Good Country People Characters - 2008 Words

Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"Good Country People† is a seemingly two-dimensional story based around Hulga Hopewell, a pessimistic atheist, who lives in an old-fashioned country home alongside her mother, Mrs. Hopewell, some others include the farmhand, Mrs. Freeman, and Mrs. Freeman’s two daughters, Carramae and Glynese. Throughout the story, Mrs. Hopewell, along with the other characters, assert their views to hulga that good country people are the foundation of living a good life. The story compares and contrasts these distinctive character views in order to create a more realistic and three-dimensional outlook from the context. After reading over the story a few times, I noticed a lot of consistency with the underlying meanings that the author†¦show more content†¦Instead of looking down on her for getting involved with every one’s business, Mrs. Hopewell looks at this as a positive quality by letting her be responsible for everything aroun d the house. When it comes to her treatment toward Hulga however, Mrs. Hopewell seems to lack a certain sense of sympathy; for example, when she would ask Hulga for help in the fields, she would tell her â€Å"If you can’t come pleasantly, I don’t want you at all†. This suggests an obvious intolerance for her negative behavior. The relationship between Hulga and her mother seems to be that of a disobedient child and her intolerant mother. Regardless of Hulga’s accomplishments, Mrs. Hopewell still seems incapable of getting past her negative attitude. For example, she believes college did nothing to break her out of her shell even though Hulga went through years of school to get her Ph. D in Philosophy. Mrs. Hopewell claims she can’t brag about her daughter being a philosopher because philosophy â€Å"ended with the Greeks and Romans†. On top of her school accomplishments, Mrs. Hopewell also finds a problem with Hulga’s name change. At the age of 21, Hulga got her official name changed from â€Å"Joy†, which obviously upset her mother as she believed that Hulga looked through the dictionary for the ugliest name imaginable; she even went as far as to say she â€Å"thought of the broad blankShow MoreRelated The Character of Hulga in Good Country People by Mary Flannery OConnor1024 Words   |  5 PagesThe Character of Hulga in Good Country People by Mary Flannery OConnor    By definition joy means a great feeling of pleasure and happiness. In Mary Flannery OConnors short story Good Country People, Joy Freeman was not at all joyful. Actually, she was the exact opposite. Joys leg was shot off in a hunting accident when she was ten. Because of that incident, Joy was a stout girl in her thirties who had never danced a step or had any normal good times. (OConnor 249). She had a woodenRead MoreFlannery OConner and the use of grotesque character in Good country people and a good man is hard to find1226 Words   |  5 Pagesleast, a character s emotional devastation. People have categorized O Connor s work as Southern Gothic (Walters 30). In Many of her short stories, A Good Man Is Hard To Find for example, Flannery O Connor creates grotesque characters to illustrate the evil in people. Written in 1953, A Good Man Is Hard To Find is one of O Connor s most known pieces of work and has received many awards. Throughout the story, you come across many twists and turns when you least expect it. A Good Man Is HardRead MoreMain Themes In Good Country People970 Words   |  4 PagesFlannery O’Connor is an American short story writer and her short story â€Å"Good Country People† depicts Hulga, a highly educated woman and has a PhD, is being jerked around by an immoral bible salesman. â€Å"A good man is hard to find†, also written by O’Connor, is a short story of a grandmother and her family murdered by a horrible man who called â€Å"the misfit† during the road trip to Florida. Although â€Å"Good country people† and â€Å"a good man is hard to find† are written by the same author, many elements in thoseRead MoreThemes Of Good Country People769 Words   |  4 Pages Flannery O’Connor’s short story â€Å"Good Country People† depicts Hulga, a highly educated woman and has a PhD, is being jerked around by an immoral bible salesman. â€Å"A good man is hard to find† is a story of a grandmother and her family murdered by a horrible man who called â€Å"the misfit† during the road trip. Although â€Å"Good country people† and â€Å"a good man is hard to find† are written by the same author, many elements in those two stories cause them have similar themes in religion, misplace trust andRead MoreIdentity In Good Country People1559 Words   |  7 PagesIdentity in Good Country People Characterization is the biggest component that helps build on the themes of identity in the short story â€Å"Good Country People† written by Flannery O’connor. The theme itself is dependent where as the characters are independent of each other. The characters behaviors build within each other. Firstly, the main character in this short story is thirty two year old Joy who is now known as Hulga. Her character is described as vulnerable to other people but in her eyes isRead MoreAnalysis Of The Story Cathedral By Raymond Carver Essay1137 Words   |  5 Pagesstories with characters who are very alike. In the short story â€Å"Cathedral† by Raymond Carver, the protagonist, Bub, has an unwanted visitor. Similarly, in the story â€Å"Everyday use† by Alice Walker, the character Dee visits her mother and sister, which turns into a very unpleasant encounter. Lastly, the main character, Hulga, in â€Å"Good Country People† by Flannery O’Connor, is deceived by her visitor, a bible salesman, Manely Pointer. In all three of these short stories, the central characters share similarRead MoreGood Country People Literary Analysis1739 Words   |  7 PagesErika Fuller â€Å"Good Country People† Flannery O’Connor’s dismissal of the outside world allows you to understand more of the symbolic quality of all of the active characters. Even the names she chooses for each character help her to establish their significance in the story. O’Connor uses symbolism, good versus evil and the psychological and physiological problems of the characters to create irony in â€Å"Good Country People†. O’Connor also uses Biblical parallels for inspiration to depict events inRead MoreGood Country People, by Flannery OConnor1499 Words   |  6 PagesThe Modernist South â€Å"Good Country People† is a short story written by the Modernist writer Flannery O’Connor. According to The Critics, â€Å"Good Country People† is a bildungsroman where the main character, Joy, experiences a brief journey that matures her view of the world. Joy or â€Å"Hulga† is a well educated, philosophical woman of thirty-two,but as the story begins, she is portrayed as an immature adult whose maturity level has been stunted due to a childhood accident that left her emotionally scarredRead MoreCry, The Beloved Country1710 Words   |  7 Pages Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country takes place during the late 1940’s in Southern Africa. Specifically, in High Place, Ndotsheni, and Johannesburg. It takes place during a time of social change. There is racial inequality taking place during the late 1940’s. The novel shows what it was like to be living during this time. Cry, the Beloved Country has an urban and crowded feeling for m ost of the novel. This novel is written in past-tense, third-person omniscient point of view. Occasionally, theRead MoreGood Country People By Flannery O Connor940 Words   |  4 PagesGood Country people. In â€Å"Good Country People† by Flannery O’Connor, he has many various characters. This specific short story is quite known for its irony within the story. The character’s name explain in vague terms there personality or even what they are not. Many of these characters can be seen in different ways but also be compared to one another. O’Connor gives significance in the characters names is contributed to what they do within the story. Let’s start with the main character in our