GOOD COUNTRY PEOPLE By: Ana Rojas-Labra, Monshea Murray, and Jeanette Ramirez

Author’s Background ◦ Flannery O’Connor ◦ Born: March 25, 1925 ◦ Death: August 03, 1964 ◦ Born in Savannah, Georgia. ◦ Graduated from University of Iowa. ◦ She was diagnosed with lupus, a disease that killed her father when she was young. ◦ Her stories shared similar themes such as good vs. evil, religion, violence, etc.

Author’s Other Works ◦ “The Geranium” – 1946: This story is about a man who moved to NYC at the request of his daughter. The family is from the south and the old man still holds on to his southern ways. ◦ “Wise Blood” – 1952: This story is about a man who lives in Tennessee and after coming home from the army, he decides he no longer wants to be a preacher because his opinion of Jesus has changed. ◦ “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” – 1955: This story is about a family going on a road trip and on the way they take a wrong turn. They flip the car into a ditch and are found by a serial killer who takes them one by one into the woods and kills them all. ◦ “Mystery and Manners” – 1969: This was mainly just a book of unpublished essays she left behind following her death.

Précis This story by Flannery O’Connor was a well-written short story about a girl names Joy/Hulga. Joy is an atheist who is thirty-two years old and still lives with her mother, Mrs. Hopewell. The Freemans are a couple of good country people that live with/work for Mrs. Hopewell. One day while they are about to have their dinner, a young bible salesman by the name of Manley Pointer comes to the house. He tells Mrs. Hopewell, “I don’t want to go to college. I want to devote my life to Christian Service. See, I got this heart condition. I may not live long.” After he tells her this she thinks of Joy and of her condition and then that leads to her meeting him. They talked the day they met and then decided to meet by the gate another day. When they meet up, he makes her feel special and they wind up kissing. They seduce one another and he ends up convincing her to take her artificial leg off. Everything becomes revealed and she learned that she had fallen into a trick when he runs off with her leg.

Setting ◦ A sort of slavery was acceptable within the time of this story.

Main Characters Joy/HulgaMrs. HopewellManley Pointer She lived with her mom and changed her name to Hulga because she felt like it fit her better. She had an artificial leg and a Ph. D in philosophy. She was Joy’s mom. They didn’t get along because they didn’t have the same opinions. He was the bible salesman. He created schemes to steal a special object from all his victims.

Point of View ◦ Third-person omniscient ◦ The author is the narrator of the story. ◦ He describes the thoughts and feelings of all the main characters. ◦ It is also in major character perspective. ◦ The story is subjective, since it is based on her personal views and is not fact-based.

Plot Structure ◦ Exposition  First two paragraphs introduce two of the three main characters, Mrs. Hopewell and Joy. ◦ Narrative Hook  When you find out Joy had an artificial leg and her mom still took care of her even though she was grown. -Conflict: Her and her mom argued whenever they were alone together because they didn’t agree on anything. -Conflict: Even though Joy had a Ph. D and was a very smart woman, her mother was still not proud of her. -Conflict: Mrs. Hopewell always talked about other girls in front of Joy which continued to lower her self-esteem. ◦ Climax  When Pointer gets her to take her leg off. ◦ Falling Action  When he confesses and runs away with her leg. ◦ Resolution  “Some can’t be that simple, I know I never could.”

Theme ◦ “Don’t judge a book by its cover” – This is a main theme in the story and can be used for any of the characters. This theme, for example, would suit Manley Pointer. When he first arrived at the Hopewell house, he was a nice looking guy simply looking to sell bibles. As the story goes on he is still a nice guy that seemed to like Joy until he showed his true colors. Then the reader noticed that instead of being a good, Christian boy he was a manipulator and stole from his victims.

Significant Quotes ◦ “Nothing is perfect” – Mrs. Hopewell: This fits with her style because in all of her stories, she always has a flawed character or theme. This story is ironic. ◦ “It takes all kinds to make the world” – Mrs. Hopewell: This says that different people are what make up an interesting world or story. (Manley Pointer or Joy/Hulga) ◦ “We won’t need the Bible” – Joy: This expresses her atheism. It showed how her beliefs were different.

Special Topics ◦ Irony: The story as a whole is ironic. The tenant farmer was named Mrs. “Free”man. The bible salesman RAN away with the LEG. Also the fact that he was a bible salesman and a thief. Joy wasn’t a joyful person, instead she was very depressed. ◦ Good vs. Evil: Each character had a duplicate personality mirrored in the story. Each action had an opposing force, whether positive or negative. (For example Joy had finally found someone to love and then he ran away with her leg.)