Analyzing Figurative and Literal Ailments in Oliver’s

It is imperative to understand that Kate Oliver’s “O’Connor’s Good Country People” represents the fact that there are considerable numbers of the aspect of symbolism that has manifested through the lives of the characters. Indeed, it is true that in cases such as Hulga’s leg, symbolism is present through the physical ailments, which does not hinge itself on the physical aspect, but it is a suggestion of figurative ailments. The leg that ails Hulga (O’Connor 276) symbolizes her soul because she suffered to the extent that she puts on a tough façade even though she believes the lies at the end a stranger says to her. O’Connor depicts this by illustrating Hulga’s crippling gullibility even though she has a Ph.D. and claims to be more mature. She becomes gullible by believing that Manley is a Christian, and she, therefore, ends up giving her leg, which is the soul, to a stranger.

Besides, it is crucial to understand that she has a physically weak heart, implying that it has a symbolic and figurative meaning. In this case, O’Connor brings to the readers’ attention that this weak heart would be susceptible to falling prey to outside influence, given that someone else (her mother) has been in charge of taking care of her heart and protecting her from such influences. This, therefore, implies that when her mother is not around, she would easily fall prey because she has a weak heart, in the figurative sense.

Undoubtedly, it is clear that O’Connor’s analysis is essentially true. Since it might seem that Katie is harsh on the character, it is evident that Hulga is overestimating herself and deeming herself to be of a superior mind to others. In the text, the readers are informed that “During the night she imagined that she seduced him. She imagined…that things came to such a pass that she very easily seduced him and that then, of course, she had to deal with his remorse…She imagined that she took his remorse in hand and changed it into a deeper understanding of life. She took all his shame away and turned it into something useful (O’Connor 355). It is this overestimation that becomes her worst flaw.

Works Cited

O’Connor, Flannery. “Good Country People:[Selections from the short story].” Academic Medicine 91.3 (2016): 352.