Just how irony can take control of life does not become entirely clear until the final lines of "Good Country People," but irony is established from the moment the reader moves beyond the title, and the description of the characters' thoughts and behavior builds up the basis on which the irony finally becomes clear and startling. It is only in retrospect that the reader recognizes that the author has been manipulating seemingly unimportant details to obtain maximum ironic impact from the way the story is structured. By that time the reader is forced to confront the fact that the author has been playing some tricks with her storytelling method and also making some points about the problems that people create for themselves when they go through life judging others.
Clues to the way irony multiplies in the story that become apparent only after it ends could actually give away the ending, but they are kind of subtle. Thus Mrs. Hopewell is not very good at hoping. Mrs. Freeman, as wife of the hired man, is just steps above being a bonds woman, and for someone who comes from good, country stock, she does not mind her own business nearly as much as she minds other people's. Joy has no joy, and the mythic conception she has of her made-up name, identifying Hulga with the mighty god Vulcan of the underworld, seems as if it is supposed to overcome the constraints of Christianity--and does not save her from humiliation. Manley Pointer, the bible salesman who piously pronounces it Chrustian, turns out not to be very pious, and his name turns out to be a rather vulgar pun. And all of these clues are connected to the irony of the judgments the women make and the action that ensues when Mr. Pointer pays a call.
The main way the ironic buildup occurs in "Good Country People" is through the presentation of the thoughts and actions of Mrs. Hopewell, Mrs. Freeman, and Hulga (Joy), in particular focusing on how each woman sees the w...