Good Country People Literary Analysis

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Sometimes, it’s almost impossible to explain human behavior, especially the terrible things people do to each other. Southern Gothic writers, however, are able to use certain literary elements that explore this behavior. In their short stories, “Good Country People,” and “A Rose for Emily,” Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner use the elements of violence, imprisonment, and the grotesque to explain why people do the things they do. Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People” as well as her other stories have very religious themes. For this reason, violence occurres, often punishing the sinners. The violence in the story “Good Country People” mainly focuses around one specific encounter between Manley Pointer and Joy Hulga. After winning the heart of Mrs. Hopewell and a date with Hulga, Manley’s plans are in full motion. He lures hulga into a barn to trick her into giving up her prosthetic leg and her pride. Hulga is mentally bested by Manley Pointer. The story ends with him disappearing …show more content…

No other character better represents imprisonment than Joy Hulga. Hulga isolates herself as a rejection of her mother's positive philosophy. She is stuck in her atheism, in her physical shortcomings, in her appearance and in her privacy. She changes her name from Joy to Hulga because it is “uglier”, yet gets upset when Mrs. Freeman uses her new name. These things display that Hulga is stuck in a self-destructive rut. Even intellectually she is stuck. Mrs. Hopewell is quoted saying “she was brilliant but she didn't have a grain of sense”. When it comes to the encounter with Manley Pointer, it is her intellectual vanity that is her weakness. He easily takes advantage of Hulga and seduces her in a hay loft. Hulga ends up imprisoned within the barn, unable to move without a leg to stand on. This final imprisonment serves as a symbol for Hulgas stubbornness and self destructiveness throughout the

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