A Short Story : The Story Of Huulga's Story

Mrs. May views Mrs. Greenleaf, the wife of her hand around the farm, as one of the lowest members of society. Mrs. May not only sees her as less of a woman than she is, but is resentful of the manner in which she lives her life. From Mrs. May’s first introduction to the woman of the Greenleaf family, when Mrs. Greenleaf and her five daughters pulled up to her farm in a “pieced-together truck” (26), she has resented the mangy manner in that the Greenleaf woman, lead by Mrs. Greenleaf, live their life. Because they do not necessarily care about being the stately woman Mrs. May thinks they should be, Mrs. May views them as less than her and not as true woman. Further, Mrs. May has an incident when she runs into Mrs. Greenleaf observing her religious practices in the woods. This involved Mrs. Greenleaf, after she cut out horrible stories from newspapers digging a hole in the woods, burying them and falling to the group and moaning for an hour or so. Mrs. May describes the experience as Mrs. Greenleaf, “moving her huge arms back and

     In Flannery O'Connor's short story "Good Country People," Hulga is a woman who lives with her mother, Mrs. Hopewell, and has an artificial leg. Mrs. Freeman is a lady who was hired by Mrs. Hopewell to work around her property. A theme that seems to recurr in "Good Country People" is lying that becomes harsher each time.

As the story begins, we are first introduced to Mrs. Freeman, a hired hand on the Hopewell farm. At first glance Mrs. Freeman appears to be simple “good country people,” but that is not the case. It is very ironic that Mrs. Hopewell refers to her as a “lady and that she was never ashamed to take her anywhere or introduce her to anybody that they might meet” (452.) In reality Mrs. Freeman is a busybody and harbors secret fascination with the macabre. She has “a special fondness for the details of secret infections, hidden deformities, assaults upon children. Of diseases she preferred the lingering or the uncurable" (455). Her secret fascination and penchant for gossip is quite different from what one would think “good country people” let alone a “lady” would be interested in. Mrs. Freeman never hesitates to share the details of her daughters' lives with Mrs. Hopewell. One gets the impression that Mrs. Freeman will divulge

As hardworking women living of the prairie, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters can relate to Mrs. Wright’s situation. They know personally that long days of doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning can become very tiresome (Hedges 91). They realize that living on the prairie can force a woman to be confined to her own house for weeks at a time, and because Mrs. Wright never had children, the grueling loneliness that she suffered must have been excruciating. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters both experience the constant patronization and sexual discrimination that most women in the early twentieth century lived with. They empathize with the difficulties of Mrs. Wright’s life and almost immediately a bond is formed with a woman they do not even know.

When Janie was about sixteen, she spent a spring afternoon under a blossoming tree in Nanny?s yard. Here she comes to the realization that something is missing in her life? sexual ecstasy. The blooms, the new leaves and the virgin- like spring came to life all around her. She wondered when and where she might find such an ecstasy herself. According to Hurston, Nanny finds Janie kissing a boy named Johnny Taylor and her ?head and face looked like the standing roots of some old tree that had been torn away by storm? (12) . Nanny can think of no better way to protect Janie than by marrying her to a middle-aged black farmer whose prosperity makes it unnecessary for him to use her as a ?mule? (Bush 1036).

Mrs. Bates had worked in the textile mills for a long time, but the town had stirred up rumors that a “boarder” was living with them, and that’s how she made more money. Society also looked down upon her because they said she frequently got drunk and took men for

Hulga uses her handicap, a leg partially shot off during a hunting accident, as an excuse for stomping loudly around the house in the hope of irritating her mother. Although Hulga sees herself as intellectually superior, her self-esteem and self-image are low due to her handicap, as evidenced by her complete disregard for her appearance. Further evidence of her low self-esteem is her changing her name from Joy to Hulga, a name that her mother, Mrs. Hopewell, felt was ?the ugliest name in any language.? Unbeknownst to Hulga, Mrs. Hopewell grieved for her daughter?s tragic life and excuses much of her behavior ?because of

Hulga did not care about anyone else but herself. She lived in self-pity. There are many disabled kids, adults and veterans in the world. There are professional runners and people without limbs that work and do amazing things. Even though she had these issues she thought she was better and too good for everyone else. Mrs. Hopewell states that Hulga, “was brilliant but she didn’t have a grain of sense.”(O’Connor 558) Hulga even

1) My initial response to the story’s title is that the short story was going to be about a happy family that lived in the country and drama to make the story interesting. At the start, it seemed as if anybody that was from the country were “good” and never did anything wrong throughout their entire life. The story basically begins right after Mrs. Hopewell says, “the reason for her keeping them so long was that they were not trash. They were good country people” (185). That’s when I realized that I was completely wrong about what I thought this story was going to be about. Mrs. Hopewell, is the main character, and rents out part of her house to the Freeman’s. Throughout the story, Mrs. Hopewell’s

Mr. Wright had a reputation of seeking extreme silence, and solitude over companionship. Among the social isolation, was also geographical isolation because the Wright household was so secluded. Not only was Mrs. Wright socially deprived, but she was physically trapped in her home, far away from any form of civilization. Years of seclusion had stripped her of any joy in her life, and it only heightened the resentment she felt towards her

Sometimes her mom would make her help with cutting onions or peeling peaches and as soon as she was done she would run out the door when her mom’s back was turned. She viewed the chores inside the house was endless and depressing and would much rather work outside. She hears her mother stating that she can’t wait till the son, Laird gets bigger so he can do the chores outside and the girl can do the chorus inside with her. The mother states, “I just get my back turned and she runs off. It’s not like I had a girl in the family at all.” At this point the girl feels like she can’t trust her mother, she knows her mother loved her yet she feels like her mom is always plotting against her to keep her from working with her father. She didn’t expect her father to really listen to what her mother was saying, Laird, in her mind wouldn’t be able to do the job as well as she does. Looking at her father’s bloody apron she reminds that reader that the foxes were feed horse meat, other farmers whose horses will get old or injured would call her father and him and henry would go kill it and butchered it. However, if they already had a lot of meat they would keep them for a while. The winter she turned eleven they had two horses, Flora and Mack. It was this winter where she heard her mother go on more about her helping in the house. She states that she no longer feels safe because the people around her who thought the same way. She stated, “The word girl had formerly seemed to

Finally, the reader is introduced to the character around whom the story is centered, the accursed murderess, Mrs. Wright. She is depicted to be a person of great life and vitality in her younger years, yet her life as Mrs. Wright is portrayed as one of grim sameness, maintaining a humorless daily grind, devoid of life as one regards it in a normal social sense. Although it is clear to the reader that Mrs. Wright is indeed the culprit, she is portrayed sympathetically because of that very lack of normalcy in her daily routine. Where she was once a girl of fun and laughter, it is clear that over the years she has been forced into a reclusive shell by a marriage to a man who has been singularly oppressive. It is equally clear that she finally was brought to her personal breaking point, dealing with her situation in a manner that was at once final and yet inconclusive, depending on the outcome of the legal investigation. It is notable that regardless of the outcome, Mrs. Wright had finally realized a state of peace within herself, a state which had been denied her for the duration of her relationship with the deceased.

Lazybones is a memorable illustration of a strong and slender middle-aged woman named Elizabeth Hurst who pursued a happy homestead life but ultimately ends up trapped in the misery of a hash farm life. The reason for her misfortune is her lazy husband “Waltz Hunt”, who at one point she refers to as “Lazybones”. After marrying against her family’s consent, the couple rented a farm to live off the land and have five children together. Elizabeth struggles to take care of her home and family. She is barely able to sustain their life on the farm due to unfavorable ecological conditions and an unproductive and ignorant husband. She endures the brutal and tiring farm life on a daily basis with no hopes of things getting better. This pushes her into constant conflict on how to cope with her difficult life, her lazy husband, and their unfulfilling marriage.

Mrs. Clemens did not like to have any one around when she was bustling through the housework, so the six children spent the days roaming through the country, picking nuts and berries. When it came night and they had had their supper, they would crowd around the open fire and coax Jennie, a slave girl, or Uncle Ned, a colored farm-hand, to tell them stories.