Racism In Everything That Rises Must Converge By Flannery OConner

Racism will always be an issue and will always be considered inevitable due to society. Racism is said to be morally wrong because no one is born racist, they are taught. The ideals of a group are thought to be forms of extrinsic racism which lead to morally problematic intentions. Utilitarianism is ultimately the one way to prevent the consequences and effects of racism, as Kantian ethics follow it up by defining its moral rule.

Julian fails many times at proving his superiority too his mother. We see this when he attempts to try and make friends with the African-American man on the bus who is reading the paper next to

In Everything that Rises Must Converge, Julian and his mother experience a moment of clarity in terms of contemplating on their actions and thoughts. Julian has always hated his mother for her traditional southern beliefs and ways. She even goes as far as to wish that she lived back in the past when she was a girl. She embodies the traditional pre-civil rights southerner who believes in being superior to someone else in terms of race, money, or any other factor. When she sees a black woman on the bus wearing the same hat she is wearing, she realizes that someone regarded as inferior by her standards, a black woman, is suddenly equal to her. She shows great discomfort and disapproval of this new ideal. When the black woman and her son are getting off of the bus, she approaches them and gives the child a penny as a sign of humiliation and inferiority. The black woman then hits her which causes her to fall to the ground. Julian’s mother falling to the ground shows a change in actions and thoughts for both her and Julian (Moore). Julian begins to tell her that she got what she deserved for giving her insulting pennies to black

When the narrator mentions that her doctor wants her to lose weight to stabilize her blood pressure, implies the mother is not in good health. The narrator shows that the mother is disgusted with the society in her era, which African Americans roam free. In her opinion, she thinks they should be a lower class than her. Her signs of disgust are shown when she tells Julian of her Grandfather’s plantation after an African American man enters the bus with a newspaper. When the man sits down and reads, the mother exclaims to Julian that “Now you see why I won’t ride on these buses by myself” (O’Connor 452). She does “feel sorry for. . . the ones that are half white” (O’Connor 449), because they have no place to belong in society. She does get annoyed by her son’s behavior when he loosens his tie and asks the African American man for a match. Julian’s mother does have hope for Julian that he will become a writer and keeps reminding him that “Rome wasn’t built in a day” (O’Connor 448). She is so focused on her past that “she can’t comprehend that depth to which its loss has affected her, and she repeats the narrative in order to re-establish the historical boundaries of her identity” (Williamson 751). The narrator shows that she adores young African American children, even though, her son tries to warn her not to give a penny to the boy. After being punched by the African American mother, she is in shock and extreme confusion to why it happened. Wanting to go “Home” (O’Connor 457) where her grandfather’s plantation was, she immediately retreats to her historical fantasy

The story that i’ve decided to do my literature essay on is Flannery O’Connor’s “Everything That Rises Must Converge”. The story starts off with a son, a recent college graduate who currently sells typewriters, escorting his mom on the bus to her exercise classes. Throughout the whole story it gives many hints towards the son, Julian’s irritation of his mother. The mother would brag about how her grandfather owned slaves at a plantation, and would speak out loud to other strangers how she was glad that the bus she was hopping on didn’t have any black people on it. It was very clear in the story that Julian’s mother was racist but Julian didn’t feel the same way about African Americans. Julian actually wanted to embrace black people and wanted to know more about them. When he sat on the bus, he would ponder thoughts of one day having a long conversation with an intellectual black person, or maybe even bringing home an African American girlfriend one day. Suddenly black people start to hop on the same bus as Julian and his mother. His mother starts to be overly nice to the African Americans, the type of nice where you can tell that her true feelings for the person is pity. Theres key detail where Julian’s mother is wearing an ugly hat that doesn’t actually fit her appearance, however there is a black female who has the exact same hat on and it looks better on herself. She becomes upset when she sees her son sitting next to one of the black men, but she doesn’t say anything.

In showing the youth of his mother and her abusive father, McBride identifies the racism of the South in 1940s. With mentions of his past he highlights the racial segregations in order to portray a more equal way of life.

The little boy’s mother attacks Julian’s mother, symbolizing the freedom that blacks now have attained. The religious symbolism in this story is present because in God’s eyes we are all the same, and Julian wants his mother to acknowledge it. Somehow, she fails to comprehend. The title itself is a metaphor. Just as bubbles bang into each other as they rise to the top in boiling water, the women in this story clash with each other as the black woman rises to the top of her social status and the white woman resists.

“Everything That Rises must converge”, by Flannery O’ Connor is sometimes considered a comical but also serious tale of a grown man named Julian, who lives with mother, who happens to be your typical southern woman. The era unfolds in a couple years after integration begins. Throughout the story, O’Connor impresses us with her derived message in which people often resist to growing away from bigotry towards self-awareness and love for all humankind, which is so necessary for life to converge in equality. O’Connor has a distinctive style of writing that expresses this message through characterization, conflict and literary devices.

Even though his mother is horrifically racist, Julian’s thoughts reveal to the reader that he is no better than she is. He even fantasizes about how he could terrify his mother by marrying a black women. O 'Connor writes, “Instead, he approached the ultimate horror. He brought home a beautiful suspiciously Negroid woman. Prepare yourself, he said,” (10). The lengths Julian goes to degrade his mother say more about him than they do about her. His criticism of her racism identifies him as a complete hypocrite.

Readers can find that “ Everything That Rises Must Converge” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” are Southern American literature. “Everything That Rises Must Converge” was written in the midst of the movement of American Civil rights. In the story, the settings such as ” bulbous liver-colored monstrosities of a uniform ugliness” and the “dying violet sky” make people feel moody and uncomfortable. The main character Julian’s mother has an unchangeable opinion of racism and refuses to accept the racial integration

Countless more scenarios cross Julian’s mind, but none of them would deceive his mother more than the last one. “Instead, he approached the ultimate horror. He brought home a beautiful suspiciously Negroid woman” (O’Connor 634). By describing dating a black woman as an “ultimate horror,”, Julian reveals through his thoughts his inner snob, a trait he obviously acquired from being around his mother.

In Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, O’Connor uses the symbolism of the violet hat and the shiny new penny along with all of the things Julian’s mother has done for him throughout his life, to place the broader societal conflict of race relations within the context of the unstable relationship Julian has with his mother, showing how poor southern whites used blacks to elevate themselves. Julian’s clashes with his mother over morals, race, and appearances mimic the greater conflict of racial relations in society.

Learning the hard way In the short story “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, by Flanner O’ Conner, strong viewpoints are made regarding the mother’s beliefs versus her reality. Stuck in her old ways, Mother has trouble facing the reality of the new world around her. Julian tries to convince her how black people should be treated equally; it’s not right to degrade people based on race. Julian failed in his attempts to assist his mother in changing her thoughts, realizing that everyone has emotions, and she was taught how to be racist against people.

Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Everything That Rises Must Converge” emphasizes the hostility and racial discrimination that white southerners exhibited towards African Americans as a result of integration during the 1960’s. This short story focuses not only on the white American’s living in poverty, but also accentuates the ways in which two people born in different generations react to racial integration. Having descended from a formerly wealthy slave owning family, Julian’s mother, who remains unnamed, struggles to support both herself and her son after slavery is abolished. The family’s poverty becomes evident after the mother regrets purchasing a hat, claiming that if she returned it she could pay the gas bills instead (O’Connor, par. 10). As a struggling writer and typewriter salesman, presumably in his early 20’s, Julian claims to have “lost his faith” in a struggle to reason with his racist mother (O’Connor, par. 10). Describing himself to be “saturated in depression”, it becomes unmistakable that Julian feels resentful towards his mother for his upbringing and current position in life (O’Connor, par. 10). His mother, who takes pride in the way she raised him, reasons, “…if you know who you are, you can go anywhere”, prompting a quick disagreement from her son, where he argues, “[that’s] good for one generation only” (O’Connor, par. 16). Through observing

While the effect of racism and discrimination is hotly debated, the world is not what it was yesterday. The changing society can ultimately result in battles between young and old generations causing individuals to rely on human instincts to resolve issues. In Flannery O’ Connor’s short story “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” two characters clash in a generational conflict. On the surface, the story shows an issue of racism and discrimination, however, it shows a deeper understanding of humanity’s maturity. Characters include Julian, and his nameless mother who has high “blood pressure” (O’ Connor 405). Although Julian criticizes his mom’s behaviour towards people of colour, he fails to realize the downfall of his own demeanor.