James Nacua
ENG 250
11/20/08
Flannery O’Conner has written two great short stories that introduces to the reader
very unique and yet similar characters. We have “Good Country People” and “A Good
Man is Hard to Find”, both containing people who have trouble being true to themselves
and lying to others. Who says that a good plotline is the most important element for a
great piece of literature when you have manipulative and hypocritical characters to cause
drama and suspense? The grandmother from “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the
salesman and Hulga from “Good Country People” are prime examples of people who
exhibit duplicity and untruthfulness.
The grandmother is a true testament of what a hypocrite is meant to be. Not only
do we see her manipulate her own grandchildren to change the course of the road trip but
she is responsible for the demise of her own family. O’Conner portrays the grandmother
as a southerner who’s still too attached to southern way of living and uncomfortable with
how the country is becoming, stating “in my time…, children were more respectful of
their native states and their parents” (650). You’d think that with her little speech you
will start to appreciate the grandmother agreeing with her “Yes!! Need more respect!!”,
but things start to go downhill from there. Manipulation arises from the grandmother to
fulfill her own selfish needs “there was a secret panel in this house,” she said craftily, not
telling the truth. Of course it does not end there, during the pleading of not getting killed
by the hands of the Misfit near the end of the story we come across the grandmother’s
biggest showing of hypocrisy. While she is desperately telling the Misfit that he has
“good blood! I know you wouldn’t shoot a lady...Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a
lady” (658). With this act you would feel confused about the grandmother, for she uses
manipulation to get what she wants while having the faith and decency to believe that the
Lord Jesus Christ will protect her meanwhile her grandchildren lay dead in the forest.
She is of all things ironic “In short, the grandmother is an ironic embodiment of the South
of the good old days, when people were God-fearing, genteel, courteous, hospitable,
charitable, and honest--in a word, good” as told by Stanley Renner. Let’s not forget also
the grandmother mumbles “Maybe he didn’t raise the dead” (659) affirming with the
Misfit that Jesus must not have existed and all that religious magic was all just an
illusion. Some will describe the grandmother as a hypocrite, manipulative or even
despicable but Stephen C. Bandy can better describe her as a character with “wicked
irony”.
Manly Pointer is plastered with the name duplicity. Not only is the name some
sort of sexual innuendo it’s also very much made up to fulfill the objective of the con
man has to achieve. Manly Pointer is shown as first as a door to door bible salesman
with the combination of him being “just a country boy” (639) is of course the keen blend
of a trustworthy individual. It’s not until near the end we see Mr. Pointer’s true
intentions and that was apparently to steal Hulga’s artificial limb and run off with it.
During the criminal act Hulga shout out to him that he was “just good country people”
(647) and finally reveals “I hope you don’t think that I believe in that crap” (647). We
see that even though he was a bible salesman, that didn’t seem to stop him from going
against one of the Ten Commandments “thou shalt not steal”. Unfortunately for Hulga
Manly Pointer was not his real name, he wasn’t really selling bibles and had no intentions
of getting intimate with Hulga. The selling of “The Good Book” was just a ploy to gain
trust of other people so he can take advantage of them in their weakest moment. Manly
Pointer took note of how Christian believers, or any believers of faith, can be very
trusting and honest and he used it to his advantage and will attack when they have their
guard open.
Finally we have Hulga from “Good Country People” who appears to be what she
appears to be but, she crumples that image in the end. Hulga went all out on what she
feels about herself “Joy arrived at Hulga first purely on the basis of its ugly sound and
then the full genius of its fitness had struck her” (636). Not must her name be ugly but
her ugly image marriages perfectly to it. You would think when or where do we see the
hypocrisy and irony used so much in O’Conner’s characters is taken place for Hulga
seems to be true to what she is. It’s not until Hulga meets up with the dashing, goodlooking and trustworthy….. bible salesman that she crumples her beliefs. At first she
stays true to herself by telling the salesman “I don’t have illusions I’m one of those
people who see through to nothing” (645). A testament to what she does not believe, not
influenced by love or even religion for it’s all just an illusion to her. For some reason her
beliefs on what’s an illusion and not changed places when the salesman steals her
artificial limb. Manly then points out to Hulga her hypocrisy “You just a while ago said
you didn’t believe in nothing”(647). She now believes in God and Jesus pleading with
Manly “You’re a Christian! You’re a fine Christian!” (647). Perhaps this is to show in
extreme moments or life threatening moments that a person will change to survive,
everything that they have learned, and believed in exchange for their life. In another
sense this scene is actually showing Ms. Know it all, with all her degrees, believing in
fact over fiction, needs help, ironically, from the lord himself.
Which ever you want to view this, all these characters are hypocrites. They may
say one thing and believe it but later on their beliefs will change from an old grandmother
to a handicapped human being. No matter what you can’t change what you really are and
all three of these characters were just being who they really were. They just needed to be
placed in a situation where there true colors can be shown.
WORKS CITED
1. Bandy, C. Stephens. 'One Of My Babies': The Misfit and the Grandmother.
Studies in Short Fiction 33.1 (Winter 1996): p107-118.
2. Renner, Stanley. Secular Meaning in 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'. TwentiethCentury Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 132. Detroit: Gale, 2003.
p123-132. From Literature Resource Center.