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Mrs. Hopewell liked to tell people that Glynese and Carramae were two of the finest girls she knew and that Mrs. Freeman was a lady and that she was never ashamed to take her anywhere or introduce her to anybody they might meet.
Mrs. Hopewell compares her daughter to Mrs. Freeman’s daughters. By complimenting them, she shows her disappointment with her own daughter. This quotation directly follows a description of Glynese and Carramae that shows they might not be as fine as Mrs. Hopewell likes to say. While it’s fine for Glynese, as a Southern belle, to have “many admirers,” it is not so fine for Carramae to be fifteen, married, and pregnant. While Mrs. Hopewell tells people in the community that the Freeman girls are “two of the finest girls she knew,” she never says the same about her own daughter. The implication is that Mrs. Hopewell wishes Hulga were more outgoing and social.
It was hard for Mrs. Hopewell to realize that her child was thirty-two now and that for more than twenty years she had had only one leg. She thought of her still as a child because it tore her heart to think instead of the poor stout girl in her thirties who had never danced a step or had any normal good times.
After Hulga tells her mother, “If you want me, here I am – LIKE I AM,” the narrator explains why Mrs. Freeman has trouble wanting Hulga as she is. At thirty-two, Hulga would be considered an “old maid” in 1950s America, too old for marriage. Since the accident twenty years ago, Hulga has not been the child Mrs. Hopewell had pictured herself having. In her mind, losing the leg made Hulga incomplete and broken. Hulga’s “ugly” attitude matches her outward appearance. Mrs. Hopewell expected her Joy to behave like a Southern belle. She wanted her to embody the Southern ideals of grace and charm, yet she had “never danced a step.” Hulga has never had a debutant ball, where parents formally introduced their teenaged daughters to “polite society” in hopes of securing an advantageous marriage. To Mrs. Hopewell, “normal good times” probably include relationships with young men. Mrs. Hopewell truly wants what’s best for her daughter, but that ideal does not match what Hulga wants to be.
He said he was the seventh child of twelve and that his father had been crushed under a tree when he himself was eight years old. He had been crushed very badly, in fact, almost cut in two and was practically not recognizable. His mother had got along the best she could by hard working and she had always seen that her children went to Sunday School and that they read the Bible every evening.
Over the course of dinner, Mrs. Hopewell urges Manley to talk about himself. She asks more out of courtesy than interest. According to the story he tells, Manley comes from a big family. His father was killed in a gruesome manner befitting a Southern Gothic story. His saintly mother worked hard and raised the kids as Christians, or as Manley would say, “Chrustians.” The contrast between Manley’s alleged family and the Hopewells is remarkable. Manley’s family is big; Hulga’s family is small. Manley’s father is dead; Hulga’s father is absent. Manley’s mother works; Hulga’s mother is a landowner who hires others to work for her. Manley’s mother raises her children as good Christians; Hulga’s mother is lax when it comes to religion. The Hopewells cannot be expected to live up to this idealized “good country” family since Manley’s family is likely a fabrication.
