Good Country People Analysis

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Review “Good Country People” Flannery O'Connor story “Good Country People,” is a story that captures one by usage of symbolism, characterization and irony; warning people life is not pointless and human values are not worthless. Joy/Hulga is the dual-named main character that goes through a complete change throughout the story. She changes her name from Joy to Hulga, an “ugly” (171) name, to reflect her feelings about her injured body and mind. As the name is the contradictory of her real name Joy; as is her personality. The impact of Joy remaining conscious even though terribly injured as a child; when her ”…leg had been literally blasted off;” (172)indicates that Joy seems to have rejected her own body by choosing a life of intelligence.…show more content…
To those around her, Hugla’s facial expressions are one of “constant outrage” (170) and she is blinded “by an act of will." (170) Mrs. Hopewell, confident that Joy/Hulga would have been better without a worthless, “Ph.D. in philosophy;” (173) has no comprehension of the true meaning, of life to her daughter. In one of Hugla’s books, Mrs. Hopewell found the following passage underlined by blue pencil; “Science, on the other hand, has to assert its soberness and seriousness afresh and declare that it is concerned solely with what-is. Nothing – how can it be for science anything but a horror and a phantasm? If science is right, then one thing stands firm: science wishes to know nothing of nothing…” (173) This statement reflects the views of Nietzsche, a philosopher who argued that atheism is an intellectual triumph over Christianity. Signifying Hulga’s atheism, supported by the fact she will not let her mother keep a “family Bible in the parlor” (174) thus, she has no reason to be polite. In reference to a superficial remark made by her mother she hollers, "We are not our own light” (172) showing; she believes there is no purpose in life. Mrs. Hopewell, confident that Hulga would have been better without a worthless “Ph.D. in philosophy,” (173) has no comprehension of the true meaning of life to her
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