O'Connor's Good Country People
Themes, Ideas and Symbolism Involving Hulga's Artificial Leg
Aug 4, 2008
“Good Country People,” a short story by Flannery O’Connor, tells of Hulga Hopewell and how her wooden leg is stolen. Throughout the story, Hulga feels sorry for herself because she has lost her leg, wears glasses, and has a heart condition; however, she seems to place herself above the rest of society because of her education. Hulga searches for ways to be misunderstood by her family and claims to believe in nothing. She even thinks she is too ugly to be called the happy name of Joy, so she legally changes it to Hulga.
While the surface level of “Good Country People” conveys the story of how Hulga’s wooden leg was stolen by Manley, if we penetrate deeper, we discover that the wooden leg represents Hulga’s faith and pride.
Hulga’s Faith
Throughout the story Hulga claims to believe in nothing, but Hulga’s faith is actually embedded in her prosthetic leg. Even though Hulga considers faith in her wooden leg to be no faith at all, a belief in nothing is truly impossible. Every person has beliefs based on background, environment, and situations: even an atheist decides certain things to believe in. Out of fear of the unknown, Hulga subconsciously chooses an object she thinks of as unchanging and permanent: her wooden leg.
When Hulga was younger, she felt differently about her leg: ashamed of it. But as she grew older, Hulga placed faith in her education and wooden leg instead of feeling embarrassed of it. After Hulga’s reliance on her leg, she panics when she can no longer trust her sacred leg. She has never depended upon anything other than her education and leg, and Manley deprives Hulga of both. After being left in the loft, Hulga has lost her intelligence and faith, and because of this humiliating lesson, she must decide what is most important and dependable in her life.
Hulga’s Pride
Hulga also bases her pride in her artificial leg. She wraps her entire self into the leg and allows it to become a private obsession, never allowing anyone to touch it, taking care of it in private. The leg that used to cause Hulga shame ironically becomes a source of self-assurance. While Hulga seems superior and appears to place all self-importance solely on her intelligence, on closer examination, Hulga actually hides her pride in her leg.
Although Hulga holds herself back because of her wooden leg, Hulga’s pride is still outsized. Hulga places herself above others, and when Manley Pointer comes along appearing so simple, she thinks she can easily outsmart him. Manley, however, knows he can just as easily outsmart the prideful Hulga.
To determine how to steal Hulga’s leg, Manley must figure out how Hulga views herself, so he takes a stab at her ego, asking questions to determine the size of her ego. Later into the story when Manley has realized how highly Hulga views herself, he pretends to be polite by not suggesting they go into the hayloft. This flusters Hulga into proving herself to him, and she blindly falls into Manley’s clever trap.
Once abandoned in the hayloft, Hulga is left without her faith, pride, and intelligence, and she must humble herself by asking for help. Hulga has discovered she is not as intelligent or independent as she thought. Hulga’s pride has been twisted into humility, and she must decide what to place her faith in now that it has been snatched away. Left in the loneliness of the hayloft, Hulga must learn how to deal with only one leg. Through O’Connor’s use of symbolism, we find that Hulga’s belief in nothing is only veiling her true faith and pride that lay in her sacred leg.
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