Her statements are so vague and evident that they are almost meaningless, except for expressing a general philosophy of resignation. The fact that she cannot recognize them as cliches show how little time she spends thinking about her beliefs. Just as Mrs. Hopewell seems to want to change the image of the Freemans in the image of her favorite platitudes, she also seems to want to change her daughter.
Manly is a mean and cunning man who uses people’s faith, impiously fleeces and deceives them. He is an unreasonable slippery deceiver, and the author shows that he saw in Hulga a creature that he caught. Hulga, being arrogant and full of pride, believes that she can show Manly the absolute truth, or at least the one she believes in. When Manly invites her to a picnic, she agrees because she thinks she can turn him away from God. Manley is keen to show her that only people who deny God with such arrogance as she does end up in pain. Like scientists and philosophers, Helga wants to be in control and always wants to be correct. She tries to control Manly and impose her beliefs on him. When he turns out to be the same as her, she loses control and gets punished. Manly and Hulga are not very good village people because they have turned away from God.
Hulga is one of the most ambiguous heroes of the work. Her name was Joy from birth, but she changed her name when she was 21. Hulga is a Doctor of Philosophy and has extensive knowledge, but her problem is that she is in poor health. At age 10, her leg was shot off while hunting, which affected her whole life. Hulga is isolated from a full-fledged society and “locked” in the same house with her mother. Hulga tries to demonstrate that she is an ardent atheist and rationalist with an iron will, but this lasts up to a certain point. Mrs. Hopewell reports that Hulga is “an atheist and won’t let me keep the Bible in the living room” (31). Sometimes a girl mentions God without noticing it and forgetting that she does not believe in him. Yet the Hulga is not devoid of faith; instead, she believes in “nothing” (115). Hulga has her vision of things, and this is what dictates her relationship with people. The bad relationship with the mother is aggravated by the presence of Mrs. Freeman, who is an example of a “good country person” for the mother.
In conclusion, each character in the word “Good Country People” written by Flannery O’Connor is remarkable and outstanding. Each demonstrates contradictions and shows that they are not what they seem at first glance. The main characters of Mrs. Hopewell, Hulga, Manly Pointer, and Mrs. Freeman appear at the beginning of the work as the most ordinary people living in the village, but throughout the work, they reveal themselves from the other side, more often from the negative. Mrs. Hopewell evaluates people according to their social status, no one likes Mrs. Freeman, but Mrs. Hopewell considers her and her family “good people.” Manly Pointer portrays a highly moral person, although this is not the case, and although Hulga is a deeply educated person and an atheist, she reveals herself as a believer and a girl forced to live in isolation. The work is ironic and makes fun of the fact that people may not be who they are trying to pretend to be.
Work Cited
O’Connor, Flannery. Good Country People. Cambridge, 1955.