Response To “Good Country People“

Joy/Hulga’s mother, Mrs. Hopewell is the first person to do something that causes the feeling of pity for Joy/Hulga. She treats Joy/Hulga like a child. In the following statement from the story, “Mrs. Hopewell thought of her as a child though she was thirty-two years old and highly educated,” we learn early on how Mrs. Hopewell feels about her daughter. Mrs. Hopewell also like telling people that Mrs.

There are many things that happen to Joy/Hulga that can evoke pity from the reader. Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman treat her in such a way that they don’t even realize they might be hurting her. Then there is Manley Pointer who symbolically rapes Joy/Hulga by taking her artificial leg and leaving her in the barn. Joy/Hulga is a character who wants to seem independent and a loner but in the end we realize she is a pitiful person who has some of the same beliefs as her mother.

As we reach the middle of the story Manley Porter enters Joy/Hulga’s life and seems to be the biggest cause for pity. Joy/Hulga believes that Manley is a Christian Bible salesman with a heart condition. Manley and Joy/Hulga arrange to meet the following day. All the while Joy/Hulga is planning to seduce Manley and then she will be able to console him afterwards because she is sure he will be upset. As they get to the barn Manley begins telling her that he loves her and wants her to say it back, “I just want to know if you love me or don’t

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