Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Initial Situation
Mrs. Freeman's Facial Expressions
Mrs. Freeman and her three facial expressions are our introduction to the world of "Good Country People." Not your typical initial situation, yet this is still a striking beginning because Mrs. Freeman's face (not Mrs. Freeman, just her face) is being compared to "a heavy truck" (1), following the lines of a story like so many curves in the road. You know, like, say, a reader might do.
We are then drawn into the kitchen where Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Hopewell do "their most important business" (1), generally introduced to the daughters they each have—including Hulga—and it is made clear that Mrs. Hopewell employs Mrs. Freeman and, importantly, she is not ashamed of her in the least. With that, the stage is set.
Rising Action
Conflict
Close Quarters
No one would ever accuse Hulga, Mrs. Hopewell, or Mrs. Freeman of being mild or easy-going or submissive. And what happens when you put three tough, strong willed, and self-absorbed people together for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? They are going to clash. Big time. But while Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman get by with platitudes, Hulga is just generally irritated by the two women, especially her mother.
And guess what? Hulga's birth name is Joy—she changed it to Hulga at twenty-one—and she lost her leg in a shooting accident at age ten, so now she wears a fake.
Can't you just feel the room for tension in the story now?
Complication
Enter Manley Pointer
Even though there are some flashbacks involved, this story really begins on a Saturday morning. Manley came around selling Bibles the day before, though, and that's when things started to get complicated. See, to their great surprise, Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman saw Manley and Hulga talking to each other outside the house. On Saturday morning, Hulga tries to prevent the women from asking her about Manley—she's secretly about to meet him for a picnic and she doesn't want to discuss it with either of them.
Climax
What's Inside Your Bible?
When Hulga goes to meet Manley, he's not waiting for her as she's expected—but then he pops out of his hiding place and they carry on their way. It's a bit of foreshadowing, and our first clue that things might not be quite as they seem. Hulga and Manley meander to the barn, where things escalate quickly. Manley gets kissy and pushy about declarations of love, convinces Hulga to shed her fake leg only to steal it, and reveals that inside his Bible is a hollow with whiskey, dirty playing cards, and condoms.
Hulga panics, and readers do, too, as we wait to see how this will resolve. Is Manley going to hurt Hulga physically in some way? Is he going to give her back her leg? Is everything going to be okay?
Falling Action
Thanks for the Extra Limb
Apparently Manley is in the habit of running away with people's most private possessions—he tricked a girl out of her glass eye, as well—and he's not about to give up a prize like a wooden leg. So he packs up his illicit belongings, including Hulga's leg, and leaves the barn. Before he does, though, he lets her know that he's tricked her: He's believed in nothing even more than she does all along. Burn.
Conclusion
Let's End With the Truck
We never know how Hulga reacts to what happens to her, how she gets down from the barn loft, or how she makes her way home. The last we know is that she's alone and missing her leg. As for her mother, Mrs. Hopewell, she sees Manley leaving, but can't imagine he's been with Hulga. No imagination with this one, right? Importantly, Mrs. Freeman—who opens the story—also gets the last word in it, but since we don't see inside her head, we can't tell whether she suspects Manley was there seeing Hulga. What do you think?