Good Country People (1734 words) Essay Example For Students

Good Country People (1734 words) Essay Good Country PeopleThe short story, ?Good Country People?, written by Flannery O?Connor, is a story that captivates by usage of symbolism and theme. The story centers on the meaning of being a good person, in the sense of leading a Christian, pious life, worthy of salvation. In Good Country People, Hulgas farce of strength and arrogance is peeled away when her leg, the symbol of her strength, is stolen revealing her true weakness and leaving her with nothing; hence OConnor suggests when confronted with true nothingness, people who have a mechanical way of dealing with the world, often realize their lack of self. O?Connor contrasts mindless chatter about ?good country people? with questions about the true meaning of religious faith. There is also a class hierarchy formed that includes stereotypes about ?good country people? and literal and symbolic meanings of events, objects, and characters. O?Connor describes the story?s characters as distorted versions of humanity, and virtually no ne are sympathetic in the traditional nature of the hero or heroine with whom a reader might identify. ?Good Country People? is fraught with atheism, perversion, blasphemy, hypocrisy, deprivation, escapism, symbolism, disenchantment, anger, and enlightenment. ?Good Country People? illustrates that religious faith dictates how you perceive the world, people, surroundings, and can also cause corruption. Two of the main characters, Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman, display how even the simplest people can corrupt. Mrs. Freeman, who is called ?good country people? (461) by Mrs. Hopewell, is corrupted by her ?fondness for the details of secret infections, hidden deformities, assaults upon children?and diseases,? (462) of which she ?preferred the lingering or incurable.? (462). Mrs. Freeman could hear of the story of how Hulga?s leg was ?literally blasted off,? and act as if it ?happened an hour ago? (463). Flannery O?Connor presents such an irony of a theme that can evolve in just one person by itself. Manly Pointer, or so-called the ?Bible salesman,? illustrates in himself that intelligence and corruptness preside together to make such a twist in plot that is not suspected. Being a Bible salesman, one would think Mr. Pointer would be true to the heart, a solid Christian who knows the Bible and would be the typical ?good country people.Good Country People? is divided into four rather dis tinct sections which help emphasize the relationships between the four central characters. O?Connor?s selection of names for her characters helps to establish their significance in the story also. The name ?Hopewell? characterizes both the mother and her daughter because both women are individuals who simplistically believe that what is wanted can be had- although each of them is, in her own way, blind to the world as it really exists. Both women fail to see that the world is a mixture of good and evil. Because both women accept this false view of reality, each of them ?hopes well? to tailor that world to meet their own needs. This misperception leads them to assume that the world is much simpler than it actually is. By dividing the story into four loosely distinct sections, O?Connor is able to subtly establish parallels between the characters of Mrs. Freeman and Manley Pointer and between Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter, Hulga; while at the same time providing details which appear t o emphasize the different facets of the four individual characters. However, Flannery O?Connor uses dramatic irony and satire in ?Good Country People? to depict a story of vulnerability and power. The story unfolds with the seemingly foolish and inconsequential Mrs. Freeman talking about her two daughters and their obvious lack of morals. Mrs. Hopewell?s name suggests a life of hope for something more for the unhappy adult child, Joy. In Joy/Hulga, readers see her deformity as a symbol of spiritual weakness, and there is a foreshadowing with Mrs. Freeman?s special interest in the hidden deformities and assaults on children. O?Connor uses dramatic irony to show faults of others as they fail to see their own. Mrs. Freeman?s name comments ironically on her status as a tenant farmer on Mrs. Hopewell?s property. Her significance is indicated by the story?s opening, which humorously compares her to ?a heavy truck? (460) in the way she understands life: in neutral, forward, or reverse. Mrs. Hopewell considers Mrs. Freeman a ?good country person,? and each w oman responds to the other?s platitudes with statements such as ?I always said so myself.? (461) However, Mrs. Freeman also shares qualities with Manley Pointer. The Old Man and the Sea - Tragedy EssayO?Connor uses her final paragraphs of the story to make clear the parallel which she established earlier between Hulga and her mother. Hulga has now undergone mortification, and Mrs. Hopewell appears to be facing a future revelation. The final irony in the story involves Mrs. Freeman?s response: ?Some can?t be that simple? I know I never could.? (473) Thus the reader is left with the impression that Mrs. Hopewell will also have to undergo an epiphanal experience which will destroy the confidence she has in her ability to control and to use Mrs. Freeman. ?At the end of the story, readers are left with indeterminacy with Joy/Hulga in the barn ?without a leg to stand on.?Works CitedOConnor, Flannery. Good Country People. 2010. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. 460-73. Print.