The universal theme of " Good Country people" is a person's outward appearance can be deceiving, no one is really the way they appear to be. A person might represent themselves as being sweet, charming and trust worthy, while in actuality they're the complete opposite of who they really are, which was the case for the character Manley Pointer in the story " Good Country People".
             " Good Country People" takes place in a small country town, somewhere in the south or midwest. The people living in that town are good hearted, trusting and naive to the cruelty of the outside world and clueless to some people's hidden intentions. Mrs. Hopewell is a typical country woman; she lives with her daughter Joy, who's thirty years old and have wooden legs. One day a stranger claming to be a bible salesman showed up at her door step. The two of them started conversing about life, religion and everything in general. She was very fond of his generosity and Joy also was taken by his charm. Pointer and Joy went out the next day. He presented himself as a dumb Christian country boy, who's incapable of harming anyone. Joy is usually skeptical of every one, but with him it was different; she felt safe and secure in his arm. They were enjoying each other company, when Pointer asked an awkward question, "Show me where your wooden leg joins on" (129), which she did, believing he's harmless. He started playing with the wooden leg, putting back and forth into her attach leg and suddenly he took her wooden leg and placed them inside his suitcase filled with bibles. Joy didn't understand what was occurring, she asked, what he was doing? Pointer replied taking the wooden leg home with him. Pointer was not a bible sales man, rather a con artist that travels town to town stealing people valuables. The innocent country boy was a manipulative thief.
             Manley Pointer like every great con artist has to win the heart of his victims before ex...