Good Country People
Essay Preview: Good Country People
Report this essay
OConnors ” Good Country People ” is a story about the relationship between main character Joy who changes her name later and her mother Mrs. Hopewell, also people surrounding them. The other important characters are Mrs. Freeman who is hired by Mrs. Hopewell and Manley Pointer who deceits Joy by pretending “good country people”.
All four character have different personality and distinct feeling about the others, may be some of them are misunderstanding or completely prejudice or insult, scorn, disrespect
I think that the relationships between each people are literally superficial, since even mother and child dont know well each other, the mother even does not tries to under stand, for instance when Mrs. Hopewell finds Joys philosophy book in her room, she feels ” it seemed to her ” an evil incantation in gibberish” In this story, the distance between them can be inferred from some their action, attitude, conversation. Even in the end of the story, she never understand about Joy and still trust real an real evil ” Manley Pointer.
What about Mrs. Freeman? How does she play around and affect Joys life? I think her role in this story is an evil like Manley Pointer does. She is sort of gossip, noisy and enjoys personal pleasure such as calling Joy the name she chose, although her mother never call. She has strange interests, this is actually reason why she calls Joy the name” Hulga”, she is intrigued by Joys wooden leg.
Mrs. Hopewell is an optimist and incapable of understanding her child. I think she is naпve and superficial. I think she is a typical southern woman who has a hospitality to anybody, this idea come from when she invited Manley Pointer, a stranger in to dinner.
She absolutely feels superior to Manley Pointer, OConnor write that ” he may be the salt of the earth but she obviously thinks she is better than he is” This exemplifies her arrogance,