An Analysis Of Flannery O Connor's Good Country People

What is a definition of a “good country person”? A good country person is someone who lives in a rural area where they spend time working their animals. Some good country people are Christians, where they go to church and worship the Lord with their family. Good country people are nice people, they will always help you when you need them and they will always have your back. In the story “Good Country People”, there are some people that do not act like a good country person.
In Flannery O’ Connor’s “Good Country People”, the stereotype that is most apparent in this story is what contributes to the irony. The stereotype surrounding “good country people” will lead to the main character of the story of “good country people”, Hulga down the road of surprise and humility. There are two main characters that believe that good country people are uneducated and uncomplicated. The two main characters of this story is “Mrs. Freeman and Joy/ Hulga. There are assumptions to these two characteristics will eventually lead to trouble for Hulga.

In the story “Good Country people”, Joy changes her name to Hulga directly relating on how Joy views herself.

Changing her name also reflects of how she feels about her mother. When Joy was ten years old, she was in a hunting accident where it caused her to have a wooden leg. This deformity causes Joy to view herself as ugly and unattractive. Joy is also detached from life and everything about it and she does not believe in God. Hulga’s belief in nothing, that there is no God, and she believes that she is smarter than all of the country people that she is surrounded by, end up teaching Hulga a valuable lesson. Given an opportunity to show her “power” with the character Manly, a simple-minded Bible salesman, she learns quickly that the person she was planning to manipulate ended up manipulating and making her look like a

fool.
Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga both view “Good country people” as a kind Christian people who are also uneducated and complicated simple-minded people. Mrs. Hopewell sees “good country people” as being kind and Christian based on the area they live. Mrs. Freeman is Mrs. Hopewell’s employee. According to Mrs. Hopewell, Mrs. Freeman is a “good country person”’ however she will admit that she has done anything wrong. Mrs. Hopewell believes that she can manipulate Mrs. Freeman by letting her be “in charge” Mrs. Freeman is no fool when it comes to manipulation. She uses Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga’s view of “good country people” in her favor.
Hulga believes she can use her intelligence and “belief in nothing” to manipulate the bible salesman Manly Pointer. Hulga and Manley plan to meet. Hulga believes she can manipulate Manley into doing anything that she wants. Hulga stays up all night thinking about how she can trick him. Hulga believes that Manley is a simple- minded person that she can use. When Manly and Hulga went a barn where it had a loft. Manly thinks that she can’t climb the ladder to get to the loft because of wooden leg. But Hulga proves him wrong by climbing the ladder. Manly starts kissing on Hulga and telling her how much he loves her. Hulga resists but then starts kissing Manly back. In the story, Manly manipulates Hulga to take off her leg and takes the leg from her. He could have done much worse to Hulga while they were in the loft but he didn’t. Manley is not a good country person at all. He is a manipulator
Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga both have a misconception about country people. Because of this misconception, both women who believe that are manipulating their victims actually turn in becoming the victims.