Flannery O Connor Good Country People Summary

Flannery O'Connor's short story “Good Country People” is typically seen as one of many stories that depicts themes of the feminist movement. Many see the story as where a well-educated woman seeks to change gender roles and seek self-dependence. However, my interpretation of the story resulted in differing themes of the story. Contrary to popular readings, I find that Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" is used to delegitimize feminism while in other instances it portrays aspects of male dominance to insinuate that women need a man to be in control because women are not capable of taking care of themselves.

O'Connor renders a point to show that women are not capable of being independent by having a well-educated woman like Hulga live

Hopewell continues anti-feminist rhetoric that seems to undermine Hulga’s need for an education. For example, Mrs. Hopewell states at one point in the story “there was no more excuse for her to go to school…it was nice for the girls to go to school to have a good time.” (O'Conner 3). She is essentially saying that the goal of school for women is to go for social enjoyment instead of getting a quality education. If the story encouraged a feminist ideology, then Mrs. Hopewell would seek to encourage Hulga to become well-educated and have the ability to pursue independence. Instead she goes after Hulga due to her feminist mindset and negatively comments on her by saying “while went about all day in a six-year-old skirt and a yellow sweatshirt with a faded cowboy on a horse embossed on it…Mrs. Hopewell thought it was idiotic and showed simply that she was still a child.”(O'Conner 3). This is just a continuation of surface level attacks towards her daughter and displayed anti feminist actions that were apparent at the time. This further tells why the story does seek to resume the anti-women societal norms instead of the advancement of

Hopewell’s description of Mrs. Freeman in the story as “good country people” upholds the stereotypical attributes of what a woman. I interpreted this as a support for stereotypical actions for women. For example, Mrs. Freeman is an example of a long philosophy that women should work in the kitchen. It is ironic that Hopewell sees Mrs. Freeman as “good country people” because of her participation in gossip which is not seen as acceptable. By having Hopewell’s endorsement of nosey behavior and other stereotypical roles of women within the story, the story's portrayal of “good country people” is just O’Connor’s continuation of standards that negatively view women. If Mrs. Freeman was an innocent and selfless individual, then my assessment of Mrs. Hopewell’s use of “good country people” to describe her would not argue that the story is just endorsing stereotypical conduct. However, that is not the case and casting Mrs. Freeman’s conduct as good damages the arguments that the story has premises of