In Flannery O’Connor’s short story “good country People,” Hulga’s arrogance, bitterness, and rebelliousness contribute to her inability to get along with others. Her superior attitude and atheist bent combine to make Hulga a person with few redeeming qualities but an easy target for deception disguised behind a simple mind. It is Hulga’s arrogance towards other less educated than she, in the end, which prevents her from seeing through the fraud of a dishonest man. Hulga’s arrogance is displayed from the beginning of “Good Country People”.
Her mother’s tenant family, the Freemans, have a pair of daughters. Although Glynese and Carramae are “two of the nicest girls she knew” (page 165) according to Mrs. Hopewell, Hulga refers them to by the derogatory nicknames of Glycerin and Caramel since she clearly thinks herself intellectually superior. Hulga has a doctorate degree from a university and often reminds her mother that were it not been for her heart problems “she would be far from these red hills and good country people” (page 168) which she considers far beneath her.
In fact, Hulga wants nothing to do with her humble surroundings, declaring that she doesn’t like animals or things in nature or even young men, who blatantly display their general stupidity. O’Connor sets up this description of Hulga to foreshadow the character’s reaction when she meets Manley Pointer and “thinks of it as a great joke” (page 173) upon agreeing to meet him for a picnic. Mrs.
The Term Paper on Critical analysis of Good Country People by Flannery O’ Connor
Good Country People is one of the most sought after works of Flannery O’ Connor. It is said to be the biography of O’Connor but she never claimed it to be such. The novel Good Country People seems to reflect the current situation and emotional status of O’ Connor while she was writing the novel, and if it is not in fact her biography, her emotion at that time has influenced the novel greatly. ...
Hopewell’s physical description of her daughter as “constant outrage…obliterated every expression from her face” (page 166) clearly demonstrates the effect of Hulga’s bitter attitude and she constantly reminds the girl her face would be much more attractive with a smile. While her mother feels obligated to care for the girl after the unfortunate accident which took her leg, Hulga has rescinded her belief in God and does not allow Mrs. Hopewell to keep a bible in the parlor.
She is unrepentant and unrelenting in her bitterness. Hulga has lost so much of her life to this quality and the threat of her medical condition that she feels compelled to lie to Manley Pointer about her age, telling him she is 17 instead of the 32 years she’s actually lived. Hulga is rebellious against the society of which she disapproves as well as her own mother. She looks down on Mrs. Hopewell and her desire to find “good country people” (page 166) with which to associate.
Impressed to walk the fields with her mother, Hulga manages to make it as uncomfortable as possible with “remarks…so ugly and her face so glum”. Hulga smugly responds that that she is merely being herself and this is what her mother gets for asking her to come along. Hulga feels triumphant in legally changing her name into one so ugly that “her mother had not been able to turn her dust into Joy” (page 167).
She continues to rebel against convention, eagerly accompanying Manley Pointer for a rare opportunity to speak with him regarding what she feels are philosophical subjects.
Of course it is this rebelliousness that allows him to take advantage of her. Hulga and her mean spirit, arrogance, bitterness and rebelliousness are the perfect combination to be brought down by a simple con man who need do nothing more than show a bit of interest in the reclusive girl. Through O’Connor’s characterization the author retells the moral of the fabled tortoise and hare and reminds the reader of the pitfalls of arrogance.
