"Good Country People"

"Good Country People" is a phrase used many times within the story. This repetition creates a trust in the phrase like when a professor repeats a certain topic it is probably important. The reader thus believes the statment and really has no reason to not trust the statement. the two families anchored by Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman seem to be normal families struggling through life as best they can. They have a few problems or unfortunate matters, but so does everyone else.

The phrase is used many times to describe the young boy, Manley Pointer, who comes by selling Bibles and appears to be lonely and trying to make an honest living. He asks Joy-Hulga on a "date" and they journey to a barn in the woods to have a "picnic." On the way there he questions here about her faith and is astonished she does not beleive in the Bible aas he claims he does. Once on the second floor of the barn, he seduces here and steals her leg! Pointer enphatically states he does this all the time, changes his name frequently, and she shouldn't follow him. Pointer also does not have faith in the Bible obviously. when exiting the woods Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman witness him leaving and predict he had just been selling Bibles. Freeman comments "Some can't be that simple... I know I never could." It is the last statement of the story and a very ironic one at that. Pointer was really not all he appeared to be. He was not one of those "Good Country People."