Joy Hulga Good Country People

The two most important souls in the story "Good Country People" belong to Joy-Hulga and

According to the theologians, pride is the worst of the seven deadly sins. therefore having pride in what you do is all about motivation. Getting motivated and doing something you love to achieve full potential is in a human nature. Scientifically spoke, it all begins from the bunch of chemicals that is happening in your brain. While all animals produce basic emotions like fear and anger, humans have highly developed social emotions, such as shame, guilt and pride which involve an awareness of what other people think and feel about us. The serotonin is the chemical that produces happiness in your brain.

Pride can be both beneficial and detrimental. Pride is the feeling of intense satisfaction because of one’s achievements. In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Miller shows different types of pride throughout the play. Miller shows examples of good pride, bad pride, and mixed pride through various characters in the play. He wants us to learn the difference between the good pride and the bad pride so we can focus on the good.

“Good Country People,” is a classic example of the use of irony as a technique for imbuing a story with meaning. Irony works on many different levels through the piece. Examples of this range from O’ Connors use of clearly ironic dialogue to the dramatic irony that unfolds between Manley and Joy-Hulga. However the most obvious examples can be found in O’Connor’s characterization of these, “Good Country People.” The technique of irony is applied prominently to the character’s names and behaviors to present the contradictions between their expectations and their reality. O’Connor uses her characters to explore common notions regarding, “good” and “bad” people. Using their expectations for one another, O’Connor ultimately expose their

"We all know that education, more than anything else, improves our chances of building better lives," said the great Nelson Mandela. The recurring theme of using education being used as power is significantly prevalent in the short stories Good Country People by Flannery O'Connor, and Everyday Use by Alice Walker. In the short story Good Country People, Joy (the protagonist, later referred to as Hulga) holds the center of attention. She has been exceptionally educated. In fact, she holds a doctoral degree in philosophy. She holds a reputation of being extremely intelligent, capable of taking on some of the most challenging tasks that the world has to offer. With her formal education, she feels as though she has learned everything about life

In her book, “Good Country People,” Flannery O’Connor shows first hand how one cannot judge a book by its cover… not even a Bible. Even though a façade is put on, one realizes how vulnerable Hulga Hopewell actually is. Her encounter with a Bible salesman, Manley Pointer, shows how one cannot trust even “good country people” (2). Symbolism in this story transforms what one perceives the character of Hulga and Manley to be and allows the reader to make deeper connections about their physical and mental flaws.

In the short story by O’connor, “Good Country People”, religion plays a major role in every aspect. From the characters all the way to the objects that are introduced in the story. The main characters which are Hulga and Manley have complete opposite views in life but Manley pretends he has the same as Hulga in order to accomplish his goal which O’connor puts into the story as dark humor in order to set a tone at the end of the story. In order for this to happen O’connor makes Manley a character which does not believe in religion at all and he pretends to be this good old country guy who is selling bibles and stumbles along the very unstable home of Hulga. Now Hulga in the other hand is a character that has minor religion beliefs but is a very isolated person who believes that everything has no meaning in the world according to Carle K. (55-56)

Good Country People by Flannery O’Connor is a story with a lot of ironic elements in it. These are mostly found in the way that the characters depict themselves in contrast of how they truly are. For example, Mrs. Hopewell says that she has no bad qualities of her own, but she is a constant liar is an how she happened to hire the Freemans in the first place and how they were a godsend to her and how she had them for four years. The reason for keeping them for so long was because they were not trash” (O’Connor 247). Mrs. Hopewell is not the only hypocrite in this story; Manley Pointer is also incredibly hypocritical, fake, and manipulative. He depicts himself as a “Bible salesmen”, but in reality he is a con artist. When Hulga opens up his Bible, she sees a flask of whiskey, cards, and condoms in it. This would be seen as incredibly offensive and sinful to a Christian. According to Thomas F. Gusset, “Joy/Hulga begins to discover that the Bible

“Good Country People” is a story written by Flannery O’Connor in 1955. It is a story written about four main characters; Mrs. Hopewell the overprotective mother, and Mrs. Freeman the helping hand, Manley Pointer the bible and Joy Hulga the dependent scholar. Mrs. Hopewell is Joy’s mother and Mrs. Freeman is there maid. Manley is the bible salesman’s who goes town to town scamming people. The story talks about good country people and who are considered good country people. As soon as Joy was old enough and away from her mother, she changed her name is Hulga. Joy Hulga has a problem with not being able to accept that the world has good and bad people. Joy Hulga has a chip on her shoulder about everything that transpire throughout “Good Country People”. Joy Hulga’s unapologetic attitude, harsh treatment from others and belief in people bring about her downfall in “Good Country People”.

Another example of pride would be with John Proctor. John Proctor was your everyday man. He was a farmer, he claimed to be Godly though he was said to never attend church. Not attending church then was very frowned upon and even considered a horrible sin. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor, was accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams. Abigail did this to get revenge because Elizabeth fired her. Elizabeth did this because Abigail had an affair with John. He would not confess to being associated with the Devil because it was not true and he did not want shame brought to his name. Though his wife talked him into confessing, he would not sign his name to the paper. Not only did he not sign his name; he also ripped up the papers. This shows a great deal of pride as well, being that he would not confess because of the way society would look at him thinking that he was associated with the Devil.

Kiara Liz Correa English 221September 19th, 2017 Good Country PeopleIn the story, Good Country People written by Flannery O’Connor, Hulga Hopewell lost her joy at the age of ten when she lost her leg and was diagnosed with a heart condition. Hulga isa thirty-two-year-old woman who is over educated and spends the rest of her life being miserableand doing everything in her power to irritate her mother and everyone around her. Although Hulga seems to want acceptance from her mother and her environment around her, with close reading we find out that she really doesn’t care about anything or anyone. The only thing she wants is to be superior, immature and bitter. Hulga Hopewell is nothing but someone who thinks she is above everyone because she believes that she is superior. She never bothers in trying to get to know the others as real people, if she had she would have realized that there was more to them that meets the eye. Her lack of interest in the other characters effectively isolates her from any meaningful relationship with other characters especially her mother. Hulga is very versed, though perhaps not as smart as she thinks she is. While one is tempted to see view Hulga as a weak individual, she sees herself as a strong and powerful, even imagining seducing Manley Pointer. She sees herself in such a position of power and “worldliness” that she declares herself as an atheist, and chooses to believein “nothing” making her a nihilist. Hulgas life is turned upside down, as she is confronted with Mr. Manley Pointer who is the one that holds power over her, and later realizes that the “power” she had was nothing more than an illusion. Hulga Hopewell is also very immature. Her acts of rebellion can be seen as a way for her wanting to be accepted, but she really just wants to annoy her mother and anyone around her. Hulga uses her handicap, a leg partially shot off during a hunting accident, as an excuse for stomping loudly around the house in hopes of irritating her mother. She also spends her time making sly comments about her mother and Mrs. Freemans daughter’s, who she calls Caramel and Glycerin just to spite both women. She never really acts like a thirty-two-year-old woman and doesn’t dress like one either,

In “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, Joy; a leading lady full of grace and elegance developed into a prideful yet lonely girl who longed for acceptance and love. She hid her desire to be accepted and loved by her immensely large pride. Joy’s pride blinded her from recognizing the vulnerability and victimism she held near with Manly Pointer. She became close to Manly Pointer due to the absence of acceptance of love and acceptance in her home. O’Connor exhibits the internal struggles of women through Joy; showing that one can not find pure joy and acceptance through worldly love but that one needs more. Manly Pointer brings the sense of more through his business of bible marketing, this business begins to show Joy what is needed to fill the void in her life.

Any great accomplishment can make someone feel proud about their work. It makes one feel good; it raises a person's spirits. "No question, pride has its good points." (The Toronto Star, Nov 1999) Then again, there are also the bad points of pride one must consider, before being proud. Pride can deceive a person into being ambitious, and make them strive for something that is not rightfully theirs. Both Macbeth and Willy encountered this problem. Pride can also cause a bad relationship with the people one loves most. For Macbeth and Willy, their relationships with their families were burdened as a consequence of this pride. Pride can lead to much worse things; it can put a person in a

Pride, observed Mary, . . . is a very common failing, I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed, that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or another, real or imaginary.

Hulga is an unlikely character in “good country people” as the protagonist. The actions and beliefs of the protagonist