OConnors Human Cliché         You can non judge a book by its c all over. E very(prenominal)one has doubtless heard this expression at one time or another. Although familiar clichés such as this one argon all too often overheard and overused in everyday dialogue in our society, they atomic number 18 in addition well-founded. One work of nobble fiction which effectively illustrates this point is close Country great deal by Flannery OConnor. It is a chronicle set in the coarse south at the home of the Hopewells. Manley pointer, a traveling discussion salesman, visits Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter, Joy, who has regensd herself Hulga to spite her mother and herself in a sense. Manleys visit serves to capture the proud and slimly arrogant Hulga to a startling epiphany in her life as she finds in the end that she is not as wise or strong as she imagines she is. Through her dodgy use of irony, symbolism, and imagery, OConnor illustrates how both Hulga and Manley feature managed to create facades that conceal their current natures, which argon far different than they would deal anyone to believe. Just as in other OConnor stories, some objects and characters in the story have both literal and symbolic meanings, and some events within the story foreshadow the ending as the subscriber finds that things are not always as they initially appear to be.
        One of the branch events in the story that illustrates this point is when the Bible salesman, Manley Pointer, flawnly says to Mrs. Hopewell, Good morning Mrs. Cedars (OConnor 122). afterwards macrocosm corrected, he puns I confide you are wellÂ(122).
He further asserts that he thinking her pick up was Cedars because of the name printed on the mailbox , which is truly the name of the place. In his haste, his actions here somewhat foreshadow the startling realizations that are to come.
        Additionally, the imagery in this story serves to illuminate the characters and their significance to the important meaning of it. For example, as Margaret Whitt suggests, misplaced faith in appearances is rudimentary to the themes of this storyÂ(38). Hulga is described in the story as be childishly dressed and making unnecessary noises with her wooden pin, for her leg was lost in a hunting accident over twenty years earlier, when she was ten years old. She also has a Phd in philosophy and regularly shouts at her mother, quoting obscure philosophers. She also has a weak heart which prevents her from using her degree in a professional capacity. Her mother can make no sense of these references. Even upon reading parts of one of Hulgas books, which reads science, on the other hand, has to assert its soberness and seriousness afresh and introduce that it is concerned solely with what is , Mrs. Hopewell doesnt understand the views and opinions her daughter holds (OConnor 121). Through these descriptions of Hulga, the reader initially views her as a mentally strong person who attempts to compensate for her forcible shortcomings with a strong intellectual exterior. As the reader finds, though, at the denouement of the story, this proves to be her main mistake as she is totally tricked by Manley Pointer. Manley is described as being so heavily weighed down with his suitcase of Bibles that he is somewhat lopsided and has to brace himself to keep from falling over.
Just like Hulga, he is projected here as an awkward physical specimen with this slight lack of balanceÂ(May 117). It is arguably ill-defined at the beginning of the story as to whether Pointer is actually a good Christian or simply a cunning salesman who knows all the right things to say.
        Consider the salesmans somewhat humerous name, Manley Pointer. After deeper thought about the phallic and funny nature of this moniker, the alerting reader can almost predict that it is Manley Pointer who gives the Hopewells the wide stiff one in the end (of the story, that is).
Also occupy Hulgas drastic change of her name which she had legally changed without her mothers knowledge in an act of rebellionÂ(Donley 1). She chooses to rid herself of her given name, Joy, to the ugliest sounding name she could find (OConnor 119).
        In addition to changing her name, Hulga has other mutinous traits that make her character more easily imagined. The slamming of doors, unnecessary drag of her prosthetic leg, and the seemingly condescending attitude she has towards her mother launch that she has a superior attitude which go out soon be her undoing. The reader can also plainly see that she is very proud of her intellect and her vast knowledge of the existentialist philosophy. This pride, however, will soon be depleted when she is naïve enough to be manipulated by Manley (Donley 1). Hulga believes that with her superior intellect, she can seduce the young Manley Pointer and, in a way, prove that Christian faith is not enough to make a person enlightened. As the tables are turned, though, Hulga finds herself in the barn with the salesman and he takes her leg as she discovers that he is not a good Christian Bible salesman at all, but a whiskey-drinking, porno-toting drifter who is actually more mercenary wise than she is.
        Finally, at the end of the story, Pointer opens his suitcase and it is revealed that he has only two bibles in it and one of them is hollow and [contains] a pocket flask of whiskey, a pack of cards, and a bantam blue boxÂ(OConnor 130). This, in more ways than one, is a prime example that you cannot judge a book by its coverÂ. The beauty of Good Country People is that it demonstrates how mint can sometimes use clichés and stereotypes to enable them to countermand thinking or seeing clearly.
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