...Good Country People Author Institutional Affiliation Good Country People Introduction Good Country People is the first and famous short story among the writings of Flannery O’Connor. The short story was published in 1955 in her collection of short stories titled, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”. The characters in O’Connor’s book are seen to have embraced and rejected some platitudes that have fully taken control over their lives. They give ‘Good Country People’ a lesson based on the dangers humans are prone to as they mistake platitudes for original perceptions. Moreover, there are various themes acquired from the short story: betrayal, grace, nihilism, redemption and blindness. The setting of the story is on Georgian tenant farm. Irony Flannery O’Connor’s short story Good Country People is filled with ironical objects and characters starting from the title. The end of the story gives a lesson on how no-Good Country People exists in the contemporary world. There is irony noticed in the names of the characters in the book. For instance, Manley Pointer’s bible turns out to be a carrier for a small printed blue box, a pack of cards and a pocket flask full of Whiskey. Mrs. Freeman is Mrs. Hopewell’s tenant farmer. From her name, “Free-Man” has no sign of freedom as she is an employee though privileged by being Mrs. Hopewell’s cliché exchange ally. Despite Hulga’s extensive knowledge, she attempts being her own light both intellectually and spiritually. The irony...
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...The story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is about a family going on vacation to Florida. The grandmother attends to the bratty children in the back seat while the parents sit quietly in the front seat as they travel. After the family has a car accident, a car pulls up with three men in it to “help”, it turns out to be three escaped convicts, that the grandmother has spoken of earlier in the story. When the grandmother identifies the misfit, she attempts to convince him that he is a good man, and everyone has sinned at some point and time in their life. She continues to tell him he has good blood even though his men as lead the rest of the family into the woods and killed them. The theme of this story can be good vs. evil or everyone has sinned....
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...Humans have, for a long, long time, acknowledged that there is a good side, and a bad side to each and every person. The better side of human nature brings out compliments, support, and encouragement to others and to oneself. Unfortunately, people do not always act that way. The darker side of human nature is one that people like to keep quiet and hidden from sight. In the short stories, “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury, “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor,o and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, this dark side is shown through various people and situations. In “The Veldt”, two children turn on their parents in anger. In “Good Country People”, a young man is not who he says he is and robs one of the main characters, and in “The...
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...What do you think of when you hear the phrase good country people? A barn, friendly do-good farm people, smiles for miles and of course lots of well taken care of animals. Flannery O'Connor's “Good Country People” however, sheds a different light on a premeditated assumption. The distortion found in O'Connor's short story allows a different perception to readers, creating a new reality. Its ironic style and eccentric characters prove that people themselves can even be distorted. Different styles are used widely in any story to give deeper insight of a what seems to be obvious picture. Distorted styles can do the same however, sometimes changing the entire perception of the story. In “Good Country People”, the title is used as a eye grabber....
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...St. Cyril of Jerusalem symbolic quote portrays characters in the short stories “Good Country People”, “The Displaced Person”, and “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”. Each character is tempted, by a dragon, in the journey to a life of salvation. Hulga, Mrs. McIntyre and Mr. Shiftlet demonstrate temptation by being prideful and vain. Hulga, from “Good Country People”, is prideful and vain in her intelligence. Hulga has a Ph.D. in philosophy and enjoys reading high intellectual books. Hulga thinks that her Ph.D. makes her superior to the bible salesman. Therefore, Hulga constructs a plan in which she can seduce the salesman. However, in Hulga’s efforts to seduce the salesman, he ends up taking advantage of her. Hulga is prideful and vain because she believes that her Ph.D. and intelligence allows her to be superior to others. In addition to Hulga, Mrs. Mackentier from The Displaced Person believes she...
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...“Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, was published in 1995. The genre of the story is southern gothic. Gothic tales are usually creepy, like in this story there is a missing leg and a missing glass eye. Gothic tales are also describes by a small or enclosed place. Half of the setting takes place in the kitchen making it clear that it is from Hulga and Mrs. Hopewell’s point of view. The Climatic action takes place in the barn loft emphasizing Hulga’s vulnerability. The reason the story is southern gothic and not just gothic is because it takes place in the South. The title of the story is a phrase repeated by Hulga and Mrs. Hopewell throughout the story. Mrs. Hopewell thinks she can decide between if a person is “trash” or if they are...
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...Good Country People: Illusion Or Truth? Never let your schooling get in the way of your education -Mark Twain 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 steal. A great change in Hulga is triggered by her experience with Manley Pointer. Although it was a cruel scam, the bible salesman helps her to see the truth about her education and human nature. Hulga realizes that in addition to book smarts, people skills are also crucial in navigating the real world. Hulga has been to college for many years, earning a Ph.D. in Philosophy. Coming from such a rural background, she feels that her education raises her status in the intellectual world, and therefore life in general, above anyone not as educated as she is. You poor baby…it’s just as well you don’t understand(404). The young woman fails to see that there is much more to life than what you can learn in a book. Due to a heart condition, however, Hulga is forced to remain home on the farm, instead of being in an...
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...Emily Nole Professor Bruce Poteet English 161 4 November 2014 “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” and “Good Country People” Literary Analysis Flannery O’Connor’s works are perfect examples of distortional point of view, and literary irony. Through her work “Good Country People,” O’Connor uses her humor and uses distortional point of view through her characters Hulga, Mrs. Hopewell, and Mrs. Freeman to “humble and expose the biases of the overly intellectual and spiritual bankrupt.” Through her work “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” O’Connor uses her humor and uses distortional point of view to convey and emphasize that we each experience reality, however distorted, through the unique, sometime morally-distorted lens of individual perception, through...
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...Good Country People Flannery O’Conner, uses her characters to formulate an event straight out of the old south, in her short story, Good Country People. The thick southern accents, littered with misspellings and poor grammar, add a flare to the various mentalities that led to an assault in one of the final scenes. We are first introduced to Mrs. Hopewell, the head of the home and, her adult daughter, Joy. We learn that Joy is a victim of a hunting accident that resulted in the loss of her leg and the onset of a dismal outlook. The hired help, Mrs. Freemen, is often observing in the kitchen. Her disengaged communication, seems to offset Mrs. Hopewell’s over reaching ability to turn a blind eye. When a bible salesman comes to the door, he is invited to stay through his charm and wit. Meanwhile, Joy, who is usually well guarded,...
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...Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People” is a short story set on a small tenant farm in rural Georgia, where an accident leaves Joy, the protagonist, with one leg. This disfigurement has a profound impact on Joy’s life, leaving her emotionally scarred and causing her to distance herself from the real world. As a result, she decides to seek refuge in both education and intellectual advancement. Additionally, since Joy feels that her name represents something she does not feel, she decides to change her name to Hulga, an atrocious name that reflects her true personality. “Hulga” represents rage and grumpiness towards those around her, as she is not able to live the life she wanted to live, due to her health conditions. “Good Country People”...
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...Flannery O’Connor “Good Country People”: Questions 1. The relationship between Joy-Hulga Hopewell and Manley Pointer started as an attempt for romantic relations; at least the woman believed the salesman fell in love with her or had some similar feeling. Hulga decided to use his feelings and try to seduce Manley to “reckon with his remorse… [take it] in hand and [change] it into a deeper understanding of life” (O’Connor 12); the woman thought the Bible salesman needed such procedure to become more experienced and loose “rose-colored spectacles” he sees the world through. The irony was in the fact that Manley’s job belonged to a totally opposite side than his personality. The salesman showed himself as a cynical, amoral person that know how to use others for the own benefit....
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...In Good Country People, the author expressed different aspects of what is considered good country people. Flannery O’Connor’s purpose is to get readers to understand deeply that she was using words to represent the characters’ personalities. I can see the play on words in the title and characters’ names. The story begins with Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Hopewell as they discussed their duties and children, mainly how they raised them to be good country people. Discussion of Mrs. Hopewell’s daughter takes over the text. She has low self-esteem, a bad personality, and a wooden leg; however, she was a very smart woman, having earned a Ph.D. She does not work yet because she is unable to lecture because of her wooden leg and poor vision without glasses. Hulga worshiped her artificial leg and beliefs demanding her limitations. Initially, she was named Joy but she took it upon herself to get her name changed to an uglier name (Hulga). Mrs. Hopewell was not satisfied with her decision and thought the name was very unappealing. Joy’s physical impairments controlled her life to the point that she wanted to live miserable and unattractive. Hulga is one of the main characters along with the bible salesman...
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...Who was Flannery O’Connor? Flannery O’Connor was a female, American writer and an important voice in American literature, who wrote two novels and multiple short stories throughout her lifetime. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Good Country People,” Flannery O’Connor showcases a genre of themes throughout her pieces and a style that is interesting and different compared to others. Like most of her short stories, both of these writings are very interesting and narrated in a third person point of view. It is clearly obvious that O’Connor’s influence upon these two short stories illustrates her own version of southern gothic with a twist of religion, much like many of her works. There were many factors to her style of writing but two that she uses were “...distortion and exaggeration…” (Shloss 35). The focus of...
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...The tale of Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People” is a story of an optimistic mother, Mrs. Hopewell, and a pessimistic daughter, Hulga, who lives on a farm together in rural Georgia. On the farm also lives the Freeman’s “good country people” (O’Connor, 482), the family was hired to help with the farm. One day a bible sales man, Manley Pointer, comes by the house in an attempt to make a sale, and ends up making a major impact on Hulga’s life. Hulga a doctor of philosophy values her contemptuous relationship with her mother, she also values her uniqueness, and she believes she is vastly more intelligent than others. These beliefs make Hulga a displeasure to be around and ultimately leads to her being deceived. Hulga lives with her mother, as if she is tolerating...
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...Many people hold destructive opinions without considering their full implications. “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor is a short story about Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter Hulga, and the tragic consequences of their misconceptions about the world. The importance of challenging one’s common convictions and the dangers that can arise from being narrow-minded is carried by the mother’s dissatisfaction of diversity and women’s education. The devastation of both women implies a sense of desired moderation in the realm of perspective, depicting evils of nihilism as well as the vulnerability of narrow-minded, traditional thought. O’Connor’s purposeful use of point of view allows her to develop characters in order to criticize the blindness of human nature....
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