Passage From the Text.
"Her voice when she spoke had an almost pleading sound. 'Aren't you,' she murmured, 'aren't you just good country people?' The boy cocked his head. He looked as if he were just beginning to understand that she might be trying to insult him. ' Yeah,' he said, curling his lip slightly, 'but it ain't held me back none. I'm as good as you any day of the week.' " (309)
" 'Give me my leg!' she screamed and tried to lunge for it but he pushed her down easily." (309)
" 'Give me my leg!' she screamed and tried to lunge for it but he pushed her down easily." (309)
Response to the Text.
5) In this part of the story Hulga feels like she is an uncontrollable situation for one of the few times in her adult life. By using the word, "pleading" the author is making it clear that Hulga is unsure of what is going to happen to her and that she is not in control of the situation. Hulga's character is all about control. When Hulga was still Joy, she had her accident in which she lost a leg due to an accident with a firearm. This event was something that Hulga couldn't control because she was not the one in possession of the gun. Hulga has clearly been changed by this event, probably because she was conscious throughout the entire ordeal. Soon after this Hulga changed her name from Joy to Hulga, and therefore gained control of a large part of who she is. Hulga is also has a doctorate in philosophy and is an atheist, both of which are examples of her attempting to gain control of her own life. Philosophy itself is all about situations and different ways of approaching and rationalizing different situations. This doctorate means that Hulga is attempting to rationalize everything in her own life by critically thinking through ideas, even though some situations are not rational at all. Finally, Hulga's atheism means that to her there is no being larger that herself that is watching over and controlling the world. This means that to Hulga, she is completely responsible for everything that happens to her and there is no one interfering with her daily life. Pointer is chaos and he is able to make Hulga uncomfortable because of this. Pointer knows that he is the same as Hulga even though he is uneducated and reckless and he is able to take her leg from her. Hulga's leg represents the control that she has over her own life and now that it has been taken easily by a simple good country person, Hulga is unsure of how in control she actually is of her own life. Hulga reminds me of Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman" as I view them both as tragic characters. Willy is also all about the control that he has lost in his life as he is unable to help his sons, to be successful financially, and to stop his changing neighborhood.