Good Country People

The many mentions of faith, the Bible, and Christianity represents Flannery O'Connor's memory of the "Do as I say, not as I do" Christians. You could tell by the their actions that all of the "God-fearing" characters ironically had no fear of God at all. I myself have went to school with these type of people for years and years when I attended Christian school. There are so many people out there who read the "good book" but take nothing from it, and don't practice the teachings in their own lives.

That's why the title is pretty ironic as well. All these characters other than Joy/Hulga are referred to as "Good country people", when in reality they are terrible conniving individuals. All of these people represent the conflict that's presented to Hulga, along with her wooden leg deformity. The "good country people" like Manley Pointer try to take advantage of Hulga in her state of being which is extremely anti-christian.

Like I said though, these people are out there. They aren't just hawking over the weak and disabled though. The disability can be something else when addressing new characters. For instance, when I was in school, I was young and impressionable. I didn't have the ability to think for myself 100% like I do now. My disability was being a naive, perceptive student. Most of my "Christian" teachers would send me to the principal's office, for the most inane reasons, or they would call my parents and pretty much lie to them to make it seem like I was some kind of devil-child in the classroom. 

Once I left, and went to PUBLIC school with many non-Christians, and many non-good country people, I was never under a teacher's wrath like I was at Christian school ever again. This is why I enjoyed the story. I find it to be very symbolic of my experiences growing up.