Flannery O"Connor's character Joy Hopewell, who changed her name to Hulga, in "Good Country People" is a rather strange character. She refuses to become a personification of Southern culture. * The greatest achievement in Hulga's life may have been the acquisition of a Ph.D. in philosophy, and her wide readings in secular philosophy confirm her inherent convictions, but her greatest limitation is her inexperience with emotions and affectionate interaction with people.^.
Joy views herself as completely grotesque. (T) At the age of ten, Joy was in a hunting accident where she lost her leg. As soon as she turned twenty-one and got away from home, Joy changed her name to Hulga just because it sounds ugly. Joy's altered name is a reflection of her self-image and personality. She specializes in moving around noisily on her wooden leg because it sounds ugly; she wears ugly clothes, makes rude comments to her mother, sustains ugly facial expressions, and in general tries to be as ugly as possible. The choice of name became her defense against the sterility of her life and she considered the name her personal affair.
Joy has acquired a great deal of education which limits her from relating to her mother's and the Freeman family's southern mentality and mindset. (T) She earned a Ph.D. in philosophy, and her wide readings in secular philosophy confirm her inherent convictions, which fall somewhere between atheism, existentialism, and skepticism. Coming from such a rural background, she feels that her education raises her status in the intellectual world, and therefore life in general, above anyone not as educated as she is. The young woman fails to see that there is much more to life than what you can learn in a book.
It is clear that O'Connor sees Hulga's belief system, not her missing leg, as her greatest handicap. (T) She thinks she has within herself everything she needs to be a functionally complete person, so she lacks proper communication with God.