Good Country People Introduction

Question: Does your mother drive you nuts? Then there's something for you in these short pages. Do you ever wish you could just pack your bags and get the heck out of Dodge? Hulga, our main girl in this story, certainly does. Have you ever tricked someone else out of their fake eye? No? Good on ya. But if you're curious about just who the heck would do such a thing, well, then definitely pick up "Good Country People." It may be short—and O'Connor may have practically thrown it on the page—but it packs a serious punch.

"Good Country People" is a classic short story by American author Flannery O'Connor. It was first published in June of 1955 in two places: Harper's Bazaar, and O'Connor's second book, A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories. O'Connor often spent months—even years—revising her stories. Perfectionist much? But get this: She wrote "Good Country People" in only four days, and hardly revised it at all. Not only that, but plenty of folks thought it was her best story yet when they read it (source). In other words, O'Connor for the win, Shmoopers.

 

What is Good Country People About and Why Should I Care?

Raise your hand if you've ever thought you could see right through someone else. You know, like you just totally have their number, so much so that you hardly even need to bother to get to know them.

Now raise your hand if, upon spending a bit of time with this person, you've been really surprised when they turn out to be completely different from what you thought.

Yeah, we thought we'd see some hands.

Shocking wasn't it? This exact scenario is at the heart of "Good Country People," but whether you've experienced something similar or not, O'Connor's exploration of it is so rich—and so layered with meaning and different ways to interpret it—that you can pretty much decide for yourself how the book ends. It's like a choose-your-own-adventure with way less annoying flipping through the pages. And that's right up everyone's ally, whether you make snap judgments or not.