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Analysis Of Flannery O Connor's Everything That Rises Must Converge

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The short story “Everything That Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor is about racial prejudices and the unwelcome assimilation of integration in the South in the
1960’s. O’Connor focuses on the self-delusions of middle class white Americans in regards to the ideas of racial integration and their reception of the opposite race. Julian’s mother is portrayed as a typical lower class white woman of the 1960’s. She is descended from a rich and cultured slave owning family who used to live in a very large and luxurious mansion.
Unfortunately she and her son Julian are not privy to the comforts of money and live in a shabby neighborhood and her poverty is made clear when she comments that she should return her hat because they could pay their …show more content…

Since he has a college education he believes that his views and ideas are more correct than his “foolish” mother’s, who believes that culture comes from the heart “and in how you do things” (438). This clearly explains why Julian believes himself to be superior to his mother, and also why her intentions are always good. O'Connor uses various kinds of irony in "Everything That Rises Must Converge" to lampoon racial prejudices while humorously depicting Julian's fantasies of superiority and his mother's unwelcome good intentions. Julian's spiteful feelings of superiority over his mother are what causes him to act so fraudulently in his stance toward African Americans and the dramatic irony enhances this.
Julian truly believes he is superior to his mother because of his acceptance of African
Americans, when truthfully he is equally, if not even more, racist than her. His mother believes that she has given up her entire life for Julian: working, having his teeth straightened and sending him to college. But Julian sees the latter not as a sacrifice on her part because he believes himself “too intelligent to be a success” and this is why he does not have a

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