{"id":1878,"date":"2020-03-19T08:35:33","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T08:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/?p=1878"},"modified":"2020-03-19T08:35:33","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T08:35:33","slug":"kate-seltzer-short-reading-response-to-good-country-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/uncategorized\/kate-seltzer-short-reading-response-to-good-country-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Kate Seltzer Short Reading Response to “Good Country People”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this response, I want to talk about independence in Flannery O\u2019Connor\u2019s Good Country People.<\/em> Hulga is portrayed as independent in her own right but also as reliant on the kindness of others. (Note: I think it is worth referring to Hulga by her chosen name, although she resents Mrs. Freeman for using it, viewing the act as an intrusion on her privacy.) I will analyze independence through the eyes of Mrs. Hopewell, the Bible salesman, and Hulga herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of Hulga\u2019s perceived dependence (and inability to live on her own) is cast upon her by her mother, Mrs. Hopewell. Mrs. Hopewell routinely infantilizes Hulga, forgetting \u2013 or refusing to remember \u2013 that the latter is \u201cthirty-two years old and highly educated.\u201d Mrs. Hopewell takes Hulga\u2019s bitterness at having to live at home as being evidence of this childishness; likewise, Hulga\u2019s impressive accomplishment of receiving her PhD in philosophy is seen as both unbecoming of a woman (girl) and economically and socially inefficient, a \u201cflaw\u201d that frequently comes up in our discussion of disability studies and society\u2019s negative perception towards disabled people. The narrator of Good Country People <\/em>repeatedly reminds us of this infantilization by referring to Hulga, who is well into adulthood, as \u201cthe girl\u201d throughout the story. Somewhat ironically, Mrs. Freeman seems to perceive Hulga\u2019s abilities and personhood more than Mrs. Hopewell \u2013 however, Mrs. Freeman nonetheless views Hulga as an object of intrigue rather than her own person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, \u201cManley Pointer,\u201d the Bible salesman, appears to view Hulga not in conjunction with her mother or as a child, but as someone whom he is attracted to. Of course, to the reader he appears guilty of disability porn, calling Hulga \u201cbrave\u201d despite having no reason to believe that is the case. Of course, ultimately we learn this is all an act, and that he\u2019s fully aware of Hulga\u2019s strengths and weaknesses and exploits them to his advantage. From Hulga\u2019s perspective, she is smarter than he is, but she is also intrigued by the prospect of romantic attraction \u2013 her first, as far as the reader knows. Pointer also goads her into climbing the ladder in the barn by calling into question her independence and physical abilities. She seeks to prove him wrong, and in doing so winds up in an extremely vulnerable position where Pointer is able to escape and to leave her trapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hulga views herself as more scholarly and more insightful than anyone in her life \u2013 she seems to be right, but that fact goes unnoticed and unappreciated by everyone else. She resents that her physical disabilities have prevented her from moving away from her country home. In her day to day life, however, she\u2019s perfectly confident and comfortable with her wooden leg and navigating her physical environment. At the end of the story, when Pointer reveals his con and steals her leg \u2013 seen here not as a mobility assist but as part <\/em>of her, much like how some disabled people view their wheelchairs as an extension of their physical body \u2013 I worry for how her life will be after the incident. When Pointer removes the leg, she realizes she feels totally dependent on him without it, and she\u2019s right. She\u2019s functionally under his control. I worry that that experience will shape how she views her own self and her ability to survive independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Word count: 564<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pledge
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this response, I want to talk about independence in Flannery O\u2019Connor\u2019s Good Country People. Hulga is portrayed as independent in her own right but also as reliant on the kindness of others. (Note: I think it is worth referring to Hulga by her chosen name, although she resents Mrs. Freeman for using it, viewing … Continue reading “Kate Seltzer Short Reading Response to “Good Country People””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcJhts-ui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1879,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878\/revisions\/1879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}