Flannery O Connor's Revelation

Flannery O’Connor born in Georgia and was sometimes called a “Southern Gothic” writer because of her fascination with distorted incidents and characters (O’Connor, 420). She portrayed the South as a troubled region such as in her short story, “Revelation.” This particular story is told through Mrs. Turpin’s judgmental and racist point of view. Her point of view isn’t favored because she is strongly opinionated of others, feels she is superior over others and thinks she has Christian

Mrs. Turpin in Flannery O’Connor’s short story Revelation, is a prejudice and judgmental woman who spends most of her life prying in the lives of everyone around her. She looks at people not for who they are, but for their race or social standing. In fact, Mrs. Turpin is concerned with race and status so much that it seems to take over her life. Although she seems to disapprove of people of different race or social class, Mrs. Turpin seems to be content and appreciative with her own life. It is not until Mrs. Turpin’s Revelation that she discovers that her ways of life are no better then those she looks down upon and they will not assure her a place in Heaven.

Flannery O’Connor believed in the power of religion to give new purpose to life. She saw the fall of the old world, felt the force and presence of God, and her allegorical fictions often portray characters who discover themselves transforming to the Catholic mind. Though her literature does not preach, she uses subtle, thematic undertones and it is apparent that as her characters struggle through violence and pain, divine grace is thrown at them. In her story “Revelation,” the protagonist, Mrs. Turpin, acts sanctimoniously, but ironically the virtue that gives her eminence is what brings about her downfall. Mrs. Turpin’s veneer of so called good behavior fails to fill the void that would bring her to heaven. Grace hits her with force and

Finally, a young lady sees through the hypocrisy and rages against Mrs. Turpin, whispering, “"Go back to hell where you belong, you old wart hog." This comment pierces Mrs. Turpin’s very soul and makes her question her way of life. Faced with the concept that she is not the respectable woman she thinks she is, Mrs. Turpin questions God and His plans for her life.

Mary Flannery O'Connor is one of the most preeminent and more unique short story authors in American Literature (O'Connor 1). While growing up she lived in the Bible-belt South during the post World War II era of the United States. O'Connor was part of a strict Roman Catholic family, but she depicts her characters as Fundamentalist Protestants. Her characters are also severely spiritually or physically disturbed and have a tendency

Flannery O'Connor was a girl who suffer from poor health. She was an American author whose novels and stories were filled with characters who physically emotional disturbed.

Mrs. Turpin perceives herself as a spiritual, grateful, hard-working, and respectable woman; however, thanks to the point of view, the reader is able to identify Mrs. Turpin’s true personality because the reader is only able to comprehend the way Mrs. Turpin thinks. As Mrs. Turpin walks into the waiting room, she carefully examines and categorizes the people inside into social classes mentioning that “on the bottom of the heap are the most colored people…then next to them -- not above, just away from -- were the white-trash” (6). This statement shows Mrs. Turpin’s view of her high social status as a “home-and-land owner” since she acknowledges her superiority over the “colored people” and the “white-trash.” Additionally, from

Flannery O’Connor was born in 1925 in Savannah, Georgia. Then she moved to Atlanta with her family when she was a teenager then moved to Milledgeville, Georgia, when her father was detected with a various disease which is called lupus. Her father died when she was just fifteen. When O’Connor was a young woman, she began studying at Georgia State College for Women Flannery O’Connor was born in 1925 in Savannah, Georgia. Then she moved to Atlanta with her family when she was a teenager then moved to Milledgeville, Georgia, when her father was detected with a various disease which is called lupus. Her father died when she was just fifteen. When O’Connor was a young woman, she began studying at Georgia State College for Women

In her short story, “Revelation,” Flannery O’Connor, a renowned author and devout Catholic, exemplifies the divine grace in God’s judgments by describing the racial tension and class structure in the segregated South through a privileged white woman’s perspective. After O'Connor was diagnosed with lupus in 1951, “Revelation” and her later works took a blatantly religious stance compared to her previous more tentative use of religious aspects (Gooch). In “Revelation,” O’Connor’s use of the ethical, logical, and emotional appeals effectively supports the themes of God’s merciful judgement, racial hierarchy in the South, and inevitable societal development.

Flannery O’Connor’s cultural background influenced the development of “Revelation” and helps establish a sense of understanding among her readers. O’Connor’s Southern upbringing is a critical factor rooted deeply within the conflicts throughout this story. During her lifetime, the social structure’s rigidity in the South was based on lifestyle and race and dictated an individual’s treatment in society; those less fortunate were considered inferior and were therefore subject to lower standards. This prejudice environment focused mainly on an individual’s physical characteristics and his or her race that helped influence her characters’ relative categories in “Revelation.” The protagonist, Mrs. Turpin, characterizes higher-class women as “well-dressed

The twentieth century had many great short story writers. Flannery O'Connor one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The most popular selections were “A Good Man is Hard to Find” “Good Country People” and “Everything That Rises Must Converge. Her background had many influences on what she wrote about in these selections. Her influential background greatly affected the situations that were present in her work.

Mrs. Turpin explains her views when she says “If its one thing I am, its grateful. When I think who all I could have been besides myself and what I got, a little of everything, I just feel like shouting.“ Her character does not seem to be a very honest character; she puts on an act around everybody to make sure she can derive from them what she needs. A perspective on this from Dorothy T. McFarland in a formalist reading was that “O’Connor obviously felt that Mrs. Turpin’s belief in her own goodness was, if anything, more of an obstacle to the salvation of her soul that an outright commitment to evil.“(perspectives,409) She always seemed to think she was doing right, never seeing anything wrong until the end of the story. After being called a wart hog from hell she opens her eyes and sees the truth. A good way of understanding the symbolic ness of this is best put by Todd Heldt when they say “no amount of cleansing will ever change the essence, no amount of good work or intellectual justification will change the sinful nature of human beings.”(Browse) She was finally realizing the concept of her being a bad Christian. She finally comes to terms with her sense of herself. The other story “Parker’s Back” takes another unique route.

Flannery O’Connor was a Southern Gothic writer who grew up in Georgia in the mid 20th century. She is known for her short stories and admired for reflecting her background along with her religious beliefs as a Roman Catholic into her writing. She was affected by lupus at age 26 and only lived for another 13 years afterwards. Her later stories more heavily reflected her beliefs and her faith, one of which being “Revelation,” published the year she died in 1964. It is about a stereotypical southern woman, Mrs. Turpin, who identifies others by their social class and is caught off guard when a young educated daughter can no longer ignore her bigotry and attacks her with a textbook. Throughout the rest of the story, Mrs. Turpin is in conflict with

Sometimes Mrs. Turpin occupied herself at night naming the classes of people. On the bottom of the heap were most colored people, not the kind she would have been if she had been one, but most of them; then next to them -- not above, just away from -- were the white-trash; then above them were the home-owners, and above them the home-and-land owners, to which she and Claud belonged, Above she and Claud were people with a lot of money and much bigger houses and much more land... Usually by the time she had fallen asleep all the classes of people were moiling and roiling around in her head, and she would dream they

Was Mrs. Turpin “an old wart hog from hell” or “the sweetest lady” around (O’Connor 374)? Flannery O’Connor’s story “Revelation” invites this question, and the question of the value of souls, throughout its entire course. Based on my personal experiences, religious beliefs, and the classroom discussions, I believe the message of O’Connor’s story is that souls have inherent value that is not based on social status, appearance, or propriety.