ENE 102G6
March 10, 2015
“Good Country People”
1. Determine Point of View of the story. Give examples why. Explain whether or not you believe the author is reliable and why.
The point of view in this story is in third person. I see the author using this point of view due to O’Conner seeing into Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga’s (Joy) thoughts. However the characters Freeman and Manley are being seen through Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga’s Eyes. The author is reliable because He/she is omniscient but is limited because the author only lets us see and know only about certain character but not all of them. The author tells us more than the character itself. As an example O’ Conner shows Hulga in different ways but is also careful to let us know that she has a lot of problems which she can’t control like her leg and her heart condition. However the author isn’t saying due to these problems it gives her a reason for her attitude and her behavior, it just shows us that these problems make her isolated.
2. Consider Characters in the story
-How were the characters defined and develop by the stereotypes in this story?
The characters were each defined to their own as Joy by what she went through as a child and her mother Mrs. Hopewell as always having a positive outlook in life. As for Freeman as the stereotypes of not being able to own anything due to their skin color Mrs. Hopewell actually finds her to not be to a good person and finds her daughter to be high quality. However Mrs. Hopewell doesn’t know how to tell between people who are bad or good. -Why do you think O’Connor gives the names she does to her character? Based upon those names how do you perceive these characters? There was a couple characters one which was Hulga but her mother called her Joy which she definitely not happy she was grumpy and had a nasty attitude as well of course she had her own reason due to her leg being shot off and then her heart condition. Than her mother Mrs. Hopewell actually lived by her name because she was very kind and strong and independent and she throughout all that happened to her daughter only hoped for the best for her. As for Freeman the wife and husband their name was