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Manley Pointer arrives at the Hopewell farm with “a cheerful voice,” “eyes sparkling,” and “a pleasant laugh.” He immediately begins sizing up Mrs. Hopewell. He doesn’t get far with her, however, until he begins to appeal to her as being “real simple” and “country people.” He doesn’t sell Mrs. Hopewell any Bibles, but he definitely sells his performance, as Mrs. Hopewell sees him as a potential match for her daughter.
Hulga also buys Manley’s con, seeing him as a “good country person,” which to her means stupid, innocent, and gullible. She decides to seduce him to show how intellect is superior to faith. She would take his shame from their sexual encounter and “[turn] it into something useful.”
Manley, however, proves to be the more cunning seducer. He plays the part of the hopelessly lovesick boy until he gets her to remove her wooden leg. Once she has made herself vulnerable, Manley reveals his true self. Like his hollowed-out Bible, Manley is sin wrapped in a cover of saintliness.
His name is a bawdy joke—the “manly pointer” being phallic—but it also has deeper significance. He is “manly,” a masculine intrusion on the feminine sphere of the Hopewell farm. He is also “manly” because he is man, or humanity in its fallen state, inherently sinful. “Pointer” can also refer to his pointing out Hulga’s misconceptions of life, as he pops her self-inflated ego like a pin pops a balloon.
