nonetheless, O’Connor’s main theme concerning the way we view other people, is the most significant in both short stories. In Good Country People, Mrs. Hopewell repeatedly states that the bible salesman is the “salt of the earth” meaning that he is just a good and simple country boy.

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Flannery O’Conner uses the story “Good Country People” to show the reader, the many ways in which people can deceive each other and even themselves. O’Connor is religious in life and she uses religion to show the reader that even the most devoted can trick you. She also uses the names of the characters, to convey a whole other meaning. The author herself undercuts the characters to show the reader, how the character’s view on the world is wrong. It essentially makes the reader themselves question what they know and think about the world.

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1064 Words | 5 Pages

Hulga is skeptical and believes she is superior to everyone else around her. One day, a seemingly innocent and naive Bible salesman named Manley Pointer comes to visit Hulga and her mother. Hulga is initially skeptical of Manley, but he manages to gain her trust and invites her on a walk. They end up in a secluded barn, where Manley reveals his true intentions and steals Hulga's wooden leg, leaving her stranded.

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181 Words | 1 Pages

The line comes from Flannery O'Connor's story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find". In the story, the author portrays the grandmother as a self-centered woman who is more concerned with appearing good than being good. She eventually breaks down when she and her family unexpectedly

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1548 Words | 7 Pages

Three authors who beautifully demonstrates the perfect mixture are O’Connor, Flannery who wrote “Good Country People”, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” also written by O’Connor, Flannery, and Faulkner, William writer of “A Rose for Emily.” “Good Country People” is a story with four central characters. The first one is Joy Hopewell, a thirty-two-year-old woman with a PhD in philosophy. Joy had a shooting accident when she was ten years old and she currently has a weak heart.

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This represents how people are truly good at heart because she is being positive and having hope that the situation will get

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1214 Words | 5 Pages

Again, Mrs. Turners intentions are good. She tries to take care of her garden and make it look nice in the spirit of her husband. The people that Mrs. Turner has met throughout her life, have had an opinion about her, and her way of living. Despite the prejudice, she acts unruffled, and does not care. Her ignorance plays a big role in her life.

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