Character analysis of joy hulga 915 words bartleby. She cares for her daughter, partly in the hope that hulga will live to see fortyfive, but also because hulga is a joy to have, or so hopewell would insist. Hopewell did not like the idea that joy would change her name into something as hideous as hulga. Get an answer for why does hulga agree to meet with manley pointer. The name joy did not reflect joy freemans personality or appearance. She is a thirtytwoyear old, welleducated woman who has done little with her life beyond reading and writing.
Oconnor named each person purposefully based on how the character views himherself. She is described as having no bad qualities of her own but she was able to use other peoples in such a constructive way that she never felt the lack. Such is after all the strictly scientific approach to nothing. In flannery oconnors short story, good country people, joyhulga has independence in her leg because it is the only thing that she is able to control, but when. Free essays on character analysis joy hulga hopewell. The faith that a person has in hisher religion and the existence of god, provides himher with the strength to face the numerous obstacles in hisher life. Joys character is, albeit deeply afflicted, possessing of a human condition toward morality. Introduction in good country people, o conners relates the title to a characteristic common to the characters. Explain where she started and where she ended uphow has she been changed by this experience. Hopewell and joy hulga assumed that manly was a decent man, making them fall blindly to his tricks.
The circumstances, in which hulga led her life, influenced her. Hopewell s name is a pun on the breezy outlook she has of the world. It also implies that the people being labeled this way are somehow simpler and less sophisticated than mrs. Hopewells daughter, lumbers around the house and stomps into the kitchen one morning while the two women talk. In flannery oconnors good country people, the character hulga is a person that wants to maintain control in every aspect of her life good or bad.
This analysis of flannery oconnors short story considers the interconnectivity between author and work while examining issues of identity in both the main character, joy hulga hopewell, and in. Although oconnor uses the intellectual, or the pseudointellectual, in one of her novels and in seven of her short stories, hulga is the only female in the bunch. Good country people literary analysis essay example. The character of hulga in good country people by mary flannery oconnor by definition joy means a great feeling of pleasure and happiness. In the short story good country people, flannery oconnor utilizes the character joy hopewell to expose how believing in nothing makes a person isolated and spiritually empty. Hopewell begins to show her understanding of good country people. One can see this concept of the grotesque being applied to and used in many great pieces of literature. Hulga in good country people she looked at young men as if she could smell their stupidity 638. Hulga joy hulga is our protaganist, or main character. The character i choose to analysis is from good country people the character name is hulga better known joy. They made the date yesterday after hed had lunch with her and her mother after trying to sell her mother a bible. Do your own character analysis of this character hulga joy. Also discover topics, titles, outlines, thesis statements, and conclusions for your character analysis essay.
Character analysis of flannery oconnors joy hopewell in. Freeman, who secretly calls her hulga and is unflappable mrs. A freudian psychoanalysis of hulga in good country people. Analysis of protagonist hulga the actions and behavior of an individual are shaped by the religious values and beliefs held by himher. Flannery oconnors stories summary and analysis of good. Good country people literary analysis essay example graduateway.
Good country people character analysis t as she rejects her body. Oconnor presents manley pointer as nothing in good country people heart condition speech. Analysis of flannery oconnors good country people, focusing on the way the characters use platitudes to justify their perspectives. Hulga is many things, but joyful is decidedly not one of them. In oconnors story, good country people the disability of character, joy hulga hopewell is crucial to understanding the basis of the story. Joy becomes hulga, or it indicates a change in the status of an individual jacob, the scoundrel who cheats his brother esau out of his birthright, becomes israel, one of the ancestors of the. Manley pointer character analysis by mary griffin on prezi. She would be in a university lecturing to people who knew what she was talking about. Hulga, born joy, is our leading lady in this short story. Hopewell, who speaks almost exclusively in cheerful cliches hulga joy.
Joy hopewell, who legally changed her name to hulga as a way to assert her individuality, is a thirtytwo year old woman who lost her leg in a hunting accident when she was young. Critical analysis of good country people by flannery o. Mom embarrassed by joys phd in psychology plus, it means that jh can never go back to school. Jul 08, 2019 track hulgas attempt to connect with manley pointer and her failure. Hopewell, lost her leg in a childhood hunting accident and now wears an artificial leg. Manley, manley, manleyit might take hulga a while to realize what a. Critical analysis of good country people by flannery o connor.
She is characterized as brilliant and academically sophisticated, yet naive to the feelings and motivations of others. Hopewell believes, are strictly untrustworthy and live. The adjective grotesque, in general, means something or someone that is absurd, incongruous, ugly, or unnatural. The story introduces us to welleducated a woman who was thirtytwo years old. Later, she decides that manley must come from good country people, which is exactly what manley would have wanted mrs. Hopewells daughter, who defines herself solely in opposition to her.
The reader comes to understand joy hopewells experience, environment, faith, and fear as aspects which work together to create her dual, goddenouncing identity, hulga. Freeman loves calling her by the name hulga, because she relishes hearing ugly things. Good country people character analysis course hero. Character analysis of hulga good country people free essays. This exemplifies the attitude of hulga, the protagonist in good country people by flannery oconnor. Good country people analysis good country people is a work of southern gothic literature, a genre which combines elements of both the religious and the grotesque. Hulgas adaptability to the adversities of her life, as good country people by flannery oconnor illustrates them, demonstrates her strength of character to defy her own destruction. Hulgas mother, who still refers to her daughter as joy, and who is divorced from her husband. Manley says, you can never tell when youll need the word of god, hulga, showing his constant use of christian sentiment to dupe joy, even though joy maintains she does not believe in god.
What are the character traits of joyhulga in good country people. She had a vision of the name working like the ugly sweating vulcan who stayed in the furnace and to whom, presumably the goddess had to come when called. In good country people she is 32 and has doctoral degree in philosophy. Among the freaks, joyhulga, the female protagonist within flannery oconnors short story good country people, endures the most thoughtprovoking character. However, she does not have control that she thinks has. Joy had made it plain that if it had not been for this condition, she would be far from these red hills and good country people.
The good country people quotes below are all either spoken by hulga hopewell joy or refer to hulga hopewell joy. When hulga decides to change her name from joy to hulga, the following happens. In mary flannery oconnors short story good country people, joy freeman was not at all joyful. She was born joy, and her mother refuses to call her by her legal name, hulga, which she chose for its ugliness. Gracyn chamblin smith english 101 26 september 2017 joy hulga character development joy hulga was a woman of grace and elegance turned boisterous and clunky. Hulgas given name is joy a title her mother prefers and continues to use. Oconnors concerns, as she plots the tale ofjoyhulga hopewell, touch on or embrace familiar american character types the alienated. Oconnor uses joys physical disability, her relationship with her mother, her disbelief in god, and her selfperceived intellectual. Gracyn chamblin smith english 101 26 september 2017 joyhulga character development joyhulga was a woman of grace and elegance turned boisterous and clunky. Comparison of the characters the misfit a good man is hard to find and manley good country people essay pages.
Thesis for flannery oconnors short story good country. Once known as joy, a leading lady, until she felt the urgency to change her name. Freeman and her two daughters glynese and carramae, lyman who is carramaes husband. Results page 17 view and download character analysis essays examples. The piece of literature that this essay explores and finds the grotesque in is flannery oconnors short story, good country. The novel wants its readers to discover the innocence of joyhulga in gaining experiences in life, her struggle in breaking the barrier of being a good country people, and her belief in nothing as an atheist. I will analyze her use of violence leading to the main character experiencing moral.
The bible manly kept holding on symbolizes his cover, since the bible is sacred mrs. Freeman likes the story of how joy lost her leg where is the father. Some of the names suit the characters, such as glynese and carrame, which joy called them glycerin and caramel 662. Hopewell, somehow has the authority to judge whether someone is good country people or, to use her word, trash. May 30, 2012 this character analysis of joy hopewell examines such factors as morality, decision making, behavior and associations as written in flannery oconnors good country people.
She allows her daughter to be angry and stomp about the home, even saying how much she understands what her daughter must be going through. Hopewell assumed that he was just good country people, trying to sell bibles in the village. They are viewed as the sweet children, while joy is considered the black sheep and is the bitter one in the. Oconnors short stories parkers back table of contents. The age of ten, joy lost one of her legs in a hunting accident, and from that point on became a depressed realist. She changed her name herself at the age of twentyone andno offense to her mom who named herwe think it was a move in the right direction. Oconnor even accounted for selfdetermination by allowing hulga and manley to legally change their names. Hulga hopewell, born joy hopewell, has a phd in philosophy.
Oreovicz purdue university flannery oconnors good country people is a remarkable piece of short fiction, a remarkable sample of peculiarly american fiction. She wears a wooden leg and oconnor writes she believes in nothing but her own belief in nothing, and we perceive that there is a wooden part of her soul that corresponds to her wooden leg on theme 487. In a letter to betty hester 2 oconnor reckoned that but for her catholic faith she would be the stinkingest logical positivist imaginable, and that label is what oconnor must have had in mind when she invented the character of joy hulga hopewell in good country people. Hulga is the dual dimension main character that goes through a complete change throughout the story. Get everything you need to know about hulga hopewell joy in good country people. Hopewells name is a pun on the breezy outlook she has of the world. Manley continuously tells joy what she wants to hear, and does so under the guise of christianity. Hulga is a woman who has been dealt a tough hand in life, and lives with disabilities but still maintains a wrongly arrogant front. Character analysis of joyhulga hopewell term paper. Hulgas loss of her real leg when she was only ten years old was a traumatic experience which led directly to her sense of despair and her renunciation of god and her own former unquestioning self, symbolized by the change in her name from joy to hulga. She lost a leg in a hunting accident and is now forced to live with her mother and wear a prosthetic leg. Hopewell, joy and hulga, manly pointer, glynese and carame. Analysis of good country people by flannery oconnor. She wears a wooden leg and oconnor writes she believes in nothing but her own belief in nothing, and we perceive that there is a wooden part of her soul that.
Hulga hopewell of good country people is a unique character in oconnors fictional world. The main characters in good country people are hulga hopewell, manley pointer, mrs. Story good country people by flanner oconnor 5 pages. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one. Trying to write a compare contrast on this character and the lead from. Good country people character analysis, sample of essays. Good country people flannery oconnor manley pointer characterization. Mom embarrassed by joy s phd in psychology plus, it means that jh can never go back to school. When hulga meets the bible salesman, and decides to go on a picnic with him, he already has his mind set on the fact that she is inferior to him in that she has a disability. The story, first published in 1955, presents three characters whose lives are governed by the platitudes they embrace or reject. Analysis of good country people the plot started with mrs. What is the thesis statement for good country people by.
Apr 20, 2019 good country people is meant to be flattering, but its a condescending phrase. An analysis of o connors story flannery o connors good country people is a story about pride. Oconnors concerns, as she plots the tale ofjoy hulga hopewell, touch on or embrace familiar american character types the alienated. An analysis of oconnors joy hopewell by merit of morality, decision making, behavior and association provide a deeper understanding of this exuberantly southern short. The character of hulga hopewell joy in good country people from. These discussion questions will guide your students through an indepth character analysis and discussion on the major themes in the novel good country people by flannery oconnor. Get an answer for what are the character traits of joyhulga in good country people. To hulga it seems she is in constant control of her surroundings and her life.
Hopewell, joy would be better off living a life of simplicity and femininity 484 and having what she calls normal good times 493. Hulga is very well versed, though perhaps not as smart as she thinks she is. A comparative analysis of flannery oconnors a good man is hard to find and good country people essay pages. Essay on character analysis good country people 647 words. Good country people, flannery oconnors 1955 short story, features a slew of characters with names indicative of their personalities. But then again, she has plenty of reason to be the grump that. I have had a lot of trouble in the past writing thesis statements for practice in school and now i have to write one for this story.
In the short story good country people, flannery oconnor utilizes the character joy hopewell to expose how believing in nothing makes a person isola character analysis of joyhulga hopewell term paper sforza0696. She saw it as the name of her highest creative act. The character of hulga in good country people by mary. In a letter to betty hester 2 oconnor reckoned that but for her catholic faith she would be the stinkingest logical positivist imaginable, and that label is what oconnor must have had in mind when she invented the character of joyhulga hopewell in good country people.
Hopewell, hulga is intelligent, intellectual, and cynical. Hopewell, convinced that hulga would have been better without a useless phd. Her conventional worldview is based on a simplistic assessment of herself at the top and the classes beneath her as either made up of good country people, meaning rural people who work hard and are honest, and trash, dishonest people who, mrs. But, the two characters hulga and manley changed their names a defining aspect of each of their personas. Good country people by flannery oconnor essay 1184 words. Hulga hopewell,born joy hopewell, has a phd in philosophy. The author has used various characters in her story to bring out its theme. The reader learns that hulga lives at home because of her health, though she wishes she could be somewhere else. Analysis of good country people by flannery oconnor thoughtco. Download 5page essay on story good country people by flanner oconnor 2020. The shallowness of daily life and the pointless conversations between mrs. Jul 23, 2012 manley continuously tells joy what she wants to hear, and does so under the guise of christianity. Hopewell, rather than hulgajoy, but this is important, since mrs.