Good Book Review On Good Country People By Flannery Oconnor

Based on the nature of countryside people, the story is set to clearly distinguish them from the urban people who are modernized and composed. Connor inputs various characters, Hulga serving as the main character to emphasize on the four sections that the author divides the story into and to show the role of the four central characters. He focuses his main theme on intellectual of country people who end up suffering the same fate no matter the degree of intellect. Basically, the story implies that people are not what they really think they are nor are they what they appear to be on the outside, no matter the social class. The author uses religion to show the controversies that surround it from different people in the society and how people can take advantage of religion to obtain what they really want. However, Connor incorporates vast language devices to extrapolate her short story and focuses on social theme (class struggle) as I have discussed below.
The choice of character’s name by Connor depicts what she intends to put across the story, for example, “Hopewell” to imply “hope well”. The name is shared by Hulga, the main character, and Mrs. Freeman, her mother. The two females are hopeful in every event and believe that in anything that they do they can still achieve it. Contrary to their believe; both of them show different character to what they actually have faith in and in one way, or another they end up acting blind to the real world itself. They end up have misconception about the world itself and fail to understand that the world is a mixture of good and bad. Despite Hulga having a PhD in philosophy and her mother being a society conformist, they have equal belief, and they are hopeful every dawn and rely on hope for a positive change in life. Country side people are often associated with lower social class than the urban people, who always depend on hope to have a better life every dawn. Despite Hulga using an artificial leg from the age of ten, she studies hard to a higher level hoping to change the environment around her. She eventually gets back home, stay with her mother who has developed fear because of the education level of her daughter but still does nothing to alleviate her built up imposition for rural setting.
Connor uses symbolism to insist on the names of the “Hopewell’s” family meant to imply the activities they partake in the course of their living andreturn show the freedom struggle this social class undergoes. Connor clearly chooses the names, for example, Hulga changing her name to Joy that is meant to remind her the Vulcan as discussed in the short story. This comes as a result of losing her leg, and she is always aware of it and reaps her hope and joy. Hulga lacks the freedom she longs for, especially when Mrs. Freeman is around her, who is always talking and makes it difficult for Hulga and her mother to express themselves while she is around. Mrs. Freeman name is used to imply the social status of a slightly upper class family, who are the family of royal tents. This is shown through Mrs. Freeman who is free while in the Hopewell’s family and does anything she feels like as if it was her own home. She goes to the extent of placing her elbows on top of the refrigerator as she wishes with no hindrance whatsoever. With this, the story portrays the Hopewell’s family as a family that will never enjoy social freedom nor financial freedom. Class struggle to obtain their own freedom is always suppressed when the powerful or rich or people from slightly higher class are around them.
In the light of Connor, she depicts countryside people as people whom rarely interact with people, since they struggle to maintain their own level and keep a distance as much as possible form people who are not close to them. The story portrays social interaction as a minor activity of the “low social class” people who try to hide their struggles or rather fear what outsiders might perceive about them or do to them. This is shown through the Bible salesman who Connor uses symbolism to describe him through his name and the role he puts out in the story, Manley Pointer. The sales person is said to be the first person outside the community, which Freeman is conversant with, and she does not welcome him quite likely and warming as the inside community. The story explains how Mrs. Freeman keeps a distance with such people. From this, symbolism has been used to show social class interactions and differ according to class. The worries of this class being perceived wrong or being harmed by the outside people is proved right when the salesperson depart with Hulga’s wooden leg leaving her partly paralyzed. The low level are oppressed by the higher level, which is the reason behind their restricted interactions with people especially with the powerful or richer.
Through the characters, the short story uses metaphor to incorporate the perception of the “low class level” people in the society by themselves or other people. This is meant to make the reader understand how the poor perceive themselves to be and how they can easily be manipulated to change their thinking. This is shown through Hulga, who is easily manipulated by the bible salesperson, Manley Pointer, and is shown the “outside world” once she stroll the streets outside her home with the boy who pretends to be man enough. Despite her studies outside the country side still she does not learn the outside world enough and does not understand her intelligence level still. Initially, Hulga had low self-esteem but, after getting intimate with Manley, she ironically understands the “outside world” through a boy who is just a bible seller yet she has a PhD in philosophy. Afterward, she becomes confident of her intellectual superiority. She pictures herself at a higher ladder level and serves as a metaphor showing her ability to achieve in life despite her physical condition.
Connor uses this metaphor to depict how the “countryside” people can be easily manipulated due to their social status, which marks the reason behind Manley taking advantage of Hulga’s physical condition, manipulate her emotions, and he runs away with the wooden artificial leg for his own purpose. The countryside people, despite their interactions with the outside world, they have to be manipulated to see the essence of the activities they did quite early in life. They are manipulated to view things differently, such as their role in the society at large.
Manley’s action of taking advantage of Hulga’s condition and running away with the wooden leg is symbolic of the “low class level” people, who are the good people of the countryside, who are isolated by people at large and people look for them, interact with them when they want to take advantage of them.
Connor uses comic sense in explaining the class struggles that country side people undergo with an aim of achieving the same people from modernized people. She depicts this through the mode of dressing of Hulga and her mother. As much as Hulga thinks that her mother dresses less modern, her mother also thinks otherwise and believes that Hulga is still a child who dresses like a six-year old kid. Conflict between the two shows their differences in a comical way, where both try to judge a person through outside appearance and perceive them wrong when it is actually not the case. Mrs. Hopewell is comfortable with her dressing, and as much as Hulga is against it she does not dress any better despite her interaction with the outside world. Also, Mrs. Hopewell is not proud of her daughter’s intelligence superiority, instead; she thinks she has done something that does not conform her to the community and only the Greek or Romans have done it. Basically, her thoughts about her child are biased and makes her perceive her child as someone who does what the outside society does which should not be the case. This has a comic sense, since, education to a higher level is always pride that a parent should take pride in. however, the struggle of Hulga to attain a higher level of education like the modernized earns her nothing in the society eventually.
The use of sarcasm is shown in the entire story, which further explains class struggle and the challenges people from the same social class level face within themselves. For example Hulga and her mother are always in contradicting opinion about Mrs. Freeman’s daughters. Mrs. Hopewell believes that Mrs. Freeman is the best due to her “great” personality since she can introduce her to her friends without despising her for her social class. On the other hand, Hulga thinks that Mrs. Freeman and her children are pathetic, and she ends up hating every moment Freeman is around her. Hopewell ends up liking other children yet her child yearns for a mother’s love. Hulga’s statement, “If you want me, here I am” is sarcastic and was just a way to drift the attention of her mother from Freeman’s daughters. With this, her mother only thinks that a smile would make their relationship better. She says, “A smile never hurt anything”, which in the real case the two have to sit down and settle their differences.
Hulga is an attention seeker and portrays the real image of “low class level” who would like to be realized and appreciated in the society. Hulga’s study of philosophy leads to controversies, she studies to be realized. In the end, her mother does not appreciate her effort. She focuses on other people on a higher social class which makes Hulga rebellious and seek attention every time from her mother. Despite her philosophy study, she is an atheist, and she does not participate like a person who totally understands religion, but a person who critically analyses the society and struggles to make it her own way which can be translated to attention seeking.
In conclusion, the short story brings out different themes that revolve around countryside people. The title of the short story makes the reader perceive that countryside people are good, but once the reader focuses on the story it is worth noting that they are not what people actually think. With them, there lie many controversies and differences that make them differ and do not unify. Instead, they struggle to live according to others ending up lured into poor decisions and live according to other people’s standards.