Nov 22, 2008

Good Country People | Character Analysis

Mrs. Freeman’s name comments ironically on her status as a tenant farmer on Mrs. Hopewell’s property. Her significance is indicated by the story’s opening, which humorously compares her to “a heavy truck” in the way she understands life: in neutral, forward, or reverse. Mrs. Hopewell considers Mrs. Freeman a “good country person,” and each woman responds to the other’s platitudes with statements such as “I always said so myself.” However, Mrs. Freeman also shares qualities with Manley Pointer. With “a special fondness for the details of secret infections, hidden...