The writing style of Flannery O'Connor is a riveting and shocking one. The way she formats her stories gives the author full control of every situation and allows her the ability to completely change the motion of the plot. Many commonalities are used in her different short stories and if one is a frequent O'Connor reader, the ending will begin to not be as surprising. O'Connor tricks the reader into being sympathetic of the characters, who may seem innocent, but they are truly exact opposites. This paper will identify the underlying factors and symbolic commonalities in both stories.
             The symbolism behind what happens to the main characters in each of O'Connor's stories "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and "Good Country People" is similar. O'Connor uses different techniques and clues to allow the reader to create the symbolism as to how each main character in both stories is dealt with at the end. In "Good Country People" the character Joy, who later changes her name to Hulga, had a tragic shooting accident which left her with a deformity, and a extremely independent and prideful attitude. She is very rude, sensitive, envious, and has horrible attitude towards her mother. Her pride may also be boosted by the fact that she has a Ph.D. in philosophy and doesn't believe in a God. (O'Connor 249)
             Hulga is just a 30 year old woman who has decided not to use any of her knowledge, but instead be completely arrogant and spend her time trying to prove people wrong or expose them for idiots. The author is setting Hulga up to be a woman whose worst fear is probably to be dependent, and even though she has a wooden leg, she is determined to live her same life. Hulga is very miserable because of her deformity so she lives life by herself. This is very important because of her fear of needing someone she is forced to meet with that fear at the end of the story, when she is aban...