Friday, November 1, 2013

What is Manley Pointer's motive for humiliating Hulga?

In Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People," Manly Pointer claims to be a Bible salesman who is interested in Hulga. He flirts with her and the two of them go walking together the day after he comes to sell her mother a Bible. When they are up in the barn together, he convinces her to take off her prosthetic leg so he can see it. She does and he steals it from her. In doing so, he humiliates her. He does this for a couple of reasons. For one, it is a perversion he has to steal things like that from people--he admits as much and tells her all of the odd things he has taken from other people. The other reason he humiliates her is because he feels she acts superior to him with her higher education and imperious attitude. He enjoys taking her down a notch since he is a simple person and feels put down by her.

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