Good Country People...

Trickster! The first word that popped into my head when I finished reading this story. Flannery O’Connor has done such an amazing job portraying the trickster figure in the "Good Country People" that it was kind of fascinating to read about it and kept me wanting to read more.
In the beginning of the story O'Connor keeps her focus on the girl even though she doesn't speak much her mother keeps talking about her a lot. So that made me wonder why is this character so important. Also an interesting thought that popped into my head is that Hulga is as big of a trickster as the Bible salesman. Why I say this? Well when they meet by the gate she has already started plotting on how she could trick him and seduce him. On page 2538 when she goes back to her room and starts imagining how she is going to seduce him. But before that on that same page when the salesman asked her old she was and she replied seventeen. Clearly a lie. She was hoping to trick him. The story takes a turn around and he ends up tricking her.
Kind of funny in a way here we have this character who thinks she is tricking everyone and made people believe that she is really though. And on page 2540 we see this man who is able to destroy that strength in a few words. When they are in a barn he tells her he loved her the moment he saw her. That is how is gains his trust and keeps telling her to tell him that she loves him. At first she really hesitant and tries to avoid the answer. She tells him: “We are all damned,” “but some of us have taken off our blindfolds and see that there’s nothing to see. It’s kind of a salvation.” We can see here that she is trying to change the subject hoping he will forget what he wants to know but he doesn’t forget and quickly replies “Okay” to that statement and asks one more time “but do you love me or don’tcher?” That is how he gets to her and finally she gives in and says yes, in a sense.
He can still tell that she is hesitant and wants her to prove it. That to me was like a big eye open you almost want to yell at her (as if she can here) and tell her to run away because he is going to hurt you! One thing that she has never trusted anyone with she trusted a complete stranger and gives him her leg. He takes it and runs away. She is left sitting there at the barn. And her mom sees him walking over the hill and says what a great carefree young man he is. Little does she know that he is con artist that just tricked her daughter. So easy to misread people and we often do so.