Which excerpt from “good country people” best exemplifies why joy/hulga is a traditional southern gothic character? one of her major triumphs was that her mother had not been able to turn her dust into joy, but the greater one was that she had been able to turn it herself into hulga. hulga had learned to tolerate mrs. freeman who saved her from taking walks with her mother. joy, whose constant outrage had obliterated every expression from her face, would stare just a little to the side of her, her eyes icy blue, with the look of someone who had achieved blindness by an act of will and means to keep it. joy would get up while her mother was eating, and before long, mrs. freeman would arrive at the back door.