Good Country People Group

Question:

billyzane
billyzane
Student
College - Sophomore

In the short story, "Good Country People," by Flannery O'Connor, Hulga studies the writings of Malebranche. What is the pun on his name?

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Posted by billyzane on Wednesday November 11, 2009 at 10:15 AM and tagged with "good country people", joy/hulga, literature, malebranche.

Answers:

  1. bullgatortail
    bullgatortail Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

        Flannery O'Connor's choice of the philosopher Malebranche as a subject of Joy/Hulga in her short story, "Good Country People," contains both irony and a deliberate pun on his name.
        Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) was a French philosopher and ordained priest who believed that an ever-present God was part of every facet of daily life. This is ironic since Joy/Hulga seems to have little belief or faith in God. In the story, Malebranche is quoted by Joy/Hulga in anger after her mother had commented "that a smile never hurt anyone."

    ... standing up in the middle of the meal with her face purple and her mouth half full--"Woman! do you ever look inside? Do you ever look inside and see what you are not? God!" she had cried... "Malebranche was right: we are not our own light. We are not our own light!"

        The apparent deliberate pun on the name Malebranche (pronounced "mall-uh-brawnsh") could also be reinterpreted as "Male-branch," no doubt a reference to her non-feminine side as well as her wooden leg.

    Sources:
    http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/malebranche/
    http://www.enotes.com/good-country-people

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    Posted by bullgatortail on Wednesday November 11, 2009 at 11:49 AM