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Comparing Mankind In 'Revelation And Barn Burning'

Decent Essays

The concept of bettering mankind is something that has existed for almost as long as the human race itself. Ideas on what it actually means to be a better person have been expressed throughout various forms and mediums for centuries. One notable way writers have expressed their views have been through conveying their messages through characters in stories. They try to define how they see the issue and present their own interpretive solution, or try to make the reader aware of the problem. The three short stories “Revelation”, by Flannery O’ Conner, “Cathedral”, by Raymond Carver, and “Barn Burning”, by William Faulkner, all contain a character that serve a similar function to each other. The characters Mary Grace, Robert, and Sarty are similar …show more content…

Mary Grace is directly responsible for the revelation that Mrs. Turpin has at the end of “Revelation”. Throughout the story, Mary Grace is shown to be excessively rude toward Mrs. Turpin, and Mrs. Turpin does not appear to understand why, feeling pity on her for both being and acting “ugly” (O’ Connor 433). Mary Grace passes her message by directly attacking and trying to choke Mrs. Turpin (O’ Connor 442). When everything settles, Mary Grace ends with telling her, “Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog” (O’ Conner 439). This is what causes Mrs. Turpin to start reflecting on her herself and directly leads to her revelation at the end. Robert passes his message to the narrator by bonding with him and showing the narrator Robert’s point of view. By drawing the cathedral with Robert and his eye’s closed, the narrator learns about a new perspective he had not considered before. It lead him to better understand how Robert “sees” the world, and how it relates to how he had viewed it before (Carver 115). In Sarty’s case, he passes his message to more than just a character in the story, but also to the reader. Sarty’s passes his message by attempting to put the reader in his shoes and allow them to see why he makes the right decision by the hand. Sarty had been raised to “Stick to [his] own blood” (Faulkner) by his father. It is shown in the early on that Sarty did not like the idea of lying for his father by his reluctance in court by his thoughts, “He aims for me to lie… and I will have to do hit” (Faulkner 171). During the course of the story, Sarty comes to realize that his view of justice is in contrary to his fathers, but is unable to bring himself to go against him. By putting the reader in Sarty’s position, the message gets passed onto them. All three characters pass a similar message to the reader about what the authors

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