Stereotypes In Hulga's Good Country People

Each regional area has it’s own stereotypes. The South, or the country, is one of the many regions in the United States that gets stereotyped. When thinking about the people of this region, they are usually described as nice, simple, religious and not well educated. In Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People”, Hulga’s stereotypical view about country people makes her feel superior towards others; however,that backfires when Manley Pointer easily tricks her by acting like a simple and religious person.

Hulga’s judgements of the people around her are heavily based upon her stereotypical view of “good country people”. Hulga applies this stereotype to the Freemans. Hulga thinks of the Freemans as country people because they are simple and not

Hulga believes that her Ph.D in philosophy makes her more educated than “good country people.” Hulga makes it obvious that she would much rather be with people that understand her concept of nothing instead of simple and dull people. If it weren’t for Hulga’s condition, she would be away from the”red hills” (370) and “in a university lecturing to people who know what she is talking about” (370). This statement shows that Hulga feels stuck in the country and she feels surrounded by people that aren’t well educated to understand her. Hulga wants to surround herself with philosophy instead of people who she feels are not good enough for her. As the story says, “All day Joy sat on her neck in a deep chair, reading” (370). Even if Hulga goes outside, she does not like interacting with nature or other people. Hulga has this mindset that people of the country are not smart enough to understand her philosophy which in fact causes her to isolate herself from the outside world and increases her feeling of superiority. Furthermore, Hula feels that she is more educated than her mother. Hulga’s mother is not able to comprehend Hulga’s situation. Hulga even thinks that her mother is not able to turn Hulga’s “dust into Joy” (369). Her mother still thinks of her as a young child, but Hulga, who is thirty, feels as if she is trapped in a place that is not benefitting her at

Hulga doesn’t care about Manley at first because she sees him as another country person. After convincing Mrs. Hopewell that he is a good country person, he catches Hulga’s attention when he lies to them about his chronic disease. He mentions that he has this “heart condition” (372) and he “may not live long” (372). This automatically catches Hulga’s attention because she has the same condition. She gets really excited and even invites him to stay over for dinner (372). Hulga fails to understand that he is lying and only wants her to notice him. After dinner is over, Manley is able to hold a conversation with her. Throughout this conversation, he compliments her such as, “you’re real brave” (375) and “you’re real sweet” (375). He continues to make small talk with her and keeps her attention. Eventually, Manly asks Hulga to hang out with him. Hulga thinks that she will benefit from this and imagines that “she very easy seduced him” (376). Hulga doesn’t realize that Manley is not interested in her, but her wooden leg instead. Hulga never realizes that he wants to steal her leg because he is covering himself up as a good country person. At the barn, Manley is finally able to steal Hulga’s leg. When they at the barn, he seduces her first and begs Hulga to confess her love for him. Hulga is fooled and thinks that “she easily seduced him without even making up her mind to try” (378). Hulga thinks that she is the