She is offended by her mother not only because of her mother's overly-simple view of life but also because her mother does not accept her for whom she is. "If you want me, here I am--LIKE I AM. (pg. 483)" Hulga angrily and uncooperatively tells her. Changing her name shows this hatred and provides a way of reinventing herself. "One of her major triumphs," the narrator says, " 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." Unlike her mother Hulga does not "hope well" because her accident, in taking away her leg, also took her faith and hope. Mrs. Hopewell's inability to see life as anything but simple also prevents her from understanding her daughter for the complex person she
She is offended by her mother not only because of her mother's overly-simple view of life but also because her mother does not accept her for whom she is. "If you want me, here I am--LIKE I AM. (pg. 483)" Hulga angrily and uncooperatively tells her. Changing her name shows this hatred and provides a way of reinventing herself. "One of her major triumphs," the narrator says, " 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." Unlike her mother Hulga does not "hope well" because her accident, in taking away her leg, also took her faith and hope. Mrs. Hopewell's inability to see life as anything but simple also prevents her from understanding her daughter for the complex person she