Her higher education in the sphere of philosophy, it
seems, has irreversibly affected the girl’s vision of herself and the world. The girl has developed the fixed idea that
among all the surrounding people she is the only one who knows who she is. Mother’s criticism that she should “come
pleasantly”, the girl beats off with a resourceful comment, “If you want me,
here I am - LIKE I AM” (2406). This
example demonstrates that Joy-Hulga has developed a certain philosophical model
of her identity, which makes her in her eyes superior to others, who have no
idea what it means - to be like one IS.
This fixed idea leads her to distancing herself from
her mother, Mrs. Freeman and her daughters, and the “nice young men”, whose
stupidity “she could smell” (2408). Mrs. Hopewell feels, that “every year [the
girl] grew less like other people and more like herself - bloated, rude, and
squint-eyed” (2407). This observation counterbalances the girl’s wisecrack,
“Woman! Do you ever look inside? Do you ever look inside and see what you
are not?” (2408, italics O’Connor’s). The tone of this work is emphasizing an
alienation theme, first from herself, later from others. While the modes of alienation are different
in the two works (Malamud, O'Connor), the nature and magnitude of its effects
are similar for Levin and Hulga.
Nevertheless, her philosophical wit does not prevent
her from falling into the “good country people’s” trap. Due to the reasons
concealed from any observant eye, she forgets her philosophy of “wishing to
know nothing of Nothing” at the boy’s dumb question, “you ever ate a chicken
that was two days old?” (2412). Moreover, for the first time in her life she
commences displaying coquetry, as she declares to the boy that she is only
seventeen. This is the language of
awakening sexual desire. In a similar
vein, she imagines “dialogues for them that were insane on the surface but that
reached below to depths that no Bible salesman would be aware of” (2412); and
the ways of his seduction. Her
vulnerability, rooted in identity, conflict and lack of social development, is
aggravated across gender lines. We see a
similar phenomenon with Levin and Isabella.
Surprisingly, the girl, who claims that she is “one of
those people who see through to nothing” (2415, italics O’Connors), and
adheres to the religion of believing in Nothing, falls victim to the fraudulent
vagrant. With an astonishing ease she gives up her ideals at the dubious
compliments of the boy, “I see you got wooden leg [...]. I think you’re real
sweet.” (2412). The “good country
people” whose real name we don’t know but who goes by the name Pointer, is the
most foul example of a swindler among the other personages under consideration.
Not surprisingly, Pointer chooses the occupation which
least of all corresponds to his nature and his so-called ideals - the salesman
of Bibles and deliverer of “Chrustian service” (2409). He, like Levin, misleads the girl in regards
to who he is, however his deceit is not comparable to Levin’s in terms of its
effect. Pointer is false throughout.
He, like Levin, feels sexual attraction to the object
of his misleading; but contrary to Levin’s, his attraction is based not on the
beauty of the girl, but on her wooden leg. A genuine exemplar of an acrotomophil (a
person with sexual preference for amputees), Pointer, unlike Levin and Hulga,
perfectly knows who and what he is. He
does not delude himself about anything, the tools of his fraudulence are
directed at others. Stubbornly dull,
vulgar and uneducated, he proves smarter than the highly educated Hulga in the
ways of seduction and throwing dust in the eyes. He, like Hulga, had “been believing in
nothing” since he was born (2417), but his religion, unlike Hulga’s, has never
shattered.
Once we recognize the characteristics of the
characters’ ways of deceits, we realize the unity that underlies both narratives.
Although in the very beginning of this
essay I said that the purposes of their deceits are different, they are
different only in terms of their purity. In both stories sexual desire functions as the
basic motive for misleading the opposite sex. Levin pretends he is not a Jew and Pointer
pretends he is a Bible salesman in order
get the objects of their desires. Isabella
pretends she is from an aristocratic family and Joy pretends she is seventeen
in order to be taken. Both stories,
then, present men and women, unable and unwilling to accept themselves as they
are, and therefore urged to invent an artificial self.
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