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Religion
Flannery O’Connor was a devout Catholic who believed that without her faith, she would have had no reason to write. Through her story, O’Connor criticizes nominal Christians, spiritual opportunists, and atheists.
Mrs. Hopewell is a nominal Christian, which means that she is Christian in name only. She does not practice her faith but claims to believe in Christian service. She lies about keeping a Bible at her bedside to give Manley the impression that she is a good Christian. She gossips and passes judgment on people, separating them into “good country people” and “trash.” To her, belief in God is almost nostalgic, something that the world is losing, but she does not recognize her own loss of faith.
Manley is a spiritual opportunist. He carries only two Bibles in his valise. At the Hopewells’ home, he sits with one Bible on each knee. Readers later learn that one of those Bibles is hollow. It contains a flask with whiskey, pornographic playing cards, and condoms. The items in his hollow Bible represent the sins of alcohol, gambling, and lust. Like his Bible, Manley is hollow inside. He sells Bibles but does not believe in the beliefs and values within. He uses the façade of religion to con people out of their money, food, and intimacy.
Hulga is an atheist. She twice tells Manley that she does not believe in God. She claims that Christians, like Manley, are damned. Her belief in nothing, she claims, is her salvation. Hulga takes care of her wooden leg “as someone else would his soul.” Like her leg, her soul is hard on the outside and hollow inside. When she gives her wooden leg to Manley, she symbolically offers him her soul, making herself vulnerable to him. By surrendering herself to Manley, she places her faith in him, like true believers place their faith in God. The act suggests Hulga’s desire to believe in some higher power.
Education
Hulga left home to attend college and came back with a Ph.D. in philosophy. She thinks her education makes her superior to the people around her, including her mother and all the good country people in their community. If it weren’t for her weak heart, she thinks, she would be at a university, teaching intelligent people like herself. Her mind puts her above such things as religion and emotions.
Mrs. Hopewell regrets sending Hulga to college. She thinks that girls should go to school to have a good time, not to learn things and become complicated. She doesn’t know what to make of Hulga’s Ph.D. since she cannot tell people that her daughter is a philosopher in the same way that she could tell them that she is a school teacher or a chemical engineer. She is not sure what a philosopher is and doesn’t think other people in the community would know, either. To her, philosophy has no use in the modern world and she sees the words in Hulga’s philosophy book as “some evil incantation in gibberish.”
Part of Manley’s simple charm is his lack of education. “Good country people” do not go to college. Instead, he devotes his life to Christian service. Without formal education, he is still a clever con man, able to deceive the Hopewells. He is disdainful of Hulga’s formal education saying “you ain’t so smart.” Ironically, the uneducated Manley dupes the supremely educated Hulga. Without access to formal education, Manley uses what he has learned about people through his experience to con them and get what he wants. Hulga’s formal education has given her an abstract understanding of truth, religion, and life, but her understanding fails her outside the academic environment and leaves her vulnerable to Manley’s deception.
Complex Families
There are three families described in the story: The Freemans, the Hopewells, and the Pointers. Each family is complex, and the narrative explores the clash of values, deception, and the challenges of understanding one another.
The Freeman family consists of Mr. Freeman, Mrs. Freeman, and their daughters, Glynese and Carramae. Mrs. Freeman is proud of her daughters, whom Mrs. Hopewell calls “fine girls.” They fit superficial societal standards for women during the 1950s. Glynese is beautiful and has many suitors, while Carramae is married and soon to be a mother. In truth, Glynese is sexually active but keeps it from her mother. Carramae is married and pregnant, but at age fifteen her condition is very unusual, even in the 1950s. While Mrs. Freeman may be proud of her girls, she does overshare personal and embarrassing information about them.
Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga do not have a good relationship. They hardly speak to each other. Hulga resents her mother and does things just to spite her, such as changing her name. Mrs. Freeman treats Hulga like a child. She wants Hulga to behave like a Southern lady, but Hulga wants to be accepted as she is. Hulga also feels that her education makes her superior to her uneducated mother. Mrs. Freeman, in turn, views her educated daughter as complicated and incomprehensible. Hulga’s father is absent, having divorced Mrs. Freeman.
Readers cannot know whether Manley’s description of his family is true or another lie. He claims to be the seventh of twelve children. His father was killed in a tragic accident when Manley was young. His mother was saintly, working hard to provide, sending her children to Sunday School, and reading the Bible with them every night. Both parents are flawless and the child-parent relationship ideal. Most likely the Pointer family is a fabrication, created to gain sympathy and establish Manley as “good country people” in Mrs. Hopewell’s eyes.
