April 2019, "Humanities 302"
Secret Illness, Hidden Deformities
Jessica McDermitt
Shaken by an encounter with the depth of human evil displayed in the World Wars, many writers and thinkers of the 20th century turned from God and began to explore nihilism, complete disbelief in meaning and purpose. Literature reflects this shift. However, not all writers succumbed to the pull of nihilism. Flannery O’Connor is one of these authors. In 1955, she published “Good Country People,” a short story about a woman with an artificial leg who is taken advantage of by a hypocritical Bible salesman. In her story, O’Connor explores the inconsistencies inherent in nihilism through her characters’ worldviews and actions. Throughout “Good Country People,” O’Connor uses references to sight and blindness, illness, and hollowness to emphasize the inconsistency, contradictions, and hypocrisy in her characters’ worldviews.
O’Connor often uses the motif of blindness and sight to highlight her characters’ worldviews and underscore their inconsistencies. Throughout “Good Country People,” Hulga uses vision-centered language to describe her belief in nihilism, such as when she explains, “I don’t have illusions. I’m one of those people who see through to nothing” (O’Connor 7). Centered around “illusions” and “seeing,” this description situates her nihilism as a lens through which Hulga understands her world. The description indicates that Hulga has discovered the truest understanding of the world: that there is nothing to understand. Later, she explains, “Some of us have taken off our blindfolds and see that there’s nothing to see. It’s a kind of salvation” (O’Connor 8). Clearly, Hulga believes herself enlightened, “saved” by her ability to understand that life has no higher meaning. In these passages, O’Connor clearly describes Hulga’s worldview in the context of sight.
Ironically, while Hulga claims to clearly understand the truth of the world, she is unable to see the inconsistency in her beliefs and actions. Her nihilism should preclude moral compunction and prevent her from claiming that any person ought to take or not take any actions. The idea that anyone ought to do anything is based on the existence of moral absolutes, which nihilism denies. Although Hulga claims to hold this worldview, her actions demonstrate that she holds to strong values. For example, at the climax of the story, as Hulga and the Bible salesman, Manley Pointer, retreat to a hayloft, Hulga corrects an earlier lie about her age, explaining “there mustn’t be anything dishonest between us” (O’Connor 8). Clearly, Hulga believes she ought to be honest—a value that would not spring from pure nihilism. In addition, when Pointer steals and flees with Hulga’s artificial leg, she becomes furious and demands that Pointer give it back. Plainly, she believes Pointer ought to treat her decently, a position that is inconsistent with nihilism’s denial of moral absolutes. Hulga never acknowledges or justifies this disconnect between her beliefs and her actions. Significantly, O’Connor describes Hulga as having “the look of someone who ha[s] achieved blindness by an act of will and means to keep it” (O’Connor 1). Plainly, despite her claims to see, Hulga is—perhaps willingly—blind to her own inconsistencies. By having Hulga claim sight while blind to basic inconsistency, O’Connor leads readers to question her belief system—nihilism.
In addition to blindness, O’Connor uses Hulga’s artificial leg to symbolize the worthlessness of her flawed worldview. One character, Mrs. Freeman, is fascinated with Hulga because of her leg. Mrs. Freeman also has “a special fondness for the details of secret infections, hidden deformities, assaults upon children,” and “lingering and incurable” diseases (O’Connor 2). By categorizing Hulga’s leg with other infections and deformities, O’Connor indicates the wooden leg is harmful or diseased. Significantly, the unhealthy leg is inconsistent with the rest of Hulga’s strong, healthy body. In the same way, Hulga’s actions are inconsistent with her claimed worldview. This is especially evident at the end of the story, when Hulga becomes angry over Pointer stealing her leg—a reaction entirely inconsistent with a worldview that believes in nothing. Importantly, O’Connor explains that Hulga cares for her artificial leg “as someone else would his soul, in private and almost with her own eyes turned away” (O’Connor 8). Hulga avoids looking at her leg—a symbol of her inconsistency—as much as possible, though it is a part of her. By describing Hulga’s feelings this way, O’Connor applies the motif of vision and blindness to Hulga’s disability to emphasize the inadequacy of her nihilistic worldview.
Just as Hulga’s leg demonstrates the profound uselessness and inconsistency inherent in her worldview, Manley Pointer’s hollow Bible represents the hypocrisy inherent in his. Though he pretends to be “good country people,” the salesman’s Bible, when he opens it, contains “a pocket flask of whiskey, a pack of cards, and a small blue box with printing on it,” presumably containing drugs (O’Connor 9). O’Connor draws on stereotypical trappings of vice—alcohol and cards—to emphasize that this Bible contains the antithesis of Christian views Pointer appears to support. However, this hypocrisy on his part is not surprising. He claims, “I been believing in nothing ever since I was born,” a viewpoint which would make his concern solely for his own well-being understandable (O’Connor 9). In addition, from the moment of his first appearance in the Hopewell home, he is described using inconsistent terms. For example, he enters the house “on the point of collapse,” but has a “cheerful voice”; also, he is described as “pretending to look puzzled but with his eyes sparkling” (O’Connor 3). These and other inconsistencies in his descriptions indicate early and often that Manley Pointer will be a consummate hypocrite.
What is surprising, however, is that Hulga also has a hollow Bible. Hulga is highly educated, holding a PhD in philosophy. One of her books reads “science wishes to know nothing of nothing. Such is after all the strictly scientific approach to Nothing. We know it by wishing to know nothing of Nothing” (O’Connor 3). This passage demonstrates profound apathy toward knowledge. However, science is centered on gaining knowledge, so to claim that it wishes to know nothing contradicts its soul. This passage is meaningless and self-contradictory, as hollow as Pointer’s Bible full of vice. Both books’ self-contradictory contents suggest the deepest hypocrisy in both characters. Again, both characters’ hypocrisy is illustrated at the end of the story, where Pointer reveals himself as corrupt and self-centered and Hulga expects him to abide by a standard of decency despite claiming to believe in nothing at all.
As a comment on the viability of nihilism for her characters, O’Connor gives both weak hearts that threaten their lives. Due to her weak heart, “with the best of care, [Hulga] might see forty-five” (O’Connor 3). And Pointer’s heart condition prompts him to explain, “I may not live long” (O’Connor 4). The fact that both characters manifest this condition indicates that O’Connor uses it to convey a basic truth about her message. A weak heart indicates that a vital part of the body is not working. In the same way, the heart or core of the characters’ worldviews are weak and rotten. The worldviews are unable to perform the basic function of consistently directing their holders’ actions. Hulga and Manley are both riddled with hypocrisy, inconsistency, and contradictions on every level—the hearts of their worldviews are weak, and they will not last long when their worldviews are tried by life.
Throughout her story, Flannery O’Connor packs indications of characters’ core inconsistencies into nearly every line. She uses the motif of vision and blindness to question characters’ understandings of their worldviews and to question their truth. Closely tied to this motif, she uses physical objects such as Hulga’s artificial leg and Manley’s hollow Bible to explore the uselessness and inconsistencies in both characters’ worldviews. Significantly, she comments on the validity of the characters’ nihilistic worldviews by placing the looming and philosophically loaded threat of heart disease over both characters. O’Connor’s story is an excellent example of a Christian response to predominant worldviews. Using a carefully constructed and ideologically rich story, O’Connor insightfully dissects a nihilistic worldview and illuminates the rotten foundation it rests upon—the secret infections and hidden deformities inherent within it.
Works Cited
O'Connor, Flannery. “Good Country People.” PDF.*
* Full text PDF here--page numbers will differ.
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