Good Country People Hulga Character Analysis

In the Story “Good Country People” Joy Hopewell who changed her name to Hulga at the age of twenty-one without her mother knowing. Hulga is a very interesting and educated person in this short story. In the article it states “Hulga becomes a bloated, prude, and squinted –eyed” person throughout this story. In this story it shows how Hulga feels about herself and how she is simply just looking for acceptance from her loved ones or anyone that might care for her.

Joy changes her name to Hulga in “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Conner in order to change her perception of herself, her conflict being her identity. During Joy’s contemplation, she encounter the name Hulga because “she had a vision of the name working like the ugly sweating Vulcan who stayed in the furnace and to whom...the goddess had to come when called” (664). Joy sympathizes for Vulcan because the god also has a physical deformity; and just like Vulcan who’s the god of fire and forge, she’s forging an identity for herself that can be stated “her highest creative act” (665). It can be interpreted that Joy has forgiven herself for her disability and sees her leg as her backbone when “her mother had not been able to turn her dust into Joy” but rather “she had been able to turn it herself into Hulga;” she accepts her own beauty and realizes she’s beautiful (665). If Vulcan can be married to Venus, then she can be accepted into her own crowd, as she once said, “If you want me, here I am—LIKE I AM” (664).

In “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor is a short story about people who do not appear to be who they say to be. Hulga is a thirty-two year old woman with a heart condition and has a prosthetic leg. O’Connor illustrates Hulga as an experience and strong woman, is well educated, but also childish and weak. With her strength and arrogance being peeled away when her leg, the symbol of her strength, is stolen revealing her true weakness, helplessness. O'Connor’s message is when confronted with true nothingness, people who have a mechanical way of dealing with the world, often realize their lack of self.

She claims to believe in nothing therefore she is a nihilist. However, she is not a true nihilist as she wavers from believing in nothing to comparing people to God. For example, after Mrs. Hopewell commented that a smile never hurt anyone and Hulga states, “Woman! Do you ever look inside? Do you ever look inside and see what you are not? God! [...] Malebranche was right: we are not our own light” (Country People 473). According to Helga’s words she does believe in God because philosopher Malebranche did believe in God and that our “light”-everything that makes humans alive, does come from God. O’Connor has Hulga contradict her own words to show reality is Hulga is confused and deep down inside she does believe in God. Hulga is also a disable person as she has a fake leg. In the short story her leg was stolen leaving her semi-crippled. By doing so O’Connor is attempting to show Hulga’s belief system has always been faulty as she doubted herself from the start. The final stealing of Hulga’s leg makes her realize that without believing in God she is crippled and doesn’t have a strong foundation of belief in

O’Connor’s life was greatly affected by illnesses, specifically Lupus which took both her own life and her father’s life. This experience in her life transferred over into her work, “Good Country People”. In this story, the main character, known as Joy by her mother, suffers from a weak heart that has greatly reduced her lifespan. Joy was a highly-educated character who had even received a PhD in philosophy, but unfortunately because of her artificial leg and heart ailment, was unable to put this education to further use. An impression of this story can be seen in Flannery O’Connor’s own life. In the year 1950, O’Connor was diagnosed with Lupus, an autoimmune disease

Good country people are polite and respectful towards others. Not all good country people are truly good, however. Some people appear to be good, but in reality, are very rude and inconsiderate. “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor follows a family consisting of Hulga and Mrs. Hopewell, mother and daughter that live together in the country. They meet a Bible Salesman, who appears to be nice, but tricks Hulga into giving up her wooden leg. Mrs. Hopewell appears to be a good country person, but loses some maturity when alone with Joy. Others, however, show their true colors when alone. For example, Hulga, Mr. Pointer, and Mrs. Hopewell all change levels of maturity when alone. Hulga displays a complete lack of maturity but starts to mature,

Scott Hamilton once said, “The only disability in life is having a bad attitude.” While some may find the good out of every situation, others engulf themselves in the negative and cause their self misery. In the short story “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, one is introduced to the character by the name of Hulga, known as Joy by her mother. Hulga is 32 years old and lives in her mother’s home due to her artificial leg and weakened heart. In this short story, Hulga’s uncouth personality is revealed through her encounters with individuals she comes across, and her opinions on other characters in the story. Through analyzation, one can see that Hulga is intolerant, miserable, and insecure.

Even with all the annoyances from Mrs. Freeman, Mrs. Hopewell is willing to endure it because they were good country people to her. Hulga was a very quiet and troubled woman. Oliver Kate explains that, “Joy-Hulga's physical afflictions--her heart condition, her poor eyesight, and her artificial leg--symbolize her emotional, intellectual, and spiritual impairments.”(Kate 234) Due to Hulgas medical problems she could not enjoy many things in life, like teaching philosophy and interacting with others outside the house. She was very detached from other people. Hulga had to be like this to protect herself. The world can be a very cruel place, where they could of judged her because of her fake leg, glasses and heart issues. She was afraid and hand no trust for others outside of her house.

By definition joy means a great feeling of pleasure and happiness. In Mary Flannery O'Connor's short story Good Country People, Joy Freeman was not at all joyful. Actually, she was the exact opposite. Joy's leg was shot off in a hunting accident when she was ten. Because of that incident, Joy was a stout girl in her thirties who had never danced a step or had any normal good times. (O'Connor 249). She had a wooden leg that only brought her teasing from others and problems in doing daily activities. Joy was very rude as well. In the story it speaks of her comments being so rude and ugly and her face so glum that her mother's boss, Mrs. Hopewell, would

Characterization is the most prevalent component used for the development of themes in Flannery O?Connor?s satirical short story ?Good Country People.? O?Connor artistically cultivates character development throughout her story as a means of creating multi-level themes that culminate in allegory. Although the themes are independent of each other, the characters are not; the development of one character is dependent upon the development of another. Each character?s feelings and behavior are influenced by the behavior of the others.

Throughout the short story, “Good Country People,” one of the main characters Joy, who is later known as Hulga, is “played” by a traveling Bible salesman who changes his name with each city he visits. As he made his way to the Hopewell’s town, he decides his name is going to be Manley Pointer. Pointer hears from the locals that the Hopewell’s are good company, and would make for a good place to bring his work. Manley Pointers pride comes from all of the treasures he obtains from the different families he visits. By stealing the home owner’s possessions, Pointers pride increases while theirs decreases tremendously.

Everyone wants to believe that they are beautiful. For this reason, we tend to seek out that approval from others including our parents, friends, and other loved ones. Flannery O'Connor's story, "Good Country People," focuses on this particular theme. In her narrative, a young girl named Joy Hopewell longs for her mother's approval. When she does not find it, Joy begins to believe that she is unworthy of anyone's admiration. This basic premise allows for Manley Pointer to easily win Joy's trust. Flannery O'Connor includes this string of events in order to show the significant role parents play in developing their children's self-esteem, as well as reveal that even though Joy Hopewell begins to believe that she is not beautiful, she

Why are men consider to be the more dominate sex? Women throughout history have proven that they can do anything a man can and more, but still women are seen as lesser. Feminist believe in equality between the sexes. Author Flannery O’Connor applied feministic thinking in her story “Good Country People.” The story describes a mother and daughter experience when a young Bible salesman approaches them. Hulga and her mother, Mrs. Freeman, make excellent subjects for the story’s feministic theme. “Good Country People” shows the feminism by including a strong female character, acceptance of opposite gender roles, and symbolism for the male sex.

Characterization is the biggest component that helps build on the themes of identity in the short story “Good Country People” written by Flannery O’connor. The theme itself is dependent where as the characters are independent of each other. The characters behaviors build within each other.

“Good Country People” concentrates on the subject matter of moral uprightness. The characters reflect different types of people. Supposedly they are “good country people with unsimilar traits. Making them unique in their own way. Joy’s character in this story is a protagonist, during her stint in college had her birth name changed to Hulga considering that it would be the ugliest name she came up with. As a youth Joy had been damaged while with some people hunting. As a result of the hunting accident she lost her leg from the knee down. This is one of her personality traits more or less why she is so angry. Joy thinks of herself as better than the rest, mainly due to her education; not happy with herself but up holds herself as better than the “country people”.