Hulga Hopewell is defined by her belief that she’s better than her mother and the environment she’s in. She is a highly-educated woman with a doctorate in philosophy who has been kept at home thanks to a heart condition and an artificial leg she received after a hunting accident at age 10. She is also a vocal atheist, which she presents as an intellectually and morally superior position. She is trapped in a situation that she thinks is beneath her; as a result, she’s become bitter, and she spends her days in relative isolation and irritation at her mother and Mrs. Freeman. Hulga was born Joy, but she legally changed her name to one that she felt suited her better, and she conceives of her new name—and reshaping herself into a suitable bearer of the name—as her greatest accomplishment.

Hulga’s belief that she’s above the culture of the South leaves her isolated and susceptible to Manley Pointer’s advances; it also means that she assumes that he is capable of little and has a low intellect. She is repeatedly manipulated into more vulnerable positions by Manley, who takes advantage of her physical frailty while assuring her that he only wants intimacy, and up until the moment that he reveals his true nature, she assumes that she is the one pitying him.