Good Country People, by Flannery O'Connor

“Being Country” just those two words together come with many discussions, but the book brings another discussion. This book “Being Country” by Bobbie Ann Mason honestly had me thinking and wondering if everybody’s perspective about changes in life is the same. The main outlooks I took from this book was; When your surroundings have changed your identity will also, Sometimes a reflection of the past can help your future, and whoever you are going to be will not change.

“Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor is a short story told in third person omniscient point of view. The story contains a lot of irony, symbolism, imagery, and many more literary devices. Flannery O’Connor’s purpose was to demonstrate how “good country people” are not so “good.” Instead, they were categorized as “trash” and “good.” The short story interprets how the characters are contradictory and how women are portrayed in 1955 as well as today’s society.

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

“She looked at young men as if she could smell their stupidity” (638). This exemplifies the attitude of Hulga, the protagonist in “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor. Hulga is a woman who has been dealt a tough hand in life, and lives with disabilities but still maintains a wrongly arrogant front. Hulga has chosen to believe in nothing, thinking that there is no purpose to life. Through her arrogant actions, ignorance and belief in nothing, Hulga is brought to her downfall and shown the inadequacy of her beliefs in the world and herself. (a major theme in O’Connor’s writing.)

Flannery O’Connor introduces her reader’s too unique short stories. They are “Good Country People” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, having too similar characters in different setting, but with the same symbolic meaning. The comparison between Hugla from “Good Country People” to the grandmother in “A Good Man Is Hard to find” is interesting, because they both suffer the same fate. In every short story O’Connor has created a intellectual individual who comes to a realization that their beliefs in there ability to control their lives and the lives of other are false. They enviably become the vulnerable, whereas they assumed it would be different. O’Connor has placed two misguide characters, that deem themselves to be manipulative and compulsive. At the end up of each short story they become vulnerable. Hugla from “Good Country People” and the grandmother from “A Good

Flannery O’Connor was such a powerful writer and everyone seemed to always come back to her well known short story ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’. Critics had many attitudes towards what O’Connor has done not because of her work but her gender. The source was not relevant to what my paper is going to be about but I just thought it was very absurd how people do not judge work but gender. Flannery O’Connor has made a huge impact on how I view writing after reading her

Flannery O’Connor was a short story author from Savannah, Georgia. She has produced many critically acclaimed pieces and has won several awards for them. Two distinct pieces she wrote are titled The Life You Save May Be Your Own and Good Country People. While both of her stories are unique, the underlying storyboard and character creation process that O’Connor used is the same throughout her stories. Her stories usually involve one or more self-centered woman, a younger person who become the victim of egregious crime, and a conniving male driven by his own motives. Good Country People and The Life You Save May Be Your Own do not stray from this rule. In either story, the narrative is driven around a shocking tragedy that is very unexpected. Even though in the tragedies committed in the book always have a belligerent and a victim, it is not easy to discern who amongst the two are the antagonist and the protagonist. In either of these narratives, the tragedy that occurred within the stories blurs the line between antagonist and protagonist.

"Good Country People", by Flannery O’Connor, presents us with a look into the monotonous lives of three women living together on a rural farm. All three women are set in their old-fashioned ways, having experienced very little of life, out on the farm. A bible salesman named Manley Pointer, appearing like nothing more than simple, "good country people"(1), pays them a visit one day. It turns out that this simple countryboy is actually a brilliant con artist who scams the pretentious daughter, Hulga (also known as Joy) into removing her wooden leg, which he proceeds to

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,

Observation In her story “Good Country People,” Flannery O’Connor writes of Hulga Hopewell’s unfortunate experience where her confidence in her intellect leads her to make wrong conclusions of other people’s character. Living in self-pity and despair after the accident that takes away her leg, Hulga Hopewell maintains a negative view of life, herself, and others around her. In the story, her mother, Mrs. Hopewell writes “She grew less like other people and more like herself---bloated, rude, and squint-eyed” (O’Connor 487). In addition to believing herself ugly, Hulga does not believe in God and depends on her own Ph.D. in philosophy for “advanced” knowledge to explain the world and other people’s behavior.

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.

Feminism and Historicism play a major part in Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “Good Country People”, first published in 1955. The story focuses on the importance of identity and the parallels between truth and deception. In “Good Country People”, the Hopewell family, maintain a small farm in rural Georgia with the help of tenants the Freemans. The pious Mrs. Hopewell’s mottos ‘nothing is perfect’ and ‘it takes all kinds to make the world’ are manifested in her unmarried thirty-two year old daughter, Joy who later changes her name to Hulga, wears a prosthetic wooden leg because of a childhood accident. Hulga who has a Ph.D. in Philosophy, cannot advance her academic aspirations because of a weak heart; because of this she must live in her

Flannery O’Connor publication “Good Country People” is a short story that is set on a small tenant farm in Georgia. An accident leaves Joy, the protagonist in the fiction, with one leg and this disfigurement leaves her emotionally scarred. She distances herself from the real world to her intellect world. She changes her name from Joy to Hulga since she feels disturbed by her surroundings and health condition. The book focuses on the themes of alienation and identity. This short story is an exciting piece of art that uses the character Hulga to demonstrate how physical challenges, intellectualism, and social class play a role in developing one’s identity.

Flannery O'Connor shows us that not all country people are good in “Good Country People”. At a time in the mid-1950s, three women gather in Mrs. Hopewell’s kitchen on a large southern rural farm in the state of Georgia. Mrs. Freeman works on Mrs. Hopewell’s farm and has done so for the past 4 years. Mrs. Freeman's purpose on the farm is somewhat ‘slave’ like, to help run the farm. Mrs. Hopewell is, not only the owner of the farm but the mother of Joy, one of her two daughters.

In “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, he has many various characters. This specific short story is quite known for its irony within the story. The character’s name explain in vague terms there personality or even what they are not. Many of these characters can be seen in different ways but also be compared to one another. O’Connor gives significance in the characters names is contributed to what they do within the story.