Good Country People Analytical Questions

1) Compare and Contrast the characters/personalities of Joy (Hulga) and the bible salesman.

2) Who is living a more false life Joy or the bible saleman?

3) What is the significance of Joy's wooden leg? After that, do we all have a wooden leg, where/what is it? Can we lose it? Do we hide it, keep it safe?

4) Why does Joy sheild herself? What defences does she create and more importantly, why?

5) Where are the moments of grace? Who/What brings that grace?

6) What is the importance/meaning of the line, "We aren't our own light." (Hint: Irony lies in the fact that Melabranche is a major Augustinian and that Hulga, her knew name, references a major athiest)

7) In Joy's book, she underlined the lines that refer to science wanting to know "nothing of Nothing." Why would she have interest in these lines?

8) The bible salesman has also stolen a glace eye. What is the significance of his creepy obsession with the weird/private aspects of the human life?

9) Does this story have more of an Augustinian or a Thomistic version of conversion? Is there Both?(Electric company with the help of God's grace or a more gradual and self driven version)

10) What roles do Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freedman play in the story? Are they catalysts or deterrent to a more fulfilling life for Joy? What effects do they have on the outcome of the story?