Synaptic

For this paper, students were challenged to analyze a concept from disability theory alongside a short story in order to make an argument about how the theory and the story can work together to help us better understand both. Riley wrote a very smart paper using the concept of “disability porn” to offer a new, original reading of Flannery O’Connor’s 1955 short story “Good Country People.” This paper stands out for its high quality of writing and argumentation, and because it adeptly synthesizes three sources to produce an original reading of the story in just three pages.

– Dr. Valerie Billing

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People with disabilities are often used to make able-bodied people feel better about themselves. This usually means that disabled people are used as inspiration, even though they are just living their lives. This can also occur when an able-bodied person takes advantage of a disabled person in some way, a concept of disability theory called disability porn. In the short story, “Good Country People,” Flannery O’Connor utilizes disability porn to convey how Hulga, a young woman who wears a prosthetic leg, is seen as inspirational, which makes the ending, where she is taken advantage of because of her disability, extremely surprising for the reader. By reading the story through the lens of disability porn, readers can understand how Hulga is exploited in multiple ways.

Throughout her life, Hulga was conditioned into thinking that disability porn was acceptable because she was objectified by one of her authority figures. In her article, “Disabled People Are Not Your Inspiration,” Lily Calder explains that “by viewing disabled people as inspirational, you are in fact objectifying them — they are seen as ‘inspiration porn’ and not actual human beings with lives” (Calder). Understanding the concept of inspiration porn discussed by Calder allows readers to see how the important characters in Hulga’s life are using her as inspiration, or objectifying her. One example of this is the behavior of Mrs. Freeman, one of Hulga’s authority figures. O’Connor states that “something about her seemed to fascinate Mrs. Freeman and then one day Hulga realized that it was the artificial leg. Mrs. Freeman had a special fondness for the details of secret infections, hidden deformities, [and] assaults upon children” (O’Connor 103). This “special fondness” of the disabled shows that Mrs. Freeman objectifies Hulga and uses her to satisfy a morbid curiosity, or has a fetish for learning about unusual bodies and diseases. This objectification of Hulga allows Mrs. Freeman, an able-bodied person, to make her own life more exciting. Because Mrs. Freeman is Hulga’s authority figure, Hulga can easily become used to this behavior.

Hulga is not the only person who is objectified by Mrs. Freeman. Mrs Freeman is described as a gossip, even regarding her own daughter, who is pregnant. For instance, “Every morning Mrs. Freeman told Mrs. Hopewell how many times she had vomited since the last report” (O’Connor 100). This detail conveys Mrs. Freeman’s obsession with people who have unusual medical conditions. Later, when Mrs. Freeman is talking to Mrs. Hopewell, she says that she thinks her daughter is so sick because her fetus is growing “in the tube” (O’Connor 107). This thought, which is referencing an ectopic pregnancy, highlights how Mrs. Freeman sees disability as something to gossip about, which brings excitement to her life. If she was really concerned about her daughter’s health, she would take her to the hospital. This shows that Mrs. Freeman objectifies people with disabilities, instead of seeing them as people. Hulga is often exposed to this behavior from Mrs. Freeman, so she can easily internalize the idea that this behavior is normal.

Because Hulga is used to being objectified due to her disability, she is unable to understand that Manley Pointer, the visiting Bible salesman, could be taking advantage of her. When Manley starts to act romantically towards Hulga, he tells her, “I only meant you’re so brave and all. I guess God takes care of you” (O’Connor 110). The use of the word “brave” shows that Manley sees Hulga as inspiring. “Disabled People Are Not Your Inspiration” explains why this is such a hurtful concept. Calder writes, “But what exactly was I brave for doing? I was just living my life. It was — and still is — my normal” (Calder). This perspective conveys how Hulga isn’t “brave” for living her life with a prosthetic leg; it’s just her normal life. But Hulga isn’t concerned about this objectification from Manley because she has been conditioned to expect it from her authority figures, so it’s not unusual to hear it from others. She reacts to Manley’s comment by saying “No,” and “I don’t even believe in God” (110). She brushes off the comment and changes the subject to her lack of belief in God. This suggests that she believes that being seen as brave is just a cliche, and she doesn’t believe that her life is inspirational.

This is not the only time that Hulga is objectified by Manley. In Kenny Fries’ “From Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out,” he writes that “people with disabilities have been stared at, defined by the gaze and the needs of the nondisabled world” (Fries). This is demonstrated in “Good Country People” when Manley is looking at Hulga. O’Connor writes, “He was looking at her with open curiosity, with fascination, like a child watching a new fantastic animal at the zoo.” Manley’s staring is a specific example of the objectification of disabled people due to the gaze of able-bodied people. Because Hulga accepts this form of objectification, Manley may have felt more entitled to ask to see her leg.

Fries’ description of disability porn in “From Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out” also explains why Hulga allows Manley to see her leg. In “Good Country People,” Manley asks to see her prosthetic leg, so Hulga asks “Why do you want to see it?,” to which Manley replies “it’s what makes you different. You ain’t like nobody else” (O’Connor 112). Because disabled people are expected to cater to the needs of able-bodied people, Hulga isn’t as suspicious of Manley as she should be, and allows him to see her leg. He also expresses his belief that she is different because of her leg, alluding to the fact that he only sees her for her disability. After Manley’s comment, O’Connor writes that “there was nothing about her face […] to indicate that this had moved her” (112). This immediate reaction suggests that she is used to being seen as different. Because society has normalized the objectification of disabled people, this could be a common 13 experience for her. Hulga then thinks that “this boy, with an instinct that came from beyond wisdom, had touched the truth about her” (O’Connor 112-113). Hulga’s reaction suggests that she has internalized the idea that she is different and inspiring. This allows Manley to take advantage of her after she agreed to let him see her leg.

Throughout “Good Country People,” Hulga is seen as inspiring, and is objectified by the people in her life. It isn’t until the end of the story that she is taken advantage of in a different way. At the end of this story, O’Connor transitions from using disability porn to show Hulga as inspiring, to showing her as weak and vulnerable. This transition explains why readers are so surprised about the ending. They were made to believe that Manley is innocent and looks up to Hulga, but they learn that he wants to take advantage of her in a different way. In the story, Manley convinces Hulga to take off her prosthetic leg, then steals it and runs away (O’Connor 113). Stealing Hulga’s prosthetic leg represents how Manley only sees her as that object. He is unwilling to see Hulga as a person beyond her disability. Manley says “One time I got a woman’s glass eye this way” (O’Connor 114). This additional detail, which proves that he’s done this before, conveys that Manley had nefarious intentions since the beginning. Therefore, him seeing her as an inspiration was an act. Instead of seeing Hulga as something to be inspired by, he sees her as something to exercise his power over and prove his superiority. This is also an example of disability porn, because Manley physically takes advantage of Hulga’s disability in order to make him feel better about himself.

O’Connor utilizes the concept of disability porn in multiple ways throughout “Good Country People.” Overall, disability porn is used to emphasize how Hulga is objectified and exploited, both when she is used as inspiration, and when her prosthetic leg is stolen. The transition between these two events, both of which could be seen through the lens of disability porn, makes the reader feel especially hoodwinked at the end of the story. The purpose of this story is to show how much harm disability porn can cause. Hulga was manipulated, both mentally and physically, because the idea of disability porn is so normalized. It is essential that people with disabilities are seen as people, instead of only being seen because of what they can do for able-bodied people. No person’s purpose is only to benefit another person.

Works Cited

Calder, Lily. “Disabled People Are Not Your Inspiration.” Medium, 26 July 2017, medium.com/@paperstainedink/disabled-people-are-not-your-inspiration-de78a3ba58eb.

Fries, Kenny. “From Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out.” Beauty Is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability, edited by Jennifer Bartlett, et. al., Cinco Punto P, 2011, pp. 102-04.

O’Connor, Flannery. “Good Country People.” Literature: The Human Experience, 9th edition, edited by Richard Abcarian and Marvin Klotz, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007, pp. 100-114.