In O’Connor’s “Good Country People,” Hulga and Manly Pointer have false identities because their appearances are deceptive of their characters. The story begins with Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman lighting the heaters and taking care of “important business” in the mornings. Joy, who is thirty-two years old and has a doctorate in Philosophy, takes her time coming down to breakfast every morning. Joy is grumpy in the mornings, but Mrs. Hopewell—her mother—lets her get away with it because she has a wooden leg. Joy’s leg was “shot off in a hunting accident” when she was ten years old. Joy decides that her name does not fit her well, and at twenty-one years of age, changes her name to Hulga. Although Hulga is has a doctorate in Philosophy, she