Hulga Hopewell of "Good Country People" is a unique character in O'Connor's fictional world. Although O'Connor uses the intellectual, or the pseudo-intellectual, in one of her novels and in seven of her short stories, Hulga is the only female in the bunch. Her gender, however, does not keep her from suffering the common fate of all the other O'Connor intellectuals. In every instance, the intellectual comes to realize that his belief in his ability to control his life totally, as well as control those things which influence it, is a faulty belief.
This story is divided into four rather distinct sections which help emphasize the relationships between the four central characters. By dividing the story into four loosely distinct sections, O'Connor …show more content…
In order to allow the reader to develop a degree of genuine sympathy for Hulga, O'Connor places her in an environment which would appall any sensitive person. Hulga is in constant contact with a vain but simple-minded mother and an apparently simple-minded but shrewd hired woman. Mrs. Hopewell survives in a self-made world of illusion, isolating herself from the real world by mouthing pseudo-philosophical, clichéd maxims which only isolate her further from her daughter who has a Ph.D. in philosophy.
Included in Mrs. Hopewell's repertoire of "good country" philosophy are such old standards as "You're the wheel behind the wheel," "It takes all kinds to make the world," and "Everybody is different." But, significantly, Mrs. Hopewell cannot reconcile herself to a daughter who is "different," despite the fact that Mrs. Hopewell can sound as though she has an all-accepting, catholic compassion. In fact, Mrs. Hopewell would probably sum up her inability to understand her daughter-with-a-Ph.D. by saying, "She's brilliant, but she doesn't have a grain of sense." Consequently, Mrs. Hopewell considers Hulga's acts of rebellion to be little more than pranks of an immature …show more content…
Freeman, whom Hulga's mother idealizes as an example of "good country people." Hulga's mother naively believes in the absolute goodness of "good country people"; she believes that if a person can hire good country people, "you had better hang onto them." O'Connor, however, does not depict Mrs. Freeman as an example of "good country people."
On the contrary, Mrs. Freeman is depicted as a fairly shrewd woman who is capable of "using" Mrs. Hopewell's blindness to reality, just as Manley Pointer will later "use" Hulga's blindness to reality for his own selfish advantage. In fact, Mrs. Hopewell is so blind to reality that she believes that she can "use" Mrs. Freeman. She has heard that Mrs. Freeman always wants to "be into everything"; that being the case, Mrs. Hopewell believes that she can counter this character defect by putting Mrs. Freeman "in charge." We know, of course, that Mrs. Freeman is no fool when it comes to
This story is divided into four rather distinct sections which help emphasize the relationships between the four central characters. By dividing the story into four loosely distinct sections, O'Connor …show more content…
In order to allow the reader to develop a degree of genuine sympathy for Hulga, O'Connor places her in an environment which would appall any sensitive person. Hulga is in constant contact with a vain but simple-minded mother and an apparently simple-minded but shrewd hired woman. Mrs. Hopewell survives in a self-made world of illusion, isolating herself from the real world by mouthing pseudo-philosophical, clichéd maxims which only isolate her further from her daughter who has a Ph.D. in philosophy.
Included in Mrs. Hopewell's repertoire of "good country" philosophy are such old standards as "You're the wheel behind the wheel," "It takes all kinds to make the world," and "Everybody is different." But, significantly, Mrs. Hopewell cannot reconcile herself to a daughter who is "different," despite the fact that Mrs. Hopewell can sound as though she has an all-accepting, catholic compassion. In fact, Mrs. Hopewell would probably sum up her inability to understand her daughter-with-a-Ph.D. by saying, "She's brilliant, but she doesn't have a grain of sense." Consequently, Mrs. Hopewell considers Hulga's acts of rebellion to be little more than pranks of an immature …show more content…
Freeman, whom Hulga's mother idealizes as an example of "good country people." Hulga's mother naively believes in the absolute goodness of "good country people"; she believes that if a person can hire good country people, "you had better hang onto them." O'Connor, however, does not depict Mrs. Freeman as an example of "good country people."
On the contrary, Mrs. Freeman is depicted as a fairly shrewd woman who is capable of "using" Mrs. Hopewell's blindness to reality, just as Manley Pointer will later "use" Hulga's blindness to reality for his own selfish advantage. In fact, Mrs. Hopewell is so blind to reality that she believes that she can "use" Mrs. Freeman. She has heard that Mrs. Freeman always wants to "be into everything"; that being the case, Mrs. Hopewell believes that she can counter this character defect by putting Mrs. Freeman "in charge." We know, of course, that Mrs. Freeman is no fool when it comes to