Thesis Statement: In Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Good Country People,” the expulsion of the outside world allows for more emphasis on the symbolic nature of each of the active characters.
I. The Kitchen
A. Introduction of the characters
B. Symbolic use of names in Free.man and Hope.well
C. Introduction of the outside world
II. The Bible Salesman
A. The façade of names
B. The absence of other men
C. Separation from the Outside world
III. The Barn Loft
A. Opening the gate for failure
B. Scaling the ivory tower
C. Widening the scope from detail to general
In the short story “Good Country People,” by Flannery O’Connor the world is made smaller in order to look with great scrutiny at the players of this game of life. There is very little going on of consequence in the action plot, but massive movement in the character arc. In order to achieve this O’Connor focuses in on the key personality traits of the characters. The narrator first introduces two families of social classes that are stratified by money, yet paralleled in some ways. Mrs. Hopewell, a widowed mother of an adult child, lives in a neatly circumscribed life of documented social correctness. Her daughter Hulga, whom has changed her name from Joy, lives with her mother in only a physical sense. She sees herself as above the country by virtue of a higher education. In this case, a PhD in Philosophy which frightens her mother and does nothing to alleviate her self imposed confinement in the rural setting. Mrs. and Mr. Freeman are introduced with their daughters Glynese, and Caramae. Of the four only Mrs. Freeman is seen in the story as a participate, the others used as a means to further the argument of sound common sense and hearth wisdom. Example of these are the discussions of marriage in the church vs. the courthouse, chiropractic care for a sty, and the eating of prunes to alleviate cramping.
The symbolism of the chosen names is clear, and O’Connor places a great deal of emphasis on them. For example, Hulga’s choice of shifting from Joy to a name which reminds her of Vulcan is discussed at some length. After loosing her leg at the age of ten, and remaining aware for the entire episode, she is stripped of the capacity for Joy, and Hope both. The Freeman name is a direct play on the status of the family as tenant farmers, as while Mrs. Freeman may come in and rest her elbow on the refrigerator as she likes, the family is certainly not free, nor will they ever enjoy the social or financial freedom of the Hopewells. This last name is likewise given a dual meaning. Mrs. Hopewell in simply incapable of doing less than assuming all is well that ends well. The bible salesman even alludes to a direct play on the family name as he jokes “I hope you are well!” The introduction of the bible salesman, Manley Pointer, is in and of itself another play on the use of names as symbolic meaning. This is evidenced by the very phallic nature of the name and his sole representation of the male gender as an active character. Manley’s presence is the first and only physical arrival of the outside community in the Hopewell home.The rest of the social interactions with others are kept at great distance. The phone conversation with the previous employer of the Freeman’s, Hulga’s university, even the “…Negros back in there,” which Mrs. Hopewell assumes he’s been selling bibles to when he departs with Hulga’s wooden leg, are kept outside of the action.
When Manley and Hulga sneak away from the sanctity of the home to rendezvous on the road outside, it is toyed with as a pseudo reintroduction for Hulga to the outside world, but the eminent disaster is explicated in the symbolism. She wears a shirt of white that has been stained, and he wears a hat that is too large, emphasizing the idea of a boy playing at being a man. As they progress in their walk, Hulga becomes more and more self confident about her intellectual superiority. They ascend in their actions from sloppy kisses to intimacy that is more serious even as they rise upwards in the barn, on the ladder.
This serves as a metaphor for Hulga’s climb into the ivory tower, and her inability to deny a challenge out of sheer spite for her physical condition. There is no elegance in her didactic lecturing throughout the work, or to the way in which she presumes to be Manley’s better. The isolation of the location serves the young man’s purpose, to ‘collect’ her wooden leg, and steal away with it for his own purposes, but also serves O’Connor’s purpose of thematic isolation of Hulga and the others from one another and society as a whole. The importance of the symbolism in the work can only be sustained with this minimalist approach, allowing the reader to connect for themselves the broader scope of intention.
