In all of Flannery O'Connor's short stories she has at least one protagonist who is diseased or has a disability. She writes about characters who reject God and individuals who are in need of grace. At a young age, she got diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus, like her father. Nonetheless, she did not let this get in the way of her writing, and ultimately decided to base a handful of her characters and stories off of her experience in life and what she has seen. Rufus Johnson is a character who is seen as a handicap, and he refuses to have a special shoe bought which can fix his gait since he has a club foot. He feels that having his physical handicap is what maintains his identity. Furthermore, Hulga is a character who had her leg shot
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They went up to a barn and sat and talked for a while before he asked her to remove her leg and show him where it attached. She put it back on later then he removed it and put it far from her so she could not reach it and told her to leave it off for a while. He had told her the leg was what makes her different than everyone else. “She was as sensitive about the artificial leg as a peacock about his tail. No one ever touched it but her. She took care of it as someone else would his soul, in private and almost with her own eyes turned away" (page 9) Hulga was not comfortable with the idea of not having her leg attached. Manley eventually ran off with her leg, and without her leg, she was not able to do anything. The leg is strong, yet weak. It provides her with the support she needs to walk, however, once she takes it off it is just wood and she cannot function. When Manley steals her prosthetic leg she went from being an independent individual to a person who is begging for aid. When Hulga turned twenty-one she legally changed her name from Joy to Hulga. She choose this name because of the ugly sound it has to. As Mrs.Hopewell mentions she probably looked through every name until she found the name that had the ugliest sound. Her life was not joyful, therefore, her name did not depict who she was. She had her leg shot off, she has a heart condition that has prevented her from living a normal life, and to top that off she was scammed by the bible salesman since he eventually ran off with her
They went up to a barn and sat and talked for a while before he asked her to remove her leg and show him where it attached. She put it back on later then he removed it and put it far from her so she could not reach it and told her to leave it off for a while. He had told her the leg was what makes her different than everyone else. “She was as sensitive about the artificial leg as a peacock about his tail. No one ever touched it but her. She took care of it as someone else would his soul, in private and almost with her own eyes turned away" (page 9) Hulga was not comfortable with the idea of not having her leg attached. Manley eventually ran off with her leg, and without her leg, she was not able to do anything. The leg is strong, yet weak. It provides her with the support she needs to walk, however, once she takes it off it is just wood and she cannot function. When Manley steals her prosthetic leg she went from being an independent individual to a person who is begging for aid. When Hulga turned twenty-one she legally changed her name from Joy to Hulga. She choose this name because of the ugly sound it has to. As Mrs.Hopewell mentions she probably looked through every name until she found the name that had the ugliest sound. Her life was not joyful, therefore, her name did not depict who she was. She had her leg shot off, she has a heart condition that has prevented her from living a normal life, and to top that off she was scammed by the bible salesman since he eventually ran off with her