Good Country People

Good Country People Analysis
The main character is a young woman named Joy. She lives with her mother who babies her constantly because she has an artificial leg. She lost the leg in a hunting accident when she was ten years old. She calls herself Hulga because she dislikes the name Joy, but her mother thinks that is a name for a ship. Joy liked the name Hulga because it sounded ugly and she is happy that her mama doesn’t accept the name so she can really pretend that her name is Hulga. Mrs. Freeman is the house helper, and she calls Joy by the new name. Joy doesn’t like it because she considered it her private name. One day she realizes why Mrs. Freeman calls her that is because she is fascinated by Joy/Hulga’s artificial leg. It is because Mrs. Freeman likes incurable diseases or chronic ones. Joy has a Ph.D. in philosophy. Joy meets a Bible salesman who has a weird sense of humor. He notices that there is no Bible in the parlor and asks why it is not there. Joy’s mother lies and says it is on her nightstand. The real reason it is not there is because Joy is an atheist. She agrees to meet the salesman that night and lies about her age. He gets curious about where her fake leg joins on the real leg. He tricks her to go in a barn and he tells her that he loves her but she refuses to tell that she loves him. Then he asks her where the leg joins on to the fake one. She finally tells him that it is joined at the knee. He knows she is different than everybody else that he has met and asks how she takes the leg on and off, and then he tries it. He refuses to put the leg back on and he stole her leg. He confesses he steals things that make people different like a fake glass eye, a leg, etc. He tells her his name isn’t Pointer and uses a different name at each house that he visits and stays a short time. Joy is stuck at the barn but her mother doesn’t know that. Joy is proud to be different than the people in her community because she is disabled, has a degree but I think the theft of her leg has reduced her to realizing she isn’t so different than good country people.