Literacy Analysis of the “Good Country People”
O’Connor the author of the short story “Good Country People” commences the story by giving us an insight of the main characters of the story, Mrs. Hopewell, Mrs. Freeman and Joy- Hulga. Mrs. Hopewell is a long divorced woman and mother to the Hulga, Mrs. Freeman is their employee and she is paid to help around the house and the farm. We see the noisy nature of Mrs. Freeman which her employer Mrs. Hopewell was well aware of even before she employed. Since Mrs. Hopewell considers Mrs. Freeman and her husband as “good country people” she does not mind her loud behavior, infact they are always gossiping especially while in the kitchen. Mrs. Freeman is always talking about her two daughters, Glysneses and Carramae; she talks about how normal and happy they are, Glysness is 18years old and has so many men trying to woe her, Carramae is 15 years old and already married and pregnant.
We later learn the Hulga holds a PhD in philosophy, as a result she feels very intellectually superior even above her mother, and in fact she does not thin that anyone can understand her genius nature. But all is not bread and butter for Hulga, she sufferers from a weak heart condition and is not expected to live past the age of 45, in addition she has an amputated leg which has bees replaced with an artificial wooden leg, she lost her leg at the age of 10 when her father accidentally shot her in a hunting expedition. At the age of 21 she changed her name from Joy to Hulgo, probably due to the lack of joy for losing her leg or to annoy her name who considers the name ugly and can hardly call her daughter by name. Mrs. Hopewell often claims that her daughter’s high learning is a result of her lack of faith in God, Hugo does not believe in God.
Having learnt the mannerisms of the three characters, O’Connor introduces a male character, Manley Pointer into the Hopewell household, although the story begins the morning after his visit; O’Connor gives a flashback of his visit the previous night. He had approached the Hopewell household as 19 year old “Bible seller”, with him is an large black valise which apparently is carrying bibles, he describes himself as a poor genuine “good country boy”, Mrs. Hopewell is so charmed by Manley’s simplicity and invites him for dinner in stating that “good people are the salt of earth”. He claims that he has a heart disease and that is why he preferred not to go to college but instead dedicate his life to good Christian deeds. Mrs. Hopewell is moved by the supposed heart condition as she relates with her daughters weak heart. Manley goes on to talk about his poor background, all this while Hulgo remains silent and there is no exchange of word between them. Its only when Manley is leaving that they have a private conversation with Hulgo, he asks her out for a picnic date for the following day.
The next morning is characterized by gossips in the kitchen by Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman who are curious to know what Hulgo was told by Manley, Hulgo finds them gossiping and when the two women bring up the topic, and she storms out to her bedroom. Its here that O’Connor leads us to Hulgo’s mind and we learn that during the night all she could think of was the date and how she could seduce Manley with her intellectual thoughts, she claims “true genius can get across even to an inferior mind” how wrong she is! Apparently Manley is a lousy con who is just out to trick Hulgo, upon their meeting Manley seduces her, lavishing her with fond kisses and sweet words.
Manley is able to get through her mind, he comments on her artificial leg but realizes she is not enjoying the discussion and changes the topic to religion, and he talks of how he is such a believer. Hulgo on the other hand admits she does not believe in God. After a series of intimacy, Manley is able to convince Hulgo to remove the artificial leg which he puts in his briefcase, leaving her very vulnerable, keep in mind they had climbed up a loft. It is here that we learn the true character of Manley, he reveals the contents of his valise, containing a box of condoms, wine and pornographic cards, he even threatens to rape Hulgo. She is shocked at the realization of how wrong she has been and exclaims “Aren’t you just good country people?” to which Manley responds, “Yea but it ain’t held me back none.” He tells her that he goes deceiving people and stealing from them, this is before taking off, leaving her helpless on top of the loft , he tells her that “you aint so smart. I been believing in nothing ever since I was born!”
O’Connor’s story has so much to learn, one lesson is that we should never judge a book by its cover. It is Mrs. Hopewell’s superficial judgment of “good people “that leads to her daughter’s misery, she has the false illusion that good people are religious, simple and poor, this is however not always the case. People come in good forms so as to deceit those who are naive, again the story teaches that intellectual wits are not everything and that more wisdom is gained through life’s lessons, despite Hulgo’s PhD she is tricked by a boy who probably never went to school. The three female characters have different forms of shallowness and this becomes a weakness to be used by their enemies. I also like O’Connor’s use of symbolism, particularly in assigning characters names. Mrs. Hopewell as the name may suggest is a woman full of hope and tries to see the good in everything, Manley even makes a light comment about her name “Hope you are well”. Mrs. Freeman is also very carefree as suggested by her name, this is portrayed by her noisiness and the way she lets her self free in the Hopewell’s household. Again Manley is used to portray some form of male chauvinism that men use to manipulate women. Biggest lesson to carry from this story is that “Not All That Glitters is Gold”