“Good Country People”, the 1955 short story written by Flannery O’Connor, delves on the lives of Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter, Joy or Hulga, their maidservant Mrs. Freeman, and the Bible salesman, Manley Pointer. What is especially observable in this story is the use of irony and conflict to convey O’Connor’s thematic appeals, which center on deception, rebellion and sexual manipulation. As such, despite of Hulga’s high educational background she still seems naïve to life’s harsh realities, in that Manley is able to deceive her using his manly charms to eventually steal Hulga’s prosthetic legs. In this respect, it can be said that O’Connor’s use of irony and conflict is aimed at revealing to the readers’ the human tendency to deceive and manipulate others to suit one’s own goals, which often times are vested in selfish interests.
It is clear that Hulga exhibits a conflict against her mother, as evidenced by her changing of her name from Joy to Hulga. Joy states this when she admits “She had the vision of the name working like the ugly sweating Vulcan who stayed in the furnace” (O’Connor 2). More so, this name-change may be a way of Hulga to conceal her intellectual nature, by having an ugly name to contradict her educational degree. This is supported by the tenet that women often “used a variety oftacticsconsidered to be deceptivethat concealed or amplified certain features” (Haselton et al. 5). Hence, Joy’s change to Hulga itself is not an innocent move, but a deliberate attempt to gain superiority with her conflict with her mother.
Aside from conflict, irony is also employed by O’Connor to forward his intended themes. This is especially observable on how despite of Hulga’s supposed high intellect, she still fell prey to Manley’s covert goal of stealing her prosthetic leg in the guise of love and sexual desire. This is clearly expressed by Manley in the lines, “And I’ll tell you another thing, Hulgayou ain’t so smart” (O’Connor 9), after he had consummated his theft and left Hulga helpless on the roof of the barn. More so, it is apparent that there is irony on how sexual acts are portrayed in the story, so much so that instead of Hulga receiving something in return for her kisses, it was actually Manley who got a commodity from the sexual act. This irony indeed contradicts the tenet that “Women will receive other valued goods in return for their sexual favors” (Baumeister and Vohs 341).
The short story in discussion reveals how O’Connor uses irony and conflict to show that deception, rebellion and sexual manipulation are present in the plot, which is observable in the characters of Hulga and her mother, and Manley. In these respect, the author is successful in showing that human beings are inclined to exploit situations in order to achieve their aims. This is true on how Hulga had changed her name to rebel against her mother, and how Manley used the former’s sexual inexperience to accomplish his hidden agenda. [500 Words]
Works cited
Baumeister, Roy, and Vohs, Kathleen. “Sexual Economics: Sex as Female Resource for Social Exchange in Heterosexual Interactions.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 8.4 (2004): 339-363. Print.
Haselton, Martie, Buss, David, Oubaid, Viktor, and Angleitner, Alois. “Sex, Lies and Strategic Inference: The Psychology of Deception Between the Sexes.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 31.1 (2005): 3-23. Print.
O’Connor, Flannery. “Good Country People.” (1955). Print.
