Joy Hulga Analysis

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Have you ever been in the position where you felt as if none of your peers understood you, or maybe that you were an outcast, and wasn’t like the others? Joy Hulga, who has a PhD in philosophy, felt as if she was smarter than everyone else, even her mother, Mrs. Hopewell. The author writes, “Joy had made it plain that if it had not been for this condition, she would be far from these red hills and good country people. She would be in a university lecturing to people who knew what she was talking about” (O’Connor 3). Those good country people didn’t know near as much as Hulga, well at least that’s how Hulga felt. Flannery O’Connor’s theme in this short story revolves around man’s arrogance in thinking that he knows it all, and is communicated …show more content…

Hulga didn’t believe in faith and religion, she felt as if there was no such thing. O’Connor writes, “In my economy,” she said, “I’m saved and you are damned but I told you I didn’t believe in God.” (7) Joy Hulga knew she was smarter than her peers, but Manly Pointer proved her wrong by out smarting her and manipulating her. Manly Pointer made Hulga believe he was a Christian bible salesman, in which he wasn’t, he was a manipulator. Hulga went up into the tree with Manly, where he made her tell him she loved him, kiss him, and even take off her leg for him. At this point Hulga, the thirty two year old philosophy major, had been manipulated by a nineteen year old young man. Therefore, if Joy had some type of faith instead of being so arrogant and believing in her knowledge of science, things may have went differently with the so called Christian young man. Flannery O’Connor teaches a lot of lessons in Good Country People that can be applied to anyone’s everyday life. O’Connor gives perfect examples and reasoning on why people should have faith and believe in some type of religion. She also teaches the lessons that people should have an open heart and see beyond themselves and their beliefs, instead of being so arrogant and thinking they know it all. Identity, symbolism, and reality was communicate in this story’s theme, which revolves around man’s arrogance in thinking that he knows it

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