the analysis of good country people 浅析“好人难寻”

The analysis of

“Good country people”

“Good country people”

①

is written by Flannery O?Connor, American writer. It is

a short story and tells us Joy/Hulga Hopewell and how

her wooden

leg was stolen by

a Bible salesman named Manley Pointer.

Firstly,

I

feel

very

sorry

for

Hulga

because

nobody

understands

her

even

her

mother.

“When

Mrs.

Hopewell

thought

the

name,

Hulga,

she

thought

of

the

broad

blank

hull

of

a

battleship.

She

would

not

use

it.

She

continued

to

call

her

Joy

to

which the girl responded but

in a purely mechanical way

.” Mrs. Hopewell doesn?t call

her

daughter

Hulga

represents

that

she

doesn?t

accept

her

today?s

daughter.

Mrs.

Hopewell still regards her daughter as a child. And Hulga thinks the PhD as her pride

but

her

mother

doesn?t

want

to

t

ell

other

people

her

daughter

is

a

philosopher.

So

Hulga

feels sore and

lonely. At this time, the Bible salesman appears. He

tells

lie that

he has heart disease and he pretends that he understands Hulga. He says to Hulga that

“I

think

you?re

real

brave.

I

think

you?re

real

sweet,”

“I

only

meant

you?re

so

brave and all.

I

guess God takes care of

you.”

Maybe

he

is

the

first

man say this

kind of word to her. She is been moved and easily trusts him. Then she gradually falls

into

his

trap.

At this process, t

he sales

man

makes use of Hulga?s

so- called pride and

sense

of

self-esteem.

That

is

when

they

arrived

at

a

large

two-

story

barn,

“the

boy

pointed

up

the

ladder

that

led

into

the

loft

and

said,

?it?s

too

bad

we

can?t

go

up

there.?” He deliberately

says that

to

lead Hulga

into

his

trap.

Then

finally

he

steals

the artificial leg successfully.

Secondly,

we

will

analyze

characters

in

this

story

.

Mrs.

Hopewell,

a

divorced

woman who

runs

a

farm

is the

eternally

helpful

and kind character.

“Every

morning

Mrs.

Hopewell

got

u

p at seven o?clock and

lit

her

gas

heater and Joy?s.” Joy

is Mrs.

Hopewell?s

daughter.

She

is

characterized

throughout

the

story

as

an

ungrateful,

childish

adult

with

a

bad

temperament.

She

is

also

an

honest

character;

because

she

doesn?t pr

etend to be

much better on the surface than she

is. She

is

never

in disguise.

For example, when she is asked by her mother to join her in her walking, she does not

hide

her

making

faces.

Her

reaction

to

Mrs.

Hopewell?s

resentment

is

also

very

natural:

“if

you

want

me,

here I am-LIKE I AM.

”

②

This

is why she decides to change

her

name

from Joy to Hulga as soon as she was twenty-one. But her

mother still calls

her

Joy

.

She

has

her

own

opinions

about

Christians;

she

is

an

atheist

and

refuses

to

allow

her

mother

to

keep

a

Bible

in

the

family

parlor.

In

reference

to

a

shallow,

cheery

remark

from

her

mother

she

screams,

are

not

our

own

light!

In

other

words,

she

believes

there

is

no

purpose

in

life.

Mrs.

Freeman,

the

servant

in

Mrs.

Hopewell?s

house

who

is

re

garded

as

the

“

good

country

people”

by

Mrs.

Hopewell.

Manley

Pointer,

a

young

country

boy

who

sells

Bible

is

the

worst,

being

totally

two-faced.

He pretends

to be

honest but

is

wicked

inside. He cheats

helpless people

1