Flannery O'Conners "Good Country People"

Love and friendship can make a wonderful story but why not add a twist of mistrust and deceit. That's what Flannery O'conner did in "Good Country People." By doing this she communicated her theme that people aren't always what them seem. The Irony of the characters and what they symbolize exaggerates the theme very well.

The way the characters were developed showed their diversity in "Good Country People". Hulga had a degree in philosophy which made her believe that she was smarter than everyone else because she had learned more than they had. But in all actuality she was not, this was proven by the good ol' bible salesman who was supposed to be honest and good and he was making a living by selling family bibles to country people. He started courting Hulga and when he won her over they met one afternoon for a walk. During this walk both their true colors began to shine through. After being led on a not so unplanned walk through the woods. Hulga was humiliated when the conniving salesman wanted to have sex with her but when she denied him he took her wooden leg. Which showed her to be naive and fragile.

Through wooden legs and bibles symbolism comes through strongly. Hulga as a child lost her leg and the doctors gave her a wooden prosthetic leg as a replacement. This wooden leg props up its own symbolism throughout the story as well as it props up Hulga. She believed she needed no help throughout life. With her believe or non-believe rather, she has the notion she needs no family, no God, and no support. But really deep down she needs all of it. The leg physically support's Hulga her whole life. When she has her wooden leg stolen from her by the bible salesman she realizes she had the support she needed all along, but until now when she loses one sort of support, does she know she needs the others as well. The Bible is also a big symbol in this story. The Holy Bible represents good and truth in the world. The Bible salesman pushes this in his sales pitch, but to