Two Stories

Two Stories

Good Country People by Flannery O'Connor

In “Good Country People,” Mrs. Hopewell's perennial optimism is balanced by what seems to be her daughter Joy's self-chosen misery. It is characteristic of Joy's attitude that she has changed her name to Hulga, evidently because it is the ugliest name she can think of. In that way, her name matches her faded sweatshirt, her scowl, and her wooden leg (she lost her leg in a hunting accident long before). She worries that Hulga never seems to enjoy anything, not even young men (Shloss, 2006).

In addition to representing the Christian and Southern American ...