Good Country People

by

Flannery O’Connor

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Good Country People makes teaching easy.
Mrs. Freeman is Mrs. Hopewell’s tenant and employee, largely in charge of running the farm. She is described as efficient and like a machine, so focused on everything being just right that her previous employer warned Mrs. Hopewell of her nosiness. Mrs. Hopewell puts this to her advantage, reasoning that if Mrs. Freeman wants to be in charge of everything, then let her. Mrs. Freeman often gossips with Mrs. Hopewell about superficial things, or about her daughters, Carramae and Glynese Freeman. These conversations involve frequent use of platitudes and clichés, with Mrs. Freeman typically agreeing with whatever her employer says. When interacting with Hulga, Mrs. Freeman shows an interest in Hulga’s artificial leg, asking repeatedly for details about how the accident happened. Mrs. Freeman thinks of herself as more in touch with reality than Mrs. Hopewell, as being superior in her own way. But the events of the story shows that she isn’t: at the story’s end, Mrs. Freeman watches the Bible Salesman walk out of the woods, and, not realizing what has transpired between the Bible Salesman and Hulga, reflects that, “Some can’t be that simple…I know I never could.”

Mrs. Freeman Quotes in Good Country People

The Good Country People quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Freeman or refer to Mrs. Freeman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Class, Identity, and Superiority Theme Icon
).
Good Country People Quotes

By the time Joy came in, they had usually finished the weather report and were on one or the other of Mrs. Freeman’s daughters, Glynese or Carramae, Joy called them Glycerin and Caramel.

Related Characters: Hulga Hopewell (Joy), Mrs. Hopewell, Mrs. Freeman, Carramae and Glynese Freeman –
Page Number: 272
Explanation and Analysis:

The reason for her keeping them so long was that they were not trash. They were good country people.

Related Characters: Mrs. Hopewell, Mrs. Freeman
Page Number: 272
Explanation and Analysis:

“Lord,” she said, “he bored me to death but he was so sincere and genuine I couldn’t be rude to him. He was just good country people, you know,” she said, “—just the salt of the earth.”

Related Characters: Mrs. Hopewell (speaker), Mrs. Freeman, The Bible Salesman
Page Number: 282
Explanation and Analysis:

“Why, that looks like that nice dull young man that tried to sell me a Bible yesterday,” Mrs. Hopewell said, squinting. “He must have been selling them to the Negroes back there. He was so simple,” she said, “but I guess the world would be better off if we were all that simple.”

Related Characters: Mrs. Hopewell (speaker), Mrs. Freeman, The Bible Salesman
Page Number: 291
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Good Country People LitChart as a printable PDF.
Good Country People PDF

Mrs. Freeman Quotes in Good Country People

The Good Country People quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Freeman or refer to Mrs. Freeman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Class, Identity, and Superiority Theme Icon
).
Good Country People Quotes

By the time Joy came in, they had usually finished the weather report and were on one or the other of Mrs. Freeman’s daughters, Glynese or Carramae, Joy called them Glycerin and Caramel.

Related Characters: Hulga Hopewell (Joy), Mrs. Hopewell, Mrs. Freeman, Carramae and Glynese Freeman –
Page Number: 272
Explanation and Analysis:

The reason for her keeping them so long was that they were not trash. They were good country people.

Related Characters: Mrs. Hopewell, Mrs. Freeman
Page Number: 272
Explanation and Analysis:

“Lord,” she said, “he bored me to death but he was so sincere and genuine I couldn’t be rude to him. He was just good country people, you know,” she said, “—just the salt of the earth.”

Related Characters: Mrs. Hopewell (speaker), Mrs. Freeman, The Bible Salesman
Page Number: 282
Explanation and Analysis:

“Why, that looks like that nice dull young man that tried to sell me a Bible yesterday,” Mrs. Hopewell said, squinting. “He must have been selling them to the Negroes back there. He was so simple,” she said, “but I guess the world would be better off if we were all that simple.”

Related Characters: Mrs. Hopewell (speaker), Mrs. Freeman, The Bible Salesman
Page Number: 291
Explanation and Analysis: