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The effect of racism
Literary research paper for flannery o'connor
The effect of racism
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Flannery OConnor
In her short story "Everything That Rises Must Converge," Flannery O'Connor allows the story to be told from the perspective of Julian, a recent college graduate who appears to be waiting for a job, while living at home with his mother. His relationship with his mother is rocky at times, to say the least. It is constantly mired with conflicts about the "Old South" and the "New South". Julian must come to terms with himself, either he is an over protective son or just a pain in her ass. Even though Julian seems to dislike his mother's viewpoints, he continues to depends on her for "stability". When the final confrentation between Julian's mother and the large black women results in her having a heart attack, to which Julian is oblivious to, it causes him to be overwhelmed with greif and fear. He only then realizes the extent of his self-deception is fully confirmed.
Julian's discription of his relationship with his mother, in his mind, was he viewed himself as the savior that must teach her a lesson about her outdated veiwpoints. He feels as though he needs to treat her like a "little girl" because of her ignorance of the changing times. It seems that the new generation always seems to know more about "everything" than the one before. Meaning, the old generations are not nessasarily ignorant to the changes, but they might not know any better becuse of the way they were brought up. "They (blacks) don't give a damn for your graciousness", Julian explains to his mother. The condescension of "enlightened" whites towards blacks and the resentment of blacks towards well-meaning whites will never change because "knowing who you are is good for one generation only. You haven't the foggiest idea where you stand now ...
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...on about his life is blamed on his mother. His hatered for her "gives" him a reason to be a crtical, self-loathing person. Having the ability to tell right from wrong does not assist him in anyway. He is always looking for approval and satisfaction from the one person he accused of being in a "fantasy world". The fantasy world she has lived in for so long is now and were he will spend the rest of his life. Julian is left to fend for himself in a cold world where he is no more prepared to handle than he is a job. Finally we are left to guess whether or not Julian can make it without the one person who annoyed him so much, but stood by his side all of his life.
Work Cited
O'Connor, Flannery. "Everything That Rises Must Converge." Literature: An Inroduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 7th ed. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Longman, 1999. 340-51.
During the bus trip, Julian's mother openly sympathises with some other white women who don't like "Negroes" on the bus. When a Black man gets on the bus, Julian attempts to be friendly with him and in so doing sees himself as morally superior to his mother. We see here that Julian is being very judgmental. For instance, we find Julian entertaining these thoughts after the man has got off the bus:
No matter what Julian or any one else says, she will not relinquish those practices. She glorifies the fact that her grandfather was a plantation owner with one hundred slaves and dismisses the plights of blacks by saying, "They should rise, yes, but on their own side of the fence". It is clear that his mother has difficulty dealing with the changes of today’s current society. Evidence that times have change is given by the fact that the colored woman sitting on the bus was wearing the same hat Julian’s mother was wearing. This indicates that not only white women of statue now wear big hats. Julian’s mother is put in her place when the woman with the big hat refuses her charity of a penny to her little boy. Julian has a lot to offer to his mother in how the new world is changing, and his mother can teach him the history racism.
Flannery O' Connor's short story “Everything That Rises Must Converge” is about racial judgment in the south in the 1960's. O' Conors main focus in this story is how the white middle class viewed and treated people from different races in the 1960's. The story is an example of irony, redemption as well as a struggle of identity among the characters. The main characters in O'Connor's story are Julian an aspiring writer, who works as a typewriter salesmen, and his mother who is a low-middle class racist white woman who has strong views about thvxe African-American race. Both Julian and his mother are great depictions of the white mindsets of racial integration in the 1960's in which full equality for African-Americans was a new concept.
Flannery O’Connor was born Mary Flannery O’Connor on March 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia, as the only child to Edward F. O’Connor, Jr., and Regina (Cline) O’Connor. Later in 1941, Flannery O’Connor’s father dies of lupus while O’Connor is in Milledgeville, Ga. After her father’s death, O’Connor rarely speaks of him and continues to be active in school projects such as drawing, reading, writing, and playing instraments. Further, in the summer of 1942, O’Connor graduates and enters Georgia State College for Women as a sociology and English major. Moreover, O’Connor took on the name Flannery O’Connor, dropping Mary from her signature. When O’Connor graduates from college, she leaves for Iowa City and applies for several college teaching positions while attending the University of Iowa. Thus, she receives her Masters of Fine Arts in 1947. Although her first story, “The Geranium” was publised in Accent, during the summer of 1946, it was only the beginning of many of her works to be published. Like her father, O’Connor was living with lupus and her first major attack came in December, 1950. However, O’Connor did not allow the disease to keep her from writing and getting her works published. In fact, she got her nineth story , “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” published. Also, O’Connor has won many prizes and awards with her writings over the years. For instance, she was named the Honorary Doctor of Letters by institutions, was the first prize of the O. Henry award in 1957 and 1963 and had previously won second in 1954 and 1955. Moreover, O’Connor died on August 3, 1964 I a Milledgeville hospital. Nevertheless, her stories cont...
Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, the only child of a Catholic family. The region was part of the 'Christ-haunted' Bible belt of the Southern States. The spiritual heritage of the region shaped profoundly O'Connor's writing as described in her essay "The Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South" (1969). O'Connor's father, Edward F. O'Connor, was a realtor owner. He worked later for a construction company and died in 1941. Her mother, Regina L. (Cline) O'Connor, came from a prominent family in the state - her father had been a mayor of Milledgeville for many years.
In my opinion, his mom is still living in the past she doesn’t try to come off as a racist but in the end what she always says and does makes her one. She still has the mindset that whites are superior to blacks that they were all different but equal. On the other hand, to me Julian had completely different views from his mother. While his mother had “foolish views” and a small mind, Julian was bright and open to the new things.
“Everything that Rises Must Converge” also contains two supposedly superior characters, Julian and his mother. Julian’s mother believes that she is superior because her grandfather was a former governor, a prosperous landowner with two-hundred slaves. She also believes that being white makes her superior to people of other races. She believes that those people should rise, but “on their own side of the fence” (pg. 214). Later in the story she offends a “Negro” woman by her patronizing treatment of the woman’s child. This woman is so upset that she physically attacks Julian’s mother (pg. 221). Julian also sees himself as superior. He feels superior to his mother because he does not see himself as racist. In reality he is as much a racist as his mother, but he shows his racism in a different way, seeking out those who he terms “some of the better types” to befriend (pg.
Mary Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, on March 25, 1925. Until she graduated in 1945 she was known as Mary Flannery. At this point she felt that Mary Flannery didnt seem suitable, on one occasion she described it as sounding like the name of an Irish washerwoman. From this point on, she was known as just Flannery OConnor. Flannery is most recognized for her short stories but at the same time had great interest in cartooning and drawing. She would paint over any cracks in the walls of her home so that her mother would not cover them up with paintings from relatives. As a student at Georgia State College for women Flannery displayed her interests in art by painting murals on the walls of the student union building. Flannery often accredited her father, Edward OConnor as being one of the first and most important influences in her life. Edward OConnor not only encouraged his daughter to write but to explore her artistic ability as well.
Throughout “Everything that Rises Must Converge,” Julian rudely rejected his old-fashioned mother’s racist sentiments (Martin). Continually, Julian has to confront his mother about her openly-racists views. Before Julian and his mother get on the bus to go to her special class, Julian proceeds to take off his tie and his mother asks, “Why must you deliberately embarrass me” (450). He wants her to learn what time they are living in, so she understands why he does not view “Negros” in the same way she does. Instead, she assures him that he looks like a “thug” (450). This causes Julian to realize that his mother is not willing to change her social behavior, and her failure to change her actions throughout the story proves this to be true. Because she will not consider the new way of social beliefs, Julian believes this shows her reluctance to accept social changes as
Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. “The Norton Introduction to Literature.” New York: W.W Norton &, 2014. Print.
...to take it anymore. Julian's mother didn't realize this, she thought she was being "gracious." The stroke Julian's mother receives at the end is a direct result of her failure to adapt to her current setting.
Updike, John. "A&P." Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw, 2002. 27-31.
I think that Julian just wants to be popular and like so everyone knows who he is. I think Julian acts the way he does so that his friends will accept him for the way they want him to be and not the way Julian really is because if his friends do not like August he (Julain) cannot like August.
...an and his mother converge. As she lays prone on the ground, Julian is extremely distraught and saddened, realizing that he loves her and will miss her greatly. It may have taken a sudden tragedy, but Julian’s love for his mother emerges, and he converges with, and becomes closer to, his mother more than any other time within the story.
In conclusion, the narrator finds her sense of hope, security and faith being shattered when she undergoes trauma after she loses her husband and four year old son in a terrorist attack. She has her emotions break her down; however, she stands against them only to have her faith in society shattered once more. Finally, she opens up her eyes to reality which in turn sets her free from her misery. Overall, sometimes the truth might be painful, but knowing can be beneficial in the long run.