Hopewell survives in a self-made world of illusion, isolating herself from the real world by mouthing pseudo-philosophical, clichéd maxims which only isolate her further from her daughter who has a Ph.D. Hulga is in constant contact with a vain but simple-minded mother and an apparently simple-minded but shrewd hired woman. In order to allow the reader to develop a degree of genuine sympathy for Hulga, O'Connor places her in an environment which would appall any sensitive person. The name Pointer (manly), not his real name, functions as a semi-obscene pun on one level, and it comes to point out, on another level, the depths to which humanity might descend if it follows only its "manly" nature. Freeman (free man) is given a clearer view of the realities of the world (she does not, for example, accept either Hulga or Manley Pointer at face value), she chooses to concentrate on the diseased and the grotesque aspects of life. Hopewell by living in a world where clichés operate as truth, and Hulga by insisting that there is nothing behind, or beyond, the surface world.Īlthough Mrs. This misperception leads them to assume that the world is much simpler than it actually is.īecause both Hulga and her mother have accepted this false view of reality, each of them "hopes well" to tailor that world to meet her own needs - Mrs. Both women fail to see that the world (because it is a fallen world) is a mixture of good and evil. Both women are individuals who simplistically believe that what is wanted can be had - although each of them is, in her own way, blind to the world as it really exists. For example, the name "Hopewell" (hope well) characterizes both the mother and her daughter. You might also wish to note that O'Connor's selection of names for her characters helps to establish their significance in the story. Freeman and Manley Pointer, while the flashbacks to the events of the previous day establish the parallels which exist between Hulga and her mother. Hopewell and her daughter, Hulga, while at the same time providing details which appear to emphasize the different facets of the four individual characters.įor example, O'Connor uses the day of Hulga's "enlightenment" in order to create parallels between Mrs. Freeman and Manley Pointer (a traveling Bible salesman) and between Mrs. By dividing the story into four loosely distinct sections, O'Connor is able to establish subtle parallels between the characters of Mrs. This story is divided into four rather distinct sections which help emphasize the relationships between the four central characters. In every instance, the intellectual comes to realize that his belief in his ability to control his life totally, as well as control those things which influence it, is a faulty belief. Her gender, however, does not keep her from suffering the common fate of all the other O'Connor intellectuals. Although O'Connor uses the intellectual, or the pseudo-intellectual, in one of her novels and in seven of her short stories, Hulga is the only female in the bunch. Hulga Hopewell of "Good Country People" is a unique character in O'Connor's fictional world.