Analysis Of Flannery O 'Connor's Short Story Revelation'

Yousef Alsdudi

Maggie Wells

Dual credit English

05 May 2017

Revelation

Buckle your seat belts boys and girls, professor, or whoever is reading this, at this spectacular time in your life; because in some short words I am going to teach you a thing that I learned the basics of about two hours ago. So sit down, shut up and enjoy the experience of my in-class monster drink and black coffee induced self-hatred fueled writing extravaganza about Flannery O'Connor’s short story “Revelation”. What you are going to read is damn near the best thing you're going to get out of me. So let's get to it.

The short story “ Revelation,” by Flannery O'Connor takes place in a southern state at a doctor's waiting room and then translates scenes to Mrs. Turpin’s house. In this story, Flannery demonstrates the flaws within different social status and the misconception of god's unconditional acceptance and grace through the use of irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism.

TURPIN

Turpin's philosophy is to help anybody who needs it.

Though she is very judgemental of people, she's always thanking Jesus that he made her what she is and nothing less, especially not white-trash. This way of thinking and way of seeing things leads Turpin to a big conflict when she goes to the doctor's office with her husband (claud). The rising action consists of Mrs. Turpin's interactions with the other characters, classifying and making her own judgments. It is here where the tension builds between Mrs. Turpin and Mary Grace until it climaxes, when Mary Grace throws a book (which is titled human development) at Mrs. Turpin and proceeds to attempt to strangle her. What is seen as implied hate ed (for what seems like no reason) becomes an external conflict. The doctor and Mary Grace's mother restrain her, though she is able to get out her message with a whisper: "Go back to where you come from, you old wort hog" (Revelation). Her main attack was her

words.
This, in turn, became the internal conflict for Mrs. Turpin as she becomes frustrated with the fact that it was directed at her, the o-so respectable woman, unlike the others in that room. The remark struck her with the force of an external blow.
In the falling action, Mrs. Turpin returns home with her husband. She goes to the pig parlor (where they raise a variety of livestock) where she notices the sun behind the woods very red looking over the paling of trees like a farmer inspecting his own hog. She turns to the sky and shouts, “why me?” shortly later, Mrs. Turpin has a vision of a horde of people marching into heaven:
Whole companies of white-trash, clean for the first time in their lives, and bands of black niggers in white robes, and battalions of freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping in like frogs and a tribe of people whom she recognizes at once as those who like herself and Claud, had always had a little of everything and the God-given wait to use right. (Revelation)
the ranks of which are not exactly how she expected, as everyone's virtues are burned away and they are left equal.

And that is the final of revelation for Ruby Turpin, that a person's actions and the way they look mean nothing if she judges others based on their color or class in life, God will judge the person with the same judgment. Of course, that happens while she's cleaning her pigs which show that no matter how clean on the outside you are if you're a pig you're still a pig!