Good Country People is one of the short stories of The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor exhibiting the philosophies of truth through three main characters’ beliefs towards life. Before diving into the story, there is one distinct device that Flannery uses in her stories: she illustrates every character’s personality in the beginning. She doesn’t describe them directly, but leads the readers to acknowledge the symbols especially in their names. The name of Mrs. Freeman has a connotation of being free and independent; however, Flannery ironically states, “Her forward expression was steady and driving like the advance of a heavy truck,” describing how she is unemotional and portraying her as a machine. Mrs. Freeman, including her family, is a model of ‘good country people’ in this story. Good country people are considered uncorrupted and trusted; for example, Pg. 273 states, “she realized that nothing is perfect and that in the Freemans she had good country people and that if, in this day and age, you get good country people, you had better hang on to them.” Secondly, the name of Mrs. Hopewell contains a feeling of optimism and hope. Although she does seem to be extremely optimistic, she constantly compares Mrs. Freeman’s daughters to her own daughter, Joy, praising how they are the finest girls she knew and her daughter is a person who cannot be understood. Mrs. Hopewell often uses banalities, clichés, in her speech; such as, “Nothing is perfect; that’s life; good people are salt to the Earth; and everyone is different,” and this demonstrates how she is not capable of having independent thoughts and being original.
Joy is Mrs. Hopewell’s daughter, a large blond girl with an artificial leg, who had an unstable relationship between her mother. Although she was intelligent and had a PH.D in philosophy, she had to be compared to two girls who were uneducated, with one of them being pregnant at the age of fifteen. Joy is frustrated that her mother wouldn’t accept the fact that she is disabled and expects her to be just like everyone else, being part of good country people. The text in pg 274 clearly states, “It was hard for Mrs. Hopewell to realize that her child was thirty-two now and that for more than twenty years she had had only one leg.” One of the other themes that 
Flannery often uses is the images of hypocrisy and this technique is effectively used in both personalities and the names of the characters. Later on, Joy decides to legally change her name into the ugliest name she could think of, Hulga, to embarrass her mother in front of everyone else. She only uses this name in front of her mother and goes back to Joy when she’s not around, because the only purpose of the using the name was to utilize against her mother. This is substantiated with a quote on pg 275, “One of her major triumphs was that her mother had not been able to turn her dust into Joy, but the greater one was that she had been able to turn it herself into Hulga.”
Flannery often uses is the images of hypocrisy and this technique is effectively used in both personalities and the names of the characters. Later on, Joy decides to legally change her name into the ugliest name she could think of, Hulga, to embarrass her mother in front of everyone else. She only uses this name in front of her mother and goes back to Joy when she’s not around, because the only purpose of the using the name was to utilize against her mother. This is substantiated with a quote on pg 275, “One of her major triumphs was that her mother had not been able to turn her dust into Joy, but the greater one was that she had been able to turn it herself into Hulga.” A man named Manly Pointer appears in the middle of the story. Although he introduces himself as an innocent Bible seller who wants to be a missionary, the connotation of his name implies a sexual image, which foreshadows his role later in the story. He approaches Mrs. Hopewell by flattering her how he heard that she was a great woman through small community gossips and exhibits himself as a good country person. However, it’s clearly shown that he is from the city, which is considered corrupted, and uses tactics and acting to fool Mrs. Hopewell with lies. In page 279, Pointer lies to gain sympathy saying, “I got this heart condition. I may not live long. When you know it’s something wrong with you and you may not live long, well then, lady…” After that, he constantly attempts to acquire Mrs. Hopewell and Joy-Hulga’s trust by having conversations and misquoting the Bible to convince that he is a man to be trusted. However, it’s clear to the readers to recognize his hypocrisy; he quoted the verse from Matthew 10:39, “He who seeks his life will find it, and who loses his life for my sake (Christ’s) will find it.” The Bible states that we have to lower ourselves for Christ sake in order to gain something bigger, but Pointer implies the verse in a way that one can do whatever one wants to do.
Later on, he draws himself to Joy-Hulga and attempts to approach as an appealing man by commenting on her name, praising her disability, and searching common things that would allure her. He says, “Hulga. Hulga. I never heard of anybody name Hulga before. You’re shy aren’t you, Hulga?; I like girls that wear glasses; I think a lot. I’m not like these people that a serious thought don’t ever enter their heads. It’s because I may die.” Manly Pointer then invites Joy-Hulga on a picnic, but she doesn’t understand why he would bring his Bible valise with him. When she questioned him about the valise, he answered, “You can never tell when you’ll need the word of God, Hulga.” Through the conversation between Manly Pointer and Joy-Hulga’s about God, the readers would acknowledge that Joy-Hulga is agnostic and exhibits her philosophy of logical positivism. As they continued to enjoy their time, Manly Pointer falsely confessed his feelings towards Joy-Hulga and gained her shallow affection by kissing her and forcing her to tell him that she loves him. After he received his wish, he took advantage of her and asked how to take off her artificial leg. Although Joy-Hulga was reluctant, she capitulated and gave up everything that he asked to give including her glasses.
When she asked him to give her leg back, he opened his mysterious valise and took out two Bibles that contained a pocket flask of whiskey, a pack of pornographic cards, and a small blue box with 
printings on it (condom). Joy-Hulga was shocked and realized that he was only using her for his own benefits, because she considered him as a good country people. In my opinion, the Bibles represent the image of Manly Pointer, because he was disguised as a saint but was filled with sins inside. On page 290 she hissed, “You’re a fine Christian! You’re just like them all-say one thing and do another. You’re a perfect Christian, you’re…” This statement proves that although she is a non-believer, she believed that Christians were supposed to be ethically righteous. This is an example of a logical positivist, a philosophy that defines a person who only looks on fact and truth. Although Joy-Hulga didn’t believe in God, she believed that all Christians had to be amiable. However, Manly Pointer takes away her leg and her glasses stating that he didn’t believe in anything from the beginning, which portrays a characteristic that exhibits nihilism. Nihilism is a concept where someone doesn’t believe in an existence without an objective meaning, purpose or intrinsic value. He was a person who believed that he doesn’t deserve any consequences of his actions.
printings on it (condom). Joy-Hulga was shocked and realized that he was only using her for his own benefits, because she considered him as a good country people. In my opinion, the Bibles represent the image of Manly Pointer, because he was disguised as a saint but was filled with sins inside. On page 290 she hissed, “You’re a fine Christian! You’re just like them all-say one thing and do another. You’re a perfect Christian, you’re…” This statement proves that although she is a non-believer, she believed that Christians were supposed to be ethically righteous. This is an example of a logical positivist, a philosophy that defines a person who only looks on fact and truth. Although Joy-Hulga didn’t believe in God, she believed that all Christians had to be amiable. However, Manly Pointer takes away her leg and her glasses stating that he didn’t believe in anything from the beginning, which portrays a characteristic that exhibits nihilism. Nihilism is a concept where someone doesn’t believe in an existence without an objective meaning, purpose or intrinsic value. He was a person who believed that he doesn’t deserve any consequences of his actions. Now Joy-Hulga lost everything that she has depended on and couldn’t stand up on her own. All of her knowledge of philosophy and intelligence were useless without her leg and her glasses and her base was broken by a single man who had deceived her. This whole story may have reflected one her Flannery’s experiences where she was abandoned by a man who she exchanged letters with for a long period of time. This shows that her disability was a hindrance from encountering true love and truth.
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