ipl-logo

Thematic Analysis Of 'Good Country People By Flannery O' Connor

836 Words4 Pages

Good Country People: Analysis “Good Country People" is a incredible short story written by Flannery O’Connor back in 1955. Her story is apart of A Good Man Is Hard to Find. O’Connor seemed to use a lot of religious themes within her works due to being a Roman Catholic. Mrs. Hopewell owns a farm in Georgia, which is ran by her renters Mr. Freeman, and Mrs. Freeman. Mrs. Hopewell's has a daughter named Joy, also known as Hulga. She is thirty-two years old but when she was just ten years old she lost her leg in a hunting accident. She now has a wooden leg. Joy does not believe in God, making her an atheist and she has her Ph.D. Joy changed her name to "Hulga," the grossest name Joy can conceive, according to Mrs., Hopewell. So as the story goes on, a Bible salesman, named Manley Pointer shows up and is invited for dinner by the family even though the Hopewell’s have no interests in bibles since Joy is atheist.. Mrs. Hopewell thinks that Manley is considered to be "good country people." When leaving the home, Manley asks Joy for a picnic date the next evening, and she says yes. During the date, Manley and Hulga head up to the barn loft where he induces her to disconnect her wooden leg and then he …show more content…

For example, Mrs. Hopewell see’s her people as either “good country people” or “trash”. She also thinks that she is above both of those. Hulga, who shares some of the same views, is in a state of identity crisis because of her serious health issue. Due to the way Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter throw around opinions of people, they are truly blinded by the real identities of the people they come in contact with. When Bible salesman Manley Pointer encounters them, Hulga learns that there is more to good country people than she ever thought before, and as a result, her own identity is fiercely challenged, as well as Mrs. Hopewell, who thinks he is a “good country

Show More
Related
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

Read More
1359 Words | 6 Pages

In the short story “Good Country People” by Flannery O’ Connor, many unique and controversial characters are presented. Amongst them, the character Joy, who renames herself Hulga, is introduced. Hulga is the daughter of Mrs. Hopewell, a single woman who owns a farm in the South. As the story continues, it is revealed that Hulga has serious medical complications and lost her leg in a traumatic hunting accident at the age of 10. At the end of the story, Hulga’s artificial leg was stolen by a bible salesperson named Manley Pointer who is a con artist.

Read More
1083 Words | 5 Pages

1. Joy changes her name to “Hulga” because she is acting in an act of rebellion to her mother. She knows her mother’s wants her to have a really pretty name and “Hulga” is the ugliest name Joy could think of that her mom will hate. Mrs. Hopewell is for sure that Hulga looked for that name until she finally found the ugliest name she could think of and after that Joy legalized it so it would be for sure certain. Hulga’s poor health keeps her at her home all the time.

Read More
820 Words | 4 Pages

That night Hulga “Imagined dialog for them…that reached below the depths that no Bible salesman would be aware of. ”(6) Hulga is intent of seducing and having her way with Manley Pointer whom she finds to be inferior to her. The next morning Hulga goes out to meet Manley Pointer at the gate, but he did not appear at first leading Hulga to make the assumption that she is being duped. As she began to feel furious about being tricked Manley rose up from behind a bush proving Hulga’s assumption wrong, but providing her at taste of the betrayal yet to

Read More
1321 Words | 6 Pages

Flannery O’Connor’s success as a writer was indubitably related to her own personal physical and mental failures; without them it is doubtful that she would have become one of America’s greatest fiction writers. It was through her suffering that she was able to relay so much allegorical understanding of her characters and bring them to life (and sometimes death.) Because of her debility with Lupus she became a fearless alliterator that disturbed the entire literary world, even until today. One of her greatest short stories provides insight into her personal life of misfortune above and beyond the others. A biographical and psychological analysis of "Good Country People” is that it was written by the author Flannery O'Connor as an emotional

Read More
756 Words | 4 Pages

Joy’s mother, Mrs. Hopewell, states that it is hard to think of her daughter as an adult, and that Joy’s prosthetic leg has kept her from experiencing “any normal good times” that people her age have experienced (O’Connor 3). Despite the fact that Joy has no experience with people outside of her home, Joy has contempt and spite around her mother and acquaintances alike. In fact, when Joy changed her name to Hulga, she considered it “her highest creative act” and found a self-serving pleasure when the name brought dissatisfaction to her mother (O’Connor 3). When Joy expresses her disgust with her hometown, she also shares that she would much rather be “lecturing to people who knew what she was talking about” (O’Connor 4). Therefore, Joy suggests that the people and ideas that have surrounded her are inferior to her intelligence, and this

Read More
890 Words | 4 Pages

It is not until the very end of the story that readers are shown the true character of Manley Pointer. It is possible that the motive for stealing Hulga’s leg is that Mrs. Freeman hired the Bible salesman to steal the artificial leg from her. “Something about her seemed to fascinate Mrs. Freeman and then one day Hulga realized that it was the artificial leg” (O’connor 436). It is interesting that

Read More
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.

Read More
1142 Words | 5 Pages

Flannery O’Connor is a renowned Southern author, noted for her gothic works and heavily Catholic themes. She focuses predominantly on racial tensions, morality, and divine grace. The religious and moral themes of her short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, converge on the character of the grandmother. Despite the self-proclamations of fulfilling what it means to be a Southern lady, Grandmother holds a superficial grasp of her religion. Throughout the story, the Grandmother never truly changed, only her ostensible actions did.

Read More
939 Words | 4 Pages

Temptation is an occurrence in all daily routines, accompanied with pride and selfishness, due to our lack of knowledge. In “Good Country People”, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, and “The Displaced person” written by Flannery O’ Connor, temptation, pride, and selfishness are common themes. Each short story shows the weakness people have and how easily they are able to give into the sins laid before them. Many famous people have been quoted or have written about how easily temptation, pride, and being selfish can come about, including St. Cyril of Jerusalem. Temptation, pride, and selfishness are unavoidable evils, and they are brought about by our human weakness, each of these short stories, exposed each characters flaws.

Read More
965 Words | 4 Pages

In “Good Country People”, the bible salesman is not as good as Hulga is led to believe. He steals her leg and runs, leaving her in a hayloft to fend for herself (384). This type of twist is what makes O’Connor’s writing so exciting and compelling. O’Connor’s life in the south greatly influenced the style and dialogue within her

Read More
772 Words | 4 Pages

Being a good man to society and a good man to someone can have different meanings, as they do in this story. In Flannery O’Connor’s story we explore the irony of the grandmother and use of the word good and the meaning behind it. The grandmother in the beginning brings her cat along even though her son said no. She starts out being somewhat of a rebellious character who is going to do as she pleases.

Read More
1583 Words | 7 Pages

Freeman Bailey Freeman Hensley English 11/ Fourth Period 05 March 2018 Part 14: Rough Draft #2 In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” she writes, “If you would pray,’ the old lady said, ‘Jesus would help you.’

Read More
814 Words | 4 Pages

As you can see her stories are surrounded by her belief. In today’s world societal morals and values have drastically crumbled making the world an unacceptable place. Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” moves from a family comedy into a brutal revelation while on a family vacation. While on the way to find the homestead where grandmother grew up, she puts them down the wrong path right into a murderer’s escape route.

Read More
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.

Read More

More about Thematic Analysis Of 'Good Country People By Flannery O' Connor

Related Topics

Open Document