Read below our complete notes on the poem “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor. Our notes cover Good Country People summary, themes, characters and analysis.
Introduction
The classic short story “Good Country People” is written by the American writer Flannery O’Connor. It was written within just four days and it turned out to be one of her most celebrated works. She published the story in June 1955 in her book; A Good Man is Hard to Find. As O’Connor says, “A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is.” The story “Good Country People” is a compact and beautiful piece of work that materializes her statement by making it unique and interesting.
In this short story, Connor ironically depicts the contradictory natures of the characters of the discussed Southern society. Despite being the chaste sections of society, some characters exhibit conflicting and false appearances. To highlight their approach to life, the author names the characters according to such motives. These names depict the meaning of their existence in the story-line.
For instance, the surname for Joy and Mrs. Hopewell is “Hopewell”. Accordingly, they think and hope that their lifestyle in the world will lead them well and that they live in a way that is moral and better for them. Consequently, they will be prevented from the dodging world by living their way.
Moreover, through the use of third-person omniscient narrative, the author judges the standard for “good” qualities and good people, therefore, elevating the importance of the title “Good Country People”. It questions the idea of goodness, what are the standards for good qualities and why are some people considered good or bad. O’Connor depicts the society that bestows false praises upon its members of intelligence or prestige. For example, Hulga is an intellectual character and the story ridicules her for her false admiration by the people around her because of her knowledge.
O’Connor’s depiction of characters and actions is so complex and multifold that it becomes hard to follow their contradictory natures. She expresses the deep ways of human existence in a simple short work of art. For instance, O’Connor’s interpretation is hugely interwoven with a meaningful expression of different aspects of life.
Good Country People Summary
The Freemans are farmers and tenants of Mrs. Hopewell. They work on her farms and at her home. They are the only tenants who are good for her unlike her previous tenants who were all “trash”. Before the Freemans, no workers would live with Mrs. Hopewell for more than about a year because they would not suit her idea of “good” people.
On the contrary, Mrs. Freeman never surrenders herself to being wrong. Also, she is always busy in some work; therefore, Mrs. Hopewell gives her the charge of her household. She comes to Mrs. Hopewell’s living place every morning to help make breakfast. There they talk about some important matters every day. These crucial discussions include the weather and Mrs. Freeman’s daughters.
The Freemans have two daughters Carramae and Glynese who are always portrayed as good ladies by Mrs. Freeman and are well liked by Mrs. Hopewell. Carramae is married and pregnant while Glynese is not. Mrs. Freeman has good relations with all of them. Their father, Mr. Freeman is a good person and does not interfere in others’ affairs.
Mrs. Hopewell lives alone with her daughter, Joy. Joy is thirty-two and is quite arrogant and self-willed. She has earned a degree in philosophy that made her further abstract and ideal. She also changed her name from Joy to Hulga when she was in college at twenty-one.
However, her mother still calls her Joy out of her love for her daughter and considers her as a child. Joy lost her leg at the age of 10 during a hunting accident and she wears an artificial leg. Therefore, her mother is more caring and forgiving towards her arrogance.
Another reason for her mother’s tolerance is that Joy Hopewell has a heart issue and will supposedly live for almost ten more years. Mrs. Hopewell wants her daughter to be happy and well dressed.
However, Hulga does not tolerate interference in her life; she does not want to be pleasant even for a while. She is extremely educated and detests religious principles and beliefs. She also indulges in complex discussions with her mother, as Mrs. Hopewell prefers simplicity in dialogues. Sometimes Mrs. Freeman also joins them in the debates. She shows up at their private times i.e. dinner which Mrs. Hopewell does not approve of. However, she does not intend to lose these good people, so she keeps calm.
Mrs. Freeman’s “good” nature comes out by her attitude towards Hulga. Hulga is rude to her and she is fascinated by the disability of Hulga, as she is pleased by the misfortunes of other people. She admires her daughters before Hulga and Mrs. Hopewell because Mrs. Freeman likes to make Hulga feel inferior and ordinary. She also calls Hulga by her proper name when her mother is out of sight. This irritates Hulga but pleases Mrs. Freeman.
Hulga is a lonely girl who does not like the company of people. Nor does she love to enjoy nature. For instance, she spends most of her time reading and goes for a walk occasionally. She also thinks of young men as stupid and useless (because she is intelligent and philosophic).
Again the present morning in the story, Joy cooks her breakfast in the kitchen while Mrs. Freeman is busy praising her daughters. Mrs. Hopewell wonders about her daughter’s encounter with Manley Pointer, the Bible’s salesman.
The other day, Mr. Pointer called at their house. He carried a big traveling bag with himself. He had some conversation with Hulga about her religious beliefs but having atheistic thoughts, she negated his religiosity. He did not succeed in altering his religious thoughts but successfully managed to get some time with her. He said that he was not a good match for an intellectual like her. Hulga was not interested in him but was impressed by his simplicity and assured him that she likes “good country people” with simple nature.
Mrs. Hopewell reluctantly invites him for supper as she finds in him a person who resembles Joy due to his heart disease. He managed to have an interesting conversation with Joy about his religious services that he ensures to pursue. In supper, Mr. Pointer discusses his family and his eagerness to help people.
However, Joy does not pay attention to him after greeting him. Then after supper, Mrs. Hopewell excuses him to make him end the meeting. While leaving the house, he sees Hulga outside who joins him towards the door and he manages to have some talk with her before leaving.
Presently, while Freeman discusses her daughters, Joy takes her breakfast to the table so that her mother may not find the chance to ask about the salesman. She also keeps Mrs. Freeman busy in her conversation to avoid her mother’s investigation.
However, the conversation turns to Mr. Pointer and upon questioning, Joy smashes into her room. She also thinks about her meeting with the salesman at ten and their previous day’s conversation. She thinks that she has turned him to think about deeper perspectives of the world and live a freer life. On the contrary, he was the one who has entrapped her by admiring her for being a courageous girl due to her artificial leg. He has also made her fall for him with his jokes and silly conversation.
At ten o’clock in the morning, Joy moves out on a date with Mr. Pointer. He asks about her Christianity and when she disapproves of it, he is shocked.
Further, he inquires about her wooden leg where it joins her leg and seems quite interested in it but she does not respond actively. Then he kisses Joy while walking in the woods but she ignores the act. They also talk about different subjects like damnation, nothingness, God and so on. He asks joy whether they can find a comfortable place to “sit down”.
Joy suggests that they can be at ease in the barn. Manley is surprised to see that Joy can climb the ladder in the barn. He also carries his briefcase along with him. They lie against the hay and Manley kisses her again. He removes her glasses but she does not seem to notice.
Furthermore, Manley professes his love to Joy and asks her to repeat the same statement to him but she is reluctant at first and gets critical about the idea of love and then says that she is in love with him. This determines the superficiality of a seemingly pure mind and an intelligent soul who want to keep themselves away from the distractions of the physical world but in turn, fall into such distractions quite comfortably.
To continue, Manley also asks her to show him the place where her wooden leg is attached to her body. Hulga does not like this idea but he confesses that this is the thing that he likes in her because this distinguishes her unique nature.
This makes her fall for Manley’s “good” nature and agrees to show him her leg. She asks him to roll up her pants and see where her leg attaches. Also, she removes it once and puts it back asking Manley to remove it himself. He withdraws Hulga’s leg and keeps it aside.
To make things worse, he kisses Joy, opens up his Bible which is hollow inside. He takes obscene playing cards, alcohol, and prophylactics out of the book. Joy gets irritated and loses her romantic mood. At the instant, she demands him to attach the artificial leg back to her leg and tries to reach it but he pushes it away. Seeing this, Joy catches anger and calls him a hypocrite and a pretentious person who plays with religion.
Then Manley packs up his things along with Joy’s wooden leg in his briefcase and throws it down. He has also taken other people’s important things as his commodity. He calls Joy as a stupid and a fool girl who is seduced by a smart person like him. He says that his disbelief in any religion is bigger than her disapproval of religious institutions and runs away. Joy looks helplessly at him going away and is quite upset.
Both Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman observe him come out of the woods and lead towards the road. Mrs. Hopewell thinks of him as such a simple and pure man who might be selling Bibles to the black lot where he is heading. This shows the huge contrast between reality and appearance of a person. The people judge a person to be good or bad only because of one’s external factors. On the contrary, the truth lies inside oneself.
Themes in Good Country People
The Idea of Love
O’Connor is a writer who highlights the importance of love by portraying its darker shade and then singling out its positive aspects. The short story “Good Country People” is not overloaded with the idea of positive aspects of love, but it shows how love affects life in every respect.
Despite the harsh externalities of the characters, they are deeply altered by love. For instance, Hulga is irritant and moody due to the lack of care and love of a man. However, when she finds attention from Mr. Manley, her personality shifts towards agreeableness and she softens her limits. Their relationship seems to be moving towards the possibility of love in the beginning, but they part in a huge disillusionment later on.
Similarly, there is a feeling of love in the relationship between Hulga and her mother also. Although she is arrogant, her mother cares for her and wants her to stay active and beautiful.
Appearances versus Reality
We can undoubtedly say that the whole story revolves around the theme of the distinction between false expression and the truth of a character. This is quite true of the real world also. In this respect, O’Connor represents a miniature of the everyday social life. In the story, the main characters exhibit such features explicitly.
For example, Mrs. Hopewell’s idea of “good people” is itself contradictory. She does not make a distinction between good and bad people based on their character but judges them on the basis of their class. She calls all of her former tenants “trash” but likes Mrs. Freeman as a good tenant. However, Mrs. Freeman is not the one that someone would tolerate for a longer time but Mrs. Hopewell considers her good; therefore, she has to be patient towards her at any cost.
Similarly, Joy Hopewell changes her name to Hulga but despite that Mrs. Hopewell still calls her Joy, only because she chooses this name for her. In both cases, Mrs. Hopewell creates her reality and lives in her standards ignoring the reality of life. Mrs. Freeman, another main character, never admits herself to be wrong. Therefore, she lives in the illusion that she considers reality.
Likewise, Joy’s encounter with Manley Pointer is another instance of appearance and reality distinction. Joy thinks that she has seduced Manley to become a freer man but on the contrary, he has entrapped her. He breaks down Joy’s self-protection and makes her accept his nature and yearn for his love. She even exposes her weakness (her artificial leg) to him. Joy thinks that Manley is the most simple and loving person she has ever met.
On the contrary, he is the most deceptive and heartless person who deceives other people also. Moreover, Manley’s revealing of the hollow Bible is the main symbol of appearance versus reality. His personality resembles that of the hollow Bible because his exterior is so simple and pure but there is nothing inside. Also, his motivation to get others’ essentials that have no use for him reveals his superficial useless nature.
Religious Contradictions
The story “Good Country People” expresses Connor’s religious argument about how Christianity is abused by many “good” Christians. Connor sets up a conflicting argument between the staunch believers and disbelievers of Christianity. For instance, Hulga is an atheist; however, she is pure, innocent, simple, and devoted to her beliefs.
On the contrary, Manley is apparently a hard believer of Christianity but in reality, he is quite far from being a true Christian. He only uses religion to gain materialistic ends e.g. money, food, useless accessories, etc. Likewise, Mrs. Hopewell has no reverence or love for her religion or Bible and she doesn’t care about such things.
Identity Crisis
All characters of the story are in the illusion of fake identities. Some characters consider themselves superior to others while others do not recognize where they stand in life.
For example, Mrs. Hopewell sets her standards for good and bad people. She considers her old tenants as “trash” while the new ones are good. For her, her own identity remains fixed i.e. superior to everyone.
On the other hand, her daughter is in a flux of changing identities. In the beginning, Joy thinks of herself as an extremely educated person whose mental level is above her surrounding people’s thinking. However, she is dependent upon her mother due to her physical illness.
Likewise, in the latter part of the story, she is left completely helpless by the salesman’s fraud and her superiority and intelligence are smashed to the ground. Manley Pointer also hides his identity from the people because he does not consider others trustworthy. In his identity crisis, he wants to harm people to feel triumphant.
Existence
Existence in the story is a multi-natured phenomenon. For instance, it has a different meaning for every character and similar is the reality of life. For example, Mrs. Hopewell is always hopeful about life. She thinks that her way of life would ultimately turn out to be better for herself and others.
However, her foil, Joy considers life as a meaningless existence. As she has a deep understanding of philosophy, for her, life is an illusion and every kind of feeling is a trap for humans. Consequently, she falls into that trap.
Manley Pointer, on the other hand, is also on an existential journey. For him, existence is making others uncomfortable and inferior to feel superiority himself. Similar is the case with Mrs. Freeman who considers existence as pretensions and disturbing others in their comfort zones. The story itself narrates life as a mystery that remains a question for everyone whatever they think.
Literariness is not Experience
Through the character of Hulga Hopewell, O’Connor gives the idea that education does not make a person practical unless one deals with every kind of surroundings. As Hulga is a professor in philosophy, she considers herself unique and qualified and others as illiterate fools.
She is forced to live in the countryside with her mother due to her fragile condition but she is arrogant to the people around her and does not consider them worthy of her interaction. Ironically, she is dumped by one of those low minded people in the surrounding.
Class Conflict
In the 19-20th century, class conflict was one of the major issues of English society. Many writers portrayed it in their works. O’Connor also depicts a class conflict in her story “Good Country People”.
For example, Mrs. Hopewell is a respected lady and a landowner. She has her division of people into two classes i.e. “good” and “trash”. She considers everyone inferior to her and reminds them of their lower class e.g. Mrs. Freeman. But despite her class, she works hard like Mrs. Freeman.
Similarly, Joy also thinks of people as inferior just like her mother. However, her classification is based on the level of education which makes it difficult for her to cope with the reality of life. In the end, her education fails her badly in the class difference. She is dodged by a lower class disguised Bible salesman.
Good Country People Characters Analysis
Hulga (Joy)
Hulga is the protagonist of the story “Good Country People”. She is a thirty-two years old lady with a degree in philosophy. She is born Joy but later changes her name to Hulga. Furthermore, she is quite haughty and grumpy and is not interested in any kind of happiness in life. She is used to reading a lot and prefers to live in isolation.
However, her mother calls her senseless and impractical. This shows that her approach to life is wrong. One does not only need education for a better life, experience matters more. The real world needs practical skills as the key to a happy life.
Joy lives with her mother only because of her weak heart. She wants to stay alone and away from her home and pursue her teaching career. However, she is advised by the doctor to stay in the care of her mother. He has declared that at the most she may live up to forty-five years of age. So, she cannot fulfill her dream of living away due to her condition and is forced to live among the two ladies Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Hopewell.
Ironically, she detests the company of both of them because they are not well educated like her. Their major task is to talk in platitudes but Joy has more abstract and philosophic ideas.
She has also lost one leg in a hunting accident when she was ten. Therefore, she wears a wooden leg. Her bitter personality can be seen as the result of her harsh experiences also.
However, she has a loving mother to care for. She sends Joy to school and makes her a knowledgeable person. Joy develops superiority over the only two women in her life Mrs. Freeman and her mother and it leaves her vulnerable to the dodges of the people outside. Her vulnerable soul can be determined first from the weakness of her heart, as she is not wise and experienced, and secondly, from her fake leg, as she has no strong standing in the world of reality.
Another aspect of Hulga’s personality is her disbelief in God. She has a complex set of thoughts on religion as she confesses it to Manley Pointer that “I told you I didn’t believe in God”. She is a believer in “nothingness”. In philosophical terms, she is a nihilist. In nihilism, there is no concrete basis for distinguishing right from wrong. The truth of life is created by one’s thoughts, not by some external reality.
However, in this illusion of nothingness, she does believe in good and bad. For example, when she meets Manley, Hulga disapproves of his religious ideas but she still believes that he is good and sincere. This is why she readily gives herself in the safety of Manley. On the other hand, if she did not believe in goodness, she would not have felt betrayed by his fraud. This confusion of her reality and her innocence makes her fall in the trap of the worldly people.
Mrs. Hopewell
Mrs. Hopewell is Hulga’s mother in the story. Her name determines her character as the one who hopes that life will be spent easily if she lives by her principles. She is an independent lady and a successful landowner in the Southern part of the US in the 1950s with farmers and tenants working for her. She is also a single mother and supposedly paid for her daughter’s education throughout her educational career.
She is a loving mother and tolerates her daughter’s disdain and irritation in every possible way. This is because the doctors have advised her to take great care of her daughter as “with the best of care, Joy might live to see forty-five”. She has named her daughter Joy because she is her only happiness in the world.
Mrs. Hopewell treats her like a small child because she thinks that Joy has seen enough illnesses in her life. She never complains about her daughter’s behavior but always accepts it quite thankfully. However, she does complain about her attitude and sadness but sympathizes with her physical condition and tries to please her in every way.
She is a practical and hardworking lady and despite her upper social standing, she works with her workers in the field and at home. At the same time, she considers herself above the surrounding people. For instance, she thinks of her daughter as a child which means that she keeps her under her command and does not let her live freely by herself. This further distances their relationship. Similarly, she realizes it to Mrs. Freeman at every point that Mrs. Hopewell is superior to her and she is nothing in front of Hopewell. She also thinks of Manley as good country people but not above her.
Her major flaw is her blindness towards the reality of people. Mrs. Hopewell creates her reality and follows it accordingly. She misjudges Manley Pointer for his goodness who turns out to be a fraud person. She also thinks that Mrs. Freeman is a good person because she wants to believe it but Mrs. Freeman is a sadist.
Manley Pointer
Manley Pointer is a Bible salesman who seduces the extremely knowledgeable and unsocial Hulga Hopewell. He disguises himself as a good country person and an agreeable man for the educated Hulga. Although the Hopewells consider him as a simple, unintelligent, and inferior person but still he manages to gain their attention and fool them, quite ironic. He masks his identity to gain his means from other people through foolery.
In the story, Manley can be considered as a predator who aims at harming Hulga. He wishes to take away her most crucial part i.e. her wooden leg, to make her helpless and useless. As she says that Manley’s observation of her is like encountering “a new fantastic animal at the zoo”. He is a complete deception and plays with other people also.
On his entrance in the story, his main purpose is to mock Mrs. Hopewell’s superior status. He “pretends” to be entering her house accidentally but after meeting Hulga, he seduces her within no time. For instance, he develops empathy with Hulga and traps her the way she is willing to get stuck. As he creates similarities between his and Joy’s illness and makes her feel that he is indeed a simple man, she believes in everything he says. He sets up a controlled game and plays with the intelligence of those high-class women.
His religious beliefs are as hollow as the hollow Bible he has. Manley finds confusion in Hulga’s thoughts about God and nothingness and he uses her in this way. As Hulga thinks that she is a believer in nothingness, Manley is her metaphoric nothingness. He has no background and just comes in the story from nowhere, but he wins a firm place in Hulga’s heart. As she believes in his goodness, she negates her thoughts on life. However, Manley’s personality is revealed at the end when he takes away Hulga’s most important part (her leg) just like tricking her dear feelings.
Mrs. Freeman
Mrs. Freeman is Mrs. Hopewell’s employee and tenant for about four years. According to Mrs. Hopewell, she is one of “good country people”. Her name “Freeman” employs her nature which is depicted as a lady who triumphantly owns herself. She does not admit to being wrong and always proves herself right in every situation against Mrs. Hopewell. This shows that having land and employees does not make a person independent; freedom exists in the mind of a person.
She is also given the important task of opening and closing the text which gives her a crucial place in the story. It also means that she seems more sensible and near to reality than the other ladies in the story. However, her further description is narrated by Mrs. Hopewell in most cases that depict her subservient nature to Mrs. Hopewell. Being in power, Hopewell has the authority to shape a person according to her point of view.
Carramae
Carramae is Mrs. Freeman’s daughter who is fifteen years old. She is married to Lyman and is pregnant. Joy calls her Caramel, however, it is not mentioned whether she has any interaction with her.
Glynese
Glynese is Mrs. Freeman’s eighteen years old daughter and is single. Joy nicknames her Glycerin that predicts the lightness of her and her sister’s character. She is popular among boys and is proposed to by a man Harvey Hill but there is no information about her acceptance.
Harvey Hill
He is Glynese’s suitor and seems a foil to Lyman’s character. He does not want a church marriage like Lyman but prefers an ordinary one. He is studying to become a chiropractor and appears an interesting character if he is given the chance to play more.
Mr. Freeman
Mr. Freeman is a farmer and tenant of Mrs. Hopewell. His former record in farming is good and is approved by his last owner. Now he has been working for Mrs. Hopewell for the last four years.
Good Country People Literary Analysis
Plot Analysis
Exposition
The stage sets with an introduction to “Good Country People” and the top among them is Mrs. Freeman. She has a face structure that resembles a heavy truck. This unique introduction sets the theme of her machine-like nature that shows Mrs. Freeman never surrenders to anyone and is a character that lives in the reality of the situation. Then the story shifts to the kitchen of Mrs. Hopewell. She wakes up early in the morning and is joined by Mrs. Freeman in the kitchen. There they discuss important matters of their lives i.e. their daughters and the weather.
Rising Action
Hulga is introduced as an angry-young-lady. She is self-willed and grumpy. Sometimes, Hulga, Mrs. Freeman, and Mrs. Hopewell have really tough discussions on different topics. However, Hulga is irritated by the platitudes of the other ladies. She has a heart illness, as well as a wooden leg that she wears since childhood when she was shot in a hunting accident.
The situation worsens when Manley Pointer, a Bible salesman shows up at their place. On Saturday morning, Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman inquire Hulga about her conversation with Manley the day before. However, she is reluctant to tell them about her present date walk with him.
Climax
Manley takes Hulga to the barn and kisses her. He then demands her to profess her love to him. He also asks her to show him the place where her wooden leg joins her body. She reluctantly agrees to his demands because she does not want to lose what he is offering. Manley then takes her leg away and opens up his Bible that is hollow inside consisting of playing cards, whiskey, and condoms. The situation gets creepy here and Hulga demands her leg back but he is not willing to return it.
Falling Action
Manley packs up her wooden leg and his other possessions in his valise. He always does the same with other people also. He takes their most dear things and runs away. However, before running away, he tells Hulga that Manley is a big believer in nothingness, even more than Hulga and she is tricked.
Conclusion
The story ends up with Mrs. Freeman who begins it. However, there is no insight into her psychological world; therefore, little is known about her feelings. Mrs. Hopewell sees Manley going out of the woods but does not expect that they have met. Hulga is alone and misses her artificial leg.
Setting of the Story
The story is set in the Southern part of the US in 1955. It is the same year O’Connor wrote the story, therefore, one can assume that the place is somewhere in Georgia that is Connor’s home town. Also, we can trace the year of happening from Harvey Hill’s car who is the suitor of Glynese. He drives 1955 Mercury.
Most of the story is set in Mrs. Hopewell’s kitchen. The three leading women, Mrs. Freeman, Mrs. Hopewell, and Hulga encounter each other there thrice a day. They meet at the times of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Although Mrs. Freeman has her own family, however, she makes sure to be at Hopewell’s place in mealtimes and observe them having their meals. This encounter represents the tiresome routine of women’s life. They have to tolerate the unpleasant presence of each other daily because of their duties in everyday life.
The second and most significant setting is the barn where the climax of Hulga’s life occurs. It is a small, remote, and rural place. This depicts the psychological condition of Hulga who is trapped in such a rural area among her narrow-minded companions. She has very few options in life and is always trapped in awkward situations that further heighten her irritation for the world.
Tone of the Story
The story is mainly ironic about the natures of “good country people”. Whenever Mrs. Hopewell distinguishes between good and trash people, O’Connor is ironic about the use of the terms according to personal choices.
Similarly, the whole storyline is judgmental about the standard of good and wrong. As long as any of the characters begins judgment about others in the story, the tone changes to playful and comic. As Manley Pointer’s reality is revealed when his Bible turns out to be a box for obscene items, Connor weaves a playful irony to depict the reality of devoted religious sinners.
Writing Style
The writing style of “Good Country People” is both descriptive and conversational. It is descriptive because mostly the main characters are discussed by Mrs. Hopewell as she describes Joy’s history and complains about her attitude. Mrs. Freeman is also mainly described according to her views on goodness, but one can get the idea that even her views are flawed.
Similarly, the writer begins the story with a descriptive note on Mrs. Freeman’s truck-like facial structure. Also, Hulga is a character who has deep philosophical thoughts and abstract ideas. Therefore, the style becomes complex and philosophic.
On the other hand, the style is also conversational because there are several discussions and dialogues among the story members i.e. Manley Pointer. Sometimes, there is enough wordiness in his dialogues.
Genre
As the story is structured in the Southern part of the state, some factors depict the south gothic nature of the short story. For instance, the eyeglass that Manley stole, Hulga’s life incidents, her isolated life, the wooden leg, and the remote barn depict the gothic nature of the work.
Title
The title “Good Country People” is an irony for the contrasting natures of the characters in the story. Whenever the writer uses “good” for the people, she is judgmental about their realities and means the opposite of it. For example, Mrs. Hopewell considers Mrs. Freeman good but she always tries to undue Hopewell in her conversations and aims at irritating her at the meals. This is because she is looked down upon by Mrs. Hopewell.
Similarly, Hulga and Mrs. Hopewell think of Manley Pointer as a simple and good man who cannot harm Hulga in any way. Hulga imagines that she is the one to seduce Manley to shed his religious shell and enter a freer world. However, in the end, he is the one who fools her and leaves her helpless. To sum up, there is a misrepresentation of the title in the story that depicts its ironic nature.
Point of view
O’Connor uses in her story third-person limited omniscient narrative. Through the use of this narrative, she highlights the importance of the main characters and expects the readers to focus on these characters mainly. For example, the narrator has access to the minds of Hulga and Mrs. Hopewell who are depicted with sometimes negative yet sympathetic eyes. The other characters are mainly presented through the eye of their minds. This keeps the readers in close connection with the storyline narrated from a limited mental perspective, thus maintaining simplicity and ease.
Literary Devices used in Good Country People
Irony
Through the use of playful irony, the writer crafts a realistic picture of a society where there are always two sides to a coin. In modern times, every person has some background story that is hidden from the world. Similar is the case with the characters of “Good Country People”. To explain, the sincere and fair main characters of the story, Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga fall in the trap of the people who mask themselves as “good” people. Moreover, being extremely educated, Hulga cannot see the vice in Manley’s behavior. Likewise, the experienced and independent Mrs. Hopewell is blind to see the antagonism of Mrs. Freeman for herself.
Names
In naming the characters, O’Connor uses symbols according to their true features. For example, Manley Pointer is “manly” as he is a sinful human being who is selfish for his means. He does not care about anyone else. Mrs. Hopewell is always “hopeful” about life and thinks that her approach towards life will lead her “well”.
Mrs. Freeman is “free” to rule herself. Despite her job for the Hopewells, she does not let them rule her instincts and principles. In the story, she is the most authentic source for truth and reality.
Likewise, Hulga is named Joy by her mother as she wants her to be happy and fresh. However, she faces injury at a tender age that does not let her lead a happy life. Therefore, she changes her name to Hulga later on.
Wooden Leg
Hulga’s wooden leg is considered her uniqueness throughout her life. This illusion is induced in her mind first by her mother and then by Manley Pointer. This is the symbol of her irrational thoughts and her crippled soul. She lives in her world of superiority and self-assurance without any regard for others. However, her illusion is shattered by the fraud of Manley who removes her wooden leg leaving her useless. She is not even able to support her with it. Similarly, her ideas and intelligence does not help her when she needs them the most.
Her fake leg also denotes her crippled identity that is in a confusion of nothingness and superiority complex.
Spectacles
Hulga’s view of the world and the people is completely different from what Manley makes of her. She is a grumpy person who does not care for what others say or they are. However, when Manley removes her spectacle in the barn, she surrenders to his vision of life. She completely blinds herself to the approval of the reality of things and sways in his love.
The spectacles also denote different perspectives of the people in the story. They change according to the need of the time. Also, every person has a different approach to life.
Bible
The hollow Bible presents the hollow and deceptive nature of Manley Pointer. Being religious, O’Connor represents the eroded beliefs of people in the society who carry out shameful deeds under the cover of religion. Just like the hollow Bible, Manley’s religious beliefs are also hollow and fake. His only religion is his desires. He can fulfill his ends in any way whether good or bad. To add, every human being is a Manley in himself who willingly violates every law and belief to gain his goals. Religion is only a medium to reach the target.
