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Everything That Rises Must Converge Analysis

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Everything That Rises Must Converge Analysis “Everything That Rises Must Converge” is a short story that takes place in a southern town after the buses have become desegregated. A son, named Julian, and his mother are going to a recreational center because the mother has been told she must lose weight. While riding the bus, the mother makes racists comments about the desegregation of busses since the Civil Rights Act. During the ride, a black man gets on the bus and she ceases her racist comments momentarily. All the while, her son is thinking about how even though he we went to a second-rate college, he has a first-rate education; and even though he was raised in a house that has very traditionalist values, he still can hold himself to a more progressive moral standard. The bus stops again, and a black woman and her child board the bus. While exiting the bus, Julian’s mom tries to give the little boy a penny, and the mother swings her purse and hits her in the head. This causes Julian’s mother to have a seizure and die. Flannery O'Connor's "Everything that Rises Must Converge," shows the differing of opinions between generation and touches on social issues regarding race in the south during the 1950's.
Throughout the story, the reader can tell the obvious differences in Julian’s and his mother opinion about racism and racial segregation. Julian’s mom believes that the busses should not be segregated, and that black people can rise but “on their own side of the fence.”

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