Good Country People

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1955

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Character Analysis

Hulga Hopewell

Hulga Hopewell is defined by her belief that she’s better than her mother and the environment she’s in. She is a highly-educated woman with a doctorate in philosophy who has been kept at home thanks to a heart condition and an artificial leg she received after a hunting accident at age 10. She is also a vocal atheist, which she presents as an intellectually and morally superior position. She is trapped in a situation that she thinks is beneath her; as a result, she’s become bitter, and she spends her days in relative isolation and irritation at her mother and Mrs. Freeman. Hulga was born Joy, but she legally changed her name to one that she felt suited her better, and she conceives of her new name—and reshaping herself into a suitable bearer of the name—as her greatest accomplishment.

Hulga’s belief that she’s above the culture of the South leaves her isolated and susceptible to Manley Pointer’s advances; it also means that she assumes that he is capable of little and has a low intellect. She is repeatedly manipulated into more vulnerable positions by Manley, who takes advantage of her physical frailty while assuring her that he only wants intimacy, and up until the moment that he reveals his true nature, she assumes that she is the one pitying him. Her inattentiveness to the possibility that Manley might be her equal or able to trick her makes her an easy mark for him, and the fact that he tricks her thanks to her own assumption of his harmlessness reveals that she’s much more like her mother than she thinks.

Manley Pointer

Manley Pointer is not who he seems, and it’s unclear if any of his professed history is true. He presents himself as a Bible salesman from a home of nine children who was raised destitute and is just beginning to find success. Throughout the story, he subtly adapts himself to the conversation—for Mrs. Hopewell, he leans into the fact that he’s what she terms “good country people,” and for Hulga, he plays up the fact that he’s a simple, religious, unfortunate boy who has never seen the wider world and draws attention to his (likely invented) heart condition. They are variations of the same false narrative, and underneath is a huckster and a victimizer (which is hinted at by his assumed name, Manley Pointer, which, like Hulga’s chosen name, reveals his true nature as a crude young man making phallic jokes).

In Hulga, he sees an object of lurid fascination. He uses her assumptions to ingratiate himself to her and let her think that she’s pitying him. It’s only once he has what he’s after—her artificial leg—that he reveals himself to be a perverted collector of keepsakes from the women he takes advantage of. He relishes the opportunity to dismantle Hulga’s belief in her superiority, mocking her atheism by claiming that he’s “been believing in nothing ever since [he] was born” (Page 283), which is one final indignity that he inflicts on her before abandoning her in the barn loft.

Mrs. Hopewell

Like her daughter, Mrs. Hopewell believes in her own superiority, particularly over her hired help, the Freemans. She is deeply religious and believes herself to be a source of Christian charity for the people around her, but her willingness to judge the people around her while holding herself blameless reveals the hypocrisy in her character.

Her relationship with Hulga is contentious: she refuses to address her daughter by her chosen name, opting instead for her birth name, Joy; she finds Hulga’s philosophy degree useless and the contents of Hulga’s books frightening; and there are clear signs of open conflict between them, such as the family Bible being kept in Mrs. Hopewell’s room rather than the parlor. Like her daughter, though, she underestimates Manley Pointer, seeing him as a simpleton and a bore, and the story reveals this similarity between mother and daughter in the ironic last scene, which shows Mrs. Hopewell continuing to judge Pointer from a distance as he leaves her daughter victimized in the barn loft.

Mrs. Freeman

Mrs. Freeman primarily functions as a foil in the story. For Mrs. Hopewell, she is a source of companionship and irritation, as she constantly brags about her two daughters, who are traditionally beautiful and fit into the expectations for women in the South. She is also a gossip, which grates against both Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga; Hulga, in particular, dislikes the way Mrs. Freeman watches her and addresses her by her chosen name in a way that feels like an insult. It’s clear that Mrs. Freeman finds Hulga unacceptable, and Mrs. Freeman’s presence is a source of unease for Hulga. Both Hulga and Mrs. Hopewell judge Mrs. Freeman to be an inconsequential and simple person, but Mrs. Freeman gets the final line of the story, asserting that she’s not as simple as the Hopewells believe her to be.