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Good Country People: Tension in Relationships
In the short story “Good Country People”, O’Conner uses dialogue between Joy/Hulga and her mother, and narrative point of view, to illustrate the tension between the two protagonists and how their actions affect their relationship.
In an attempt to ignore the pain and suffering of the accident, Mrs. Hopewell still treats
Joy/Hulga as a child. When Joy/Hulga was only ten years old her leg, from just above the knee down, was blown completely off in a hunting incident, and ever since has been a completely changed person as she was conscious for the entire incident. She uses a wooden prosthetic that fits snugly over her stump to help her walk around. Joy/Hulga is a college educated girl that had the
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Hopewell wants her to be. Everything Joy/Hulga does ties back to her trying to show her strength. Even Mrs Hopewell can see this as she,
“thought of the name, Hulga, she thought of the broad side of a battle-ship.”, even her name is representative of this fictitious persona that she has created for herself. Mrs. Hopewell, as stated before, still tries to look at Joy/Hulga as an innocent child; however, she is anything but a child. She is a thirty-two year old woman who has a college degree in in philosophy and is more than capable of taking care of herself. And for the innocence she lost that when she was ten and witnessed her own leg being shot off. When her mother forced her to go walk the fields with her she made the smart comment, “If you’re not going to come pleasantly, don’t come at all”, and it was described that Joy/Hulga’s body language was, “Standing square and rigid shouldered with her neck thrust slightly forward”, this is similar to a stance that a boxer would have in a fight. Joy/Hulga is going out of her way looking for a fight with her mother to prove that she isn’t
The author uses different points of view to create tension in the story. The mom acts in a way that neglects the daughters interests. This makes them both feel less connected and leaves the daughter feeling hopeless. In paragraph 9, “‘It’s strange actually. I wasn’t expecting it, but then at the last minute the funding came through.’ She folded her arms across her waist. ‘I’m going to Costa Rica to finish my research.” This made the narrator/daughter angry and flustered with her mom’s actions. She has trouble remaining connected with her parent because they both want different things which leaves on character feeling betrayed. “Opportunity? For me? Or for you?” (34). Both of their actions and responses create tension in this story. Their communication lacks and this results in pressure on both
Hopewell’s daughter, Joy who renames herself to Hulga. Hulga who is also like Phoenix, a victim of circumstances, is highly educated, was shot in the leg while young, and thus has a wooden leg and is also sick in that she has a weak heart. Hulga, goes through these circumstances and takes them negatively, she is seen as not only rude but also always cross and insensitive to other people’s feelings or emotions an example of this is when she shouted at her mother, Mrs. Hopewell, at the table “Woman! Do you ever look inside? Do you ever look inside and see what you are not? God!” (Clugston,
The boy’s mother will take the easy way out for herself so that she won’t have to fight through the pain. By taking her own life, she will leave the boy in the father’s hands. The boy misses his mother everyday
Joy did whatever it took and sometimes it meant not letting Wes leave military school to come home. She stood her ground and wanted to make him a better person, so she made him stick it out. She also valued her kids education so much that she did all she could which meant working multiple jobs just to keep them out of the public schooling system. If Wes didn’t have the support of his mother, he would of turn out like the Other Wes that was in the story and he mostly likely would have gone to jail
The mother is a selfish and stubborn woman. Raised a certain way and never falters from it. She neglects help, oppresses education and persuades people to be what she wants or she will cut them out of her life completely. Her own morals out-weight every other family member’s wants and choices. Her influence and discipline brought every member of the family’s future to serious-danger to care to her wants. She is everything a good mother isn’t and is blind with her own morals. Her stubbornness towards change and education caused the families state of desperation. The realization shown through the story is the family would be better off without a mother to anchor them down.
The children also argue with their mother often. The children think that their mother, with no doubt, will be perfect. They idealize their mothers as angel who will save them from all their problems, which the mothers actually never do. The children get angry at their false hopes and realize that their mothers aren’t going to...
In the story she is very rude to her mother. She would yell at her mother and tell her to look inside herself and see exactly what she was, which she believed was nothing. The story speaks of her entering rooms with her wooden leg making a hulking sound. In all she was miserable to be around and when she made an entrance it was one of the most disturbing ones of all. Joy also hated any living thing, which included animals, flowers, and especially young men. The only thing that ever made Joy happy in her life was when she went to school and acquired her Ph.D. in philosophy. Because she was older, she had no real reason to go back to school, so she was stuck with nothing to bring her pleasure or personal enrichment. When Joy was twenty-one and away from home she had her name legally changed. She tried to find the most horrible sounding syllables to put together and she thought of the name Hulga....
believe she is; after all, it was quite clear from the end of scene 3
Even though she was facing extremely high danger by doing so small she took those risks and continued to do good.
basis of the plot and themes of this novel. The fond memories she possessed of her mother and the harsh ones of her father are reflected in the thoughts and
After a traumatic experience early in her life in two, cheerless foster homes, and then an orphan...
In early parts of the play, she is in control and is practical as she
by claiming that the hardships that she went through in life, was what she deserved, believing
seven children of her own. Knowing that she did this without the modern conveniences we have
elegant, and she walked well; but Darcy, at whom it was all aimed was still