Is being an intellectual dangerous? If having more knowledge than another person can cause problems in 2014, then exceptional intelligence certainly carries even more risk for its bearer in Flannery O'Connor's society. O'Connor, one of the best-known Southern Gothic authors, often wrote about the peril of the intellectuals of his day. With one of the strangest endings, the short story "Good Country People," which fits well with O'Connor's common theme, tells the story of grumpy atheist Joy Hopewell and traveling Bible salesman Manley Pointer. After initially focusing primarily on the interaction between Joy's mother and the young man, the story details Joy and Manley's ill-fated adventures in the barn where his true colors are revealed and Joy's wooden leg is stolen . Joy Hopewell's declared "kind of salvation...[realizing] there is nothing to see" prevents her from looking beyond Manley Pointer's spiritually intellectual facade (13), recognizing her true conviction that the “good country people” don’t go far. in life (15), and understand that the two actually have very similar beliefs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Although Joy considers herself enlightened, her scientific belief that human existence has no deeper meaning blinds her to many aspects of life and relationships. Her tunnel vision, the reason her name was changed from "Joy" to "Hulga", is reflected in the fact that she "does not like dogs, nor cats, nor birds, nor flowers, nor nice young men” (4). Joy fails to find joy in nature or people because she believes there is nothing more to them than the fact that they simply occupy space. The polysyndeton of the sentence emphasizes the multitude of objects that have no meaning for her, and looking at the world in this constrained way, she misses the simple beauty of a rose and finds relatively little happiness in the world around him. Hulga instead focuses her scientific inquisitions on the philosophical aspects of humanity as a species as opposed to the nature of its individual members and thus "decides that she...she [is] face to face with real innocence" in Manley Point (14). . For a girl who considers herself superior to others in her "economy" due to her supposedly superior intellectual beliefs (12), Hulga fails to look beyond her own beliefs to see the young man for who he is. truly corrupt. If she had accepted that her views do not always apply to all aspects of life, she could then have used her intelligence to detect Manley's disguise. Manley's false spiritual ideology that God comes first in his life gives him an air that not only immediately translates into praise. and confidence, but also serves as a framework for his deceptive disguise. As soon as the young man announces that he “wants to devote [his] life to Christian service” because he “has a heart condition” and “may not live long,” Mrs. Hopewell invites him to dinner (7 ). The young Bible seller's identification with a religious vocation and his similarity to Hulga's illness transform him into a perfectly respectable figure of the time. No one would suppose that a man so naturally devoted to an honest career would have a true nature different from that which he professes. Even when he was first alone with Hulga, Manley, reminding him that "[one] can never tell" when the necessity of the Word ofGod can arise, continues his facade of religious devotion (12). While deceiving Mrs. Hopewell and the college-educated Hulga, the “Christian” boy also misleads us as readers. Before the interaction in the barn loft, we have no way of telling that Manley's mentality differs from what he says. This lack of perception leads Hulga to place all her trust in him and ultimately realize that she should not have placed any trust in him. Manley Pointer raises the confidence in his morals and blinds not only the characters of the story but also the readers by professing a deep and apparently genuine spiritual intellect. In reality, Manley, a clever con artist with a cynical outlook on life, believes that being merely good simply holds us back. He tells Hulga that to prove her love for him, she must “show him how to take off and put on his wooden leg” (14). He so convincingly twists an emotion that Hulga doesn't even believe in, so that she makes herself completely vulnerable to him. Manley ensures the success of his devious plan by acting so seemingly "in love" with her that she doesn't think it would be him who would use that feeling against her. Once Hulga recognizes his ploy, he reveals to her that he “may sell Bibles but [he] knows what end it leads…and where [he is] going” (15). Although Manley is in an honest profession, the use of the conjunction "but" indicates that he believes that goodness in itself will not get him where he wants to go. He feels that he must have an advantage over people, like the other person who is missing a leg, to achieve his desires. By revealing his cunning web of lies, the young man reveals his wicked identity in which the sole purpose of all good humor is to conceal his plans. Although Hulga would never like to admit it, she and Manley Pointer harmonize in their intellectual beliefs. more than one might think. Throughout the novella, O'Connor constantly describes Hulga as a "girl" rather than a "woman", even though she is thirty-two years old, and Manley as a "boy" rather than a "man", even though he is nineteen. in order to emphasize that other characters view them as immature and childish. From an intellectual point of view, both characters have a seasoned mindset; Hulga's comes from her long, long upbringing and Manley's comes from his life experiences. Alternatively, both are genuinely childish in that they fail to identify other aspects of life beyond observations of the world. When Manley declares that God must watch over Hulga, she openly says that she "doesn't even believe in God" (11), and we later find out that he doesn't "believe in that bullshit either" (15). ). The characters' dual atheism highlights how each of them arrived at the same place by different paths. Where Hulga's search for knowledge leads her to disbelief in God just as it leads her to the barn, Manley's quest for control takes her to an identical place both mentally and physically. Likewise, both confess – or rather openly proclaim – a central belief in nothing (13, 15). Hulga's conviction influences her to see nothing in the smokescreen of Manley's spirituality and Manley's causes her to see nothing in Hulga's value as a person. Although the characters' parallel beliefs are deeply mentally ingrained, only Hulga's is crudely uprooted by the end of the story. If Hulga had recognized some of her own characteristics in Manley, she probably would have treated him very differently and avoided losing not only her leg, but also her dignity and the confidence she had in her own.. 2014.