Good Country People Character Analysis

Dr. Brown
10/16/13
Essay #2 English 102
Flannery O’Connor and the Fighting of Inner Evils in 2 Stories Whether we believe in God or not, our image of God is of a supernatural being that is all-knowing, has a certain amount of control over the way life works, and is perfect. The characteristics that accompany the word “evil” contradict the perfection that goes along with our image of God. As stated in many different religious texts, we all have internal evils or struggles and must face them or get through them in order to reach salvation and God. In many religious texts, it is also stated that our trials often times define our faith in God. Many writers portray character’s tribulations in order to overcome their inner evils. Flannery
In “Good Country People” there is secular grotesqueness along with physical grotesqueness. Not every character is evil and the majority of the evil is dealt with as internal conflict rather than external. All characters in the story “Good Country People” are well educated. Mrs. Hopewell owns a farm that the Freeman family rents out and helps run. Mrs. Hopewell in O’Conner’s “Good Country People” rejects God by showing a lack of interest in purchasing a Bible and is oblivious to the world (O’Connor, Flannery). While Mrs. Hopewell turns down the opportunity to buy the Bibles Bible salesman Manley Pointer is selling, she goes onto believing that he is “good country people” and invites him to a family dinner where Mrs. Hopewell’s atheist daughter Hulga meets him and desires seducing him (O’Conner, Flannery). Hulga has a prosthetic leg, replacing a leg she lost in a childhood accident. Pointer invites Hulga on a picnic where he persuades her to remove her prosthetic leg and reveals that he is a nihilistic atheist and collects prosthetics. Mrs. Hopewell is a secular grotesque and is largely materialistic and is oblivious to the world and to God because she cares more about her farm and reputation rather than the Word of God and discerning who is good and who is evil. If it were not for Mrs. Hopewell’s oblivion, she would not have thought of Pointer as “good country
In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner, the characters of the Grandmother and the Misfit are juxtaposed in order to show contrast in the ways that a person can be evil. In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the Grandmother is highly materialistic and superficial and speaks of the Misfit, an escaped convicted killer headed for Florida, which is the same state that they are going to for their vacation. She hides her beloved cat in the car and dresses in her Sunday best so that even if she dies, people will know she died “a lady” (O’Connor, Flannery). Ironically enough the cat jumps out of the basket and jumps onto her son Bailey’s neck, causing an accident. When the Grandmother signals for help, she ironically enough signals the Misfit’s car and exclaims that she recognizes him. While the Misfit’s accomplices kill the family, the Misfit himself shoots the Grandmother after she refers to how he should believe in Jesus—making him extremely angry since he dislikes Jesus. While the Grandmother portrayed the image of the perfect Southern Christian lady, she was lying to herself and living out the image for the sake of reputation. The Grandmother’s dishonesty and materialistic ways are shown in her hiding the cat in the car and the importance she gives to what she is wearing and how people view her, ironically resulting in her death in her “Sunday best” (O’Connor, Flannery). The Misfit is spiritually