Hulga Hopewell has a PhD in philosophy and
reads books so abstruse and technical that her mother regards them as "some evil
incantation in gibberish." However, she is easily deceived and robbed by the Bible-salesman
calling himself Manley Pointer (an obviously fake name which she does not question) who seems to
share her nihilist philosophy. Hulga boasts: "I don't have illusions. I'm one of those
people who see through to nothing." Manley, however, later responds to this by pointing out
that a nihilistic outlook can be arrived at without a PhD in philosophy: "I been believing
in nothing ever since I was born!"
The story ends with Mrs. Hopewell and
Mrs. Freemanwho have also been deceived by Pointer's apparent piety but have not lost anything
by it. Hulga has lost her leg and her dignity. Her reproach to Pointer that he is not acting
like a Christian suggests that, after all, her atheism and nihilism do not go very deep, since
she still expects Christianity to be a guarantee of good behavior. While her education may have
provided her with some impressive theories, it has not helped her to attain the truth or even,
apparently, fully replaced the world-view she was taught as a child.
No comments:
Post a Comment