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2000
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Religion
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Dec 6, 2023
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Student Name
Professor Massaro
LIT 2000
06 February 2019
There is Truth in the Hypocrisy: Flannery O'Connor's “Good Country People”
Flannery O’Connor is widely regarded as one of the greatest American fiction
writers. She is known for being one of the biggest apologists for the Roman Catholic
church in the 20th century. In just about all of her novels there is a hint of Catholicism
thrown in there whether it be through referring to it directly or by indirectly portraying
many traits, practices, and aspects that a church goer or denier would follow. Whether
that be people struggling with their morality, committing sinful actions, or being a
complete saint. In O’Connor’s short story, “Good Country People”, many of these
themes are seen and in the story shows how somebody who that says they are affiliated
with the church can end up being the complete opposite.
“Good Country People” is a story about a bible salesman who visits a troubled
family and brings everything besides holiness to their lives. Instead he turns out to be a
conman who brought nothing but malintent and deceit to this already toxic situation
Hulga and her mother had brewing up for many years. O’Connor being born into 2 of
Georgia’s oldest Catholic families she naturally became a devout believer or
Catholicism. This means that throughout her whole life she has seen the ins and outs of
the church and knows very well how everything works. She had undoubtedly ran into
many types of people who visited the church, a few who may of came to church to keep
up some sort of a facade. Although in this story she never mentions anything about
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Catholicism, the close relative known as Christianity is the religion that is being put out
on display. In this way she could be trying to imply that Christianity is flawed and people
only associate themselves with that particular religion in order to make themselves look
good instead of actually following the guidelines set out by the Bible. This thought
process was seen throughout the entire story as Ms.Hopewell does not truly care about
the Bible and Manley Pointer uses the Bible and his “Christian” beliefs to get what he
wants when he wants which included money,food, and the theft of Hulga’s prosthetic
leg. Just by taking a short skim of the story you can evidently see the irony that the title
of the story has laid upon it by finding that there are very few of the so called “good
country people”, in their place there is an infestation of sinners who are everything but
perfect. The culmination of all this could be seen as a subtle argument as to why people
should choose the Catholic church over the Christian church. The perfect representation
of how something may not be what it originally seems like is the Bible that Manley
Pointer carries around with him. From the outside it seems like it is your average Bible
that any churchgoer would carry under their arm as the go in for a Sunday service. Now
if you were to get a closer look and perhaps reveal the inner contents of what is inside
the Bible you are in for the complete opposite. Pointer had the Bible hollowed out and
was using it as a makeshift container for playing cards, alcohol, and condoms. These
items are all considered blasphemous and gateways to the path of darkness. This is
symbolic of how some people of religious faith can be. On the outside when you see
someone at church they seem to be very faithful, honest, and kind at heart. They may
even be a leader or high ranking member of the church who sets an example for the
rest. If you were to see this person on the street they may become a completely
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different person with a completely different set of customs and values. That is what they
have had inside of their heart this whole time. This could be seen today with many
priests being outed as monsters and pastors shown to be money hungry. This one time
item encapsulates the story as a whole.
In Conclusion, Flannery O’Connor’s strong religious background is displayed in
full force throughout this story. She points out that even the self proclaimed “good
people” of the world could be horrible monsters in disguise. The morality and identity of
every character is questioned at all times. This is something that not only applies to the
religious people of the world but to everyone anywhere. People tend to be hypocrites
when it comes to who they are, who they want to be, and what they are actually doing.
Nobody is going to publically out themselves as a fraud. Rather these truths are slowly
discovered as you get to know the person more and more as shown in O'Connor's short
story.
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Works Cited
“Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964).”
New Georgia Encyclopedia
,
www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/flannery-oconnor-1925-1964.
“Good Country People Summary.”
SuperSummary
, www.supersummary.com/good-country-
people/summary/.
Nielson, Kathleen. “Flannery O'Connor, Faith, and a Wooden Leg.”
The Gospel Coalition (TGC)
,
The Gospel Coalition, 31 Oct. 2017, www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/flannery-oconnor-
faith-and-a-wooden-leg/.
Shmoop Editorial Team. “Good Country People Theme of Religion.”
Shmoop
, Shmoop
University, 11 Nov. 2008, www.shmoop.com/good-country-people/religion-theme.html.