The Theme Of Independence In Flannery O Connor's Good Country People

Independence is highly valued as a mindset by children. When a child feels independent, they are more likely to see themselves as mature enough to handle cultivated situations, however, this can be misleading and turn them blind against certain aspects of the world. O’Connor shows how easily maturity can be taken from one’s self by introducing the character of Pointer, who robs Hulga of what makes her feel independent. Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People” uses point of view in order to portray that having independence is the key factor when it comes to growth and maturity.

It is through Hulga’s point of view that the wooden leg represents not only her independence, but her wooden soul. Hulga is described by her mother as “highly educated”

(O’Connor 1) and being “a philosopher” (O’Connor 3), which are both occupations commonly associated with oppressing emotions and being independent. Hulga even feels at loss when Pointer takes off her leg, stating that “Without the leg she felt entirely dependent on him. Her brain seemed to have stopped thinking altogether and to be about some other function that it was not very good at” (O’Connor 9). This shows that once Hulga’s leg was removed, she feels as if Pointer had full control, as if the leg was the only thing making her independent. She also allows emotion to influence her view for the first time in awhile, making her feel lost as it is the first time she has opened up in the story. Overall the loss of Hulga’s leg released a wave of emotion upon herself that had not before been experienced along with the feeling of being useless. By portraying Hulga’s wooden leg and her disabilities through her point of view, the readers are able to understand how the leg relates to her independence.
In “Good Country People”, when Pointer takes Hulga’s glasses, she barely notices; she just accepts her new view of the scenery without giving it another thought, however, she begins to view the world around her differently.

He is easily able to seduce her and take her glasses as she just brushes the notion off without giving it a second thought, seen when it is told that“When her glasses got in his way, he took them off of her and slipped them into his pocket” (O’Connor 8). When Pointer takes Hulga’s glasses, a shift can be seen so that the way in which she views the world has become more child-like and away from the independent mindset that she sought after leading her to eventually lose her independence all together and see things through a rose-colored lens. However, he begins to take control over her long before this, when he gives the compliment he “likes girls with glasses” (O’Connor 6). This compliment illustrates that when he begins to take over Hulga’s vision, and pocketing her glasses is when he is able to completely redirect her gaze towards him. By gaining her trust early on by complimenting her, Pointer is able to come one step closer to thieving Hulga of her independence without her noticing. By giving the readers this compliment through Hulga’s point of view allows the ignorance to be felt later on when Pointer’s character is revealed as deceptive. Through the change in Hulga’s literal point of view, it can be seen that her glasses represent her oppression of

emotion, which she did to make herself feel more independent since a lack of emotion can help oneself feel more educated. Early on in the story, the information is given that her "constant outrage had obliterated every expression from her face" and that she "would stare … with the look of someone who had achieved blindness by an act of will and means to keep it" (O’Connor 1). This depicts that Hulga, in order to gain a more emotional and creative take on the world, must give up her glasses. The losing of her glasses also literally alters her vision, as seen with the description, “When she turned her churning face toward the opening, she saw his blue figure struggling successfully over the green speckled lake” (O’Connor 9).This quote portrays just how warped Hulga’s vision becomes, as she even begins to view a hill as a lake. Once Pointer steals away her literal vision, her emotional vision is regained. The loss of Hulga’s glasses completely alters her point of view, as it opens her wooden mind to a world of emotion. This affects Hulga in a similar way of losing her wooden leg, in that both items represent her independence and her oppression of emotion, and that she loses them both.
At the beginning of “Good Country People”, it is revealed that Hulga was originally named Joy. When describing her name change, Hulga explains that “She had a vision of the name working like the ugly sweating Vulcan who stayed in the furnace and to whom, presumably the goddess had to come when called. She saw it as the name of her highest creative act” (O’Connor 2). In Greek mythology, Hephaestus is another name for Vulcan, and, as legend goes, Hephaestus was thrown from heaven down to earth, being rejected by his mother for having a deformity. Hulga’s name choice was based solely off of how her disability warps her mother's view of her, shown when explained that “Mrs.Hopewell thought of her as a child even though she was thirty-two years old and highly educated” (O’Connor 1). The name change from Joy to Hulga was indeed an act of her creativity, and an attempt to separate herself from her mother's childish view of her, an attempt to make herself independent. She happily dwells upon the fact that it seemed to do so, saying that “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” (O’Connor 2). Hulga saw her name change as the final rip in the cloth, separating herself from her mother, making her completely independent. By discussing Hulga’s name choice through her point of view, the readers are given hints into why she chose such a morbid name and how it contributed to her independence. Not only does it show her creativity, but it also gives another insight into how educated Hulga must be, as she is basing herself off of historical mythology, another factor contributing to her individualism.
The point of view used throughout Flannery O’Connor’s story is third person limited omniscient, the limitations being that the story is told looking into the minds of either Mrs.

Hopewell or Hulga. The narrator throughout the story seems to square in on the bad qualities of the characters, like when describing Mrs. Freeman as annoying through Mrs. Hopewell’s view, saying “Nothing had been arrived at by anyone that had not first been arrived at by her” (O’Connor 1) Here Mrs. Hopewell listing as well as emphasizes the characteristics she doesn’t like about Mrs. Freeman, not only making Mrs. Freeman look bad, but also making Mrs. Hopewell look bad as well by making her seem like a judgemental person. The readers are also given a pessimistic view on Hulga’s character, like when stated that “Mrs. Freeman’s relish for using the name only irritated her” (O’Connor 2), this gives the impression that Hulga has a sense of selfishness and is easily bothered. The narrator, however, makes it known that these characters aren’t all bad, like when a sympathetic spot is made when talking about Hulga’s heart condition the readers are informed that “with the best of care, Joy might see forty-five” (O’Connor 3). When giving this character a sense of vulnerability, the readers can see that Hulga has somewhat of an excuse for her behavior. By providing a good with the bad narration style, the readers are more likely to trust what the narrator is saying, since they reveal everything about the

characters whose minds they go in. It allows the reader to see why Hulga fights so desperately for her independence, to overcome her disabilities and vulnerabilities.
In Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People”, the readers are repeatedly presented with the idea of independence being the main influence on maturity and growth, shown through the use point of view throughout the duration of the story. O’Connor shows how easily maturity can be lost by showing her loss of independence through Hulga’s wooden leg and her glasses that are taken away by Pointer, a character who was introduced with the sole purpose of rendering Hulga helpless. She also shows how little it takes for a person to feel independent, in Hulga’s case all she needed was a degree and a wooden leg. The use of point of view throughout the story allows the readers to understand Hulga better as a person, knowing how she wants to be independent and not reliant on others. Ultimately, without careful recognition of beguiling, independence can be just as easily lost as it is obtained, making someone go from feeling like an adult to a helpless child.