Good Country People Mrs Hopewell Character Analysis

Connie in Joyce Carol Oates’s story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” desperately wants to be independent from her family, while Gregor Samsa in Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” pathetically yearns for inclusion. In this story, Oates pays special attention to the mother-daughter relationship and the lack of meaningful communication between them. Connie's mother is an image of the future Connie doesn't want – the life of a domestic housewife. Connie has a love-hate relationship with her mother, with whom she identifies, but at the same time she has to distance herself from her mother in order to establish her independence. On the other hand, The Metamorphosis, a story by Franz Kafka, is about a man who has been transformed into a giant beetle

In “Good Country People,” by Flannery O’Connor, the protagonist’s internal struggle with her identity stems from both an undiagnosed mental disorder and a lack of parental guidance since her traumatic accident. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) causes 32-year-old Joy Hopewell to be a perpetual teenager, which affects her relationships as an adult. In addition, Joy’s mother's parenting style was based off of pity from the accident resulting in an absence of guidance during Joy’s formative years. As a teenager, Joy gets accustomed to receiving unsolicited pity from everyone, which burdens her later in life. Thus, by being pitied, Joy expresses discontent with her life by acting out in a rebellious state.

However, after Rose leaves, Sissy learns to break her loyalties with her mother, move on, and build her own life. In The Patron Saint of Liars, relationships are built on the characters’ loyalty to each other. Rose’s total lack of loyalty is what spurs the novel across the country, beginning with Rose leaving her husband. The lack of attachment to Son or Sissy results in painful and tumultuous relationships with both of them. Whereas Son’s loyalty is so strong that it makes Rose’s mistreatment of her family hurt more, Rose’s is not even strong enough to obligate her to stay.

Her mother is persuaded to send her to a covalent home and Emily had a difficult time there because they didn’t allow any of the girls to keep personal belongings or "love anyone" (Olsen). After Emily came back from the covalent home, she became distant and refused her mother's attempts of comfort. A bright spot in Emily's life is her gift in comedy. The biggest obstacle for Emily would be not believing that she is helpless to the hardships life has thrown at

Flannery O’Connor’s Good Country People is a short story mostly centralized around a thirty-two year old woman named Joy. Joy works alongside her mother Mrs. Hopewell who owns a farm out in the boondocks of Georgia. Joy has a wooden leg due to a childhood accident. Joy has a strong belief in atheism and holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy. Due to the depressing life that Joy lives she finds that her name does not suit her characteristics whatsoever, she goes so far as to change her name to “Hulga”, a rather ugly name that her mother does not find very suitable.

Hulga even thinks that her mother is not able to turn Hulga’s “dust into Joy” (369). Her mother still thinks of her as a young child, but Hulga, who is thirty, feels as if she is trapped in a place that is not benefitting her at

This theme is subtly shown throughout the story, but becomes more apparent after the main event, the slaughter. After Date Bed is presumed missing, Mud, despite the fact that she is not of She-S blood, shows concern for her friend and adopted family member throughout the story – “It is just as well that Mud’s thoughts can’t be heard because what she is thinking is, “I’m the one who loves her. None of you loves her as I do,” and the uselessness of her love arouses her to such a pitch of anguish that she thinks of returning to the plain and searching for Date Bed on her own” (Gowdy, 105). The other She-S’s feel the same way as well – She-Snorts states, “I would not go to The Safe Place…knowing that Date Bed might still be alive and lost” (Gowdy, 249). If the She-S’s didn’t care for their family as much, they would have abandoned all thought of Date Bed and wouldn’t bother searching for her.

This stark contrast of home lives showcases how different cultures approach motherhood, which really reinforces the idea of being American versus being Chinese that is explored so much in this novel. Lena desperately wants her mother to understand the expectations associated with motherhood in America, and doesn’t understand why her relationship with her mother is so much more broken than her peers’ relationships. Without these expectations from both Lena and Ying-Ying about how it is acceptable to mother, their relationship would have endured significantly less

She clings to her past, telling stories irrelevant to her current standings in life, retelling stories such as a "Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain when [she]... received- seventeen-gentelman callers"(13). Being that Amanda is a single mother with two children, her story of many gentleman callers is her living in her past glory, which handicaps her present life. She hopes for her daughter, Laura, to also be an object of a man's desire and love, to have many gentleman callers just as she did, but Laura is slightly disabled and terribly shy. Her attempt to garner a mate for Laura is a painful attempt to live through her daughter's life, and the entire scheme fails miserably leaving Amanda and Laura more hopeless than

She is an outcast forced to live on the outskirts of the town. She is an independent woman who cares for her daughter Pearl alone. Hester is a round and complex character whose change throughout the story is well discussed by the narrator. She starts out as an outcast struggling to live with her daughter. She is bitter towards the town that shamed and ostracized her.

Some included devotion, education opportunity, to be abstinent and to escape their lives at home. In the book Marissa knew she would never marry because she walked with a limp and was not beautiful enough, so she asked to be taken to the convent. She explains to Will her reasoning, “‘I am just the kind of spare girl who moulders away and everybody’s relieved when they die. Even if you give me a dowery, who’s going to marry me? I’ve got no land

In the short story, "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, two sisters named Maggie and Dee are raised in a shack house, yet only one of the sisters values their humble beginnings. The eldest sister, Dee, is pretentious, Materialistic, and has no respect for her family. For example, Dee says, '"Maggie can 't appreciate these quilts!" she said. "She 'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use." '

Initially, Ada finds herself “thinking...that she wished she could have gone before Monroe”, implying that she cannot survive with his absence (29). Living by herself, she avoids strangers, remains hungry, and leaves everyday tasks undone. Because her mother dies from childbirth, Ada has become inherently dependent on Monroe her whole life, leaving her helpless and apprehensive when he can no longer care for her. Furthermore, she cannot function in his absence, struggling to maintain a life of subsistence despite her history living on the farm. Frazier’s description of her life after Monroe’s death highlights her dependence on others near the beginning of the novel.

Before she divulged to Lennie in Chapter Five, the text declared, “Wha’s the matter with me?” she cried. “Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” (Steinbeck 43). Since there were no other women on the ranch, Curley’s wife attempted to befriend or flirt with the ranch hands despite her spouse’s obvious derision.

Flannery O’Connor is an American novelist who has written over 32 short stories. She is credited with writing in the southern gothic style of writing. In “Good Country People” her gothic style is shown throughout the story in things such as the salesman’s real items he is selling. In this story there is a theme that is presented throughout that people are putting on acts instead of being who they really are. This is evident in characters such as the salesman, Hulga, and Mrs. Hopewell.