Précis of Good Country People
Joy is 32 years old, has a prosthetic leg because her leg was blown off in a hunting accident when she was ten, and has had a doctor say she would be lucky to see age 45. While living in the country with her mother, Mrs. Freeman, the home is visited by a man, who calls himself Manley Pointer, selling bibles. While at the house Manly mentions that he will live a short life, so Mrs. Freeman invites him to stay over for dinner, thinking her daughter has the same condition. After dinner Joy and Manley talk and agree to meet together the next day. Their meeting turns into a walk together, eventually ending at a barn where they’re alone. They begin kissing and Manly convinces Joy to show him, and take off, her prosthetic leg. Manly steals her leg and tells her he’s not really who has pretended to be, then leaves.