Good Country People By Flannery O Connor

The story, “Good Country People,” by Flannery O’Connor, is a third person limited narration which means the reader can only look into the mind of only a few of the characters. Those characters are Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga, or Joy. Schmoop discusses a deeper understanding about the narrator of the story.
“The third-person narrator of "Good Country People" sees into the minds of Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga, but it presents Mrs. Freeman and Manley—the other two main characters—mostly through Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga's eyes. That's the limited part of the narrator's omniscience: It hops into some heads, but not all” (Shmoop Editorial Team).
Another interesting factor about this story is the irony and tone in this story and how it adds toward each character.

Overall, it is highly important to consider why the third person limited style is important to the story and how does the treatment of each character contributes toward the irony and tone of the story.
The third person limited style allows the reader to gather information of other characters through the eyes of one or more characters in a story. In this case, we only have the thoughts of Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga, aka Joy. For example, when Manley Pointer discuss his future to Joy, he mentions that he has a heart condition and may not live long. Then Joy’s “eyes were filling with tears…” (439), meaning that she was in a state of relief when she found out that both “…had the same condition!” (439). This is an unusual remark from Joy because, according to Mrs. Hopewell, Joy is usually the rude-kind of girl. The interesting idea from this part of the story is that the third person limited style examines Joy through Mrs. Hopewell’s eyes rather than giving the reader direct observation in omniscient narration. In conclusion, the reason why this type of narration is important for this story is because it gives a deeper understanding toward each character using not only themselves, but also what the other characters think of them.
One factor that this story contains, regarding characters, is irony.

For example, in the beginning of the story, the narrator starts by talking about Mrs. Freeman. “Besides the neutral expressions that she wore when she was alone, Mrs. Freeman had two others, forward and reverse, that she used for all her human dealings” (433). The irony in this first line is that she is a “Freeman,” yet only has three different expressions. Another example of an irony that is easily noticeable is when Mrs. Hopewell considered Manley Pointer as “good country people.” “He was just good country people, you know” (441). The irony in this line is that in the end, Manley Pointer, whom is supposedly is “good country people,” ends up being a thief who steals Hulga’s prosthetic leg and runs and not only steals, but admits that he is not a Christian, making the line, “good country people,” a dramatic irony. However, one of the most ironic characters in the story is Hulga herself as she understands little of herself, regardless of the high education she holds in philosophy. For example, Hulga imagines that Pointer is easily seduced. “During the night she had imagined that she seduced him” (442). Yet, when they kissed, she was the one who was seduced and having the “extra surge of adrenaline… that enables one to carry a packed trunk out of a burning house…”

(443).
The tone of the story is considered humorous and judgmental. The tone mostly derived from the characters themselves. For example, O’Connor expects us to find Mrs. Hopewell’s sayings in the beginning of the story not only humorous, but also truthful. For example, “Nothing is perfect. This was one of Mrs. Hopewell’s favorite sayings. Another was: that is life! And still another, the most important, was: well, other people have their opinions too” (434). This one line automatically confirms that the story will have a humorous tone. However, the judgmental tone mostly comes from Hulga. One example in the text, which is also an ironic line, “She looked at nice young men as if she could smell their stupidity” (437). This line is ironic for Hulga herself was the “stupid” one in the end and also, judges Manley early, making the story not only humorous, but also judgmental.
“Good Country People,” by Flannery O’Connor is not only a third person limited narrated story that focuses on other characters through the eyes of Mrs.

Hopewell and Joy-Hulga, but also contains a humorous, yet judgmental tone in the story that defines the characters, mostly in Hulga. Hulga is considered the most ironic character in the story because of the little understanding she has of herself regardless of how well educated she is. She may consider herself the smartest woman in the story and may have pride in herself but what she doesn’t know is that Manley, a man who ironically sells Bibles and yet, is not a Christian, proves Hulga wrong in the end and makes her the one with stupidity. Using third person limited allows the reader to gather a deeper understanding of characters by using other characters that know them better than themselves. Overall, it is highly important to dig deeper into the story regarding narration by asking, who is narrating and why is his/her perception important and how does tone and irony contribute to the characters. In this case, the tone and irony gives the reader a better understanding of each individual character, both antagonist and

protagonist.