A mirror can be seen as the window into the mind. A reflection is simply nothing more than an image. However, when one sees their own reflection they perceive a much deeper meaning of themselves than just a simple image. This perception is based on one’s conscience state of mind. How one views their own reflection can be much different than the way reality presents that individual. In O’Connor’s short story “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” the reader sees an interesting development in Julian character and the way he perceives himself. Julian is the main protagonist of the story and Flannery O’Connor focuses extensively on developing his unique character. Julian is first presented as a frustrated young man who struggles putting up with …show more content…
his mother’s racism. She provokes him to bitter anger as he cannot bare to hear his mother’s ignorance. Julian is painted as a saint who is made out to be enlightened from the prejudice stereotypes that plagued this time period. However, as the story goes on O’Connor shines more light on the faults of Julian, and the reader learns that Julian’s view of himself is largely distorted. Through Julian’s words and actions along with other character’s perceptions of him, O’Connor carefully weaves together minute details to construct the Julian she truly intends us to see. This characterization points to a larger purpose behind her work. In “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” O’Connor characterizes Julian as hypocritically narrow minded through his false perceptions of reality and his own identity, to ultimately promote her thematic warnings against conceited self righteousness. O’Connor relies on Julian’s own words and thoughts as the fundamental basis of his characterization which enables the reader to measure his ill-founded claims against reality. His words and thoughts imply a moral unstableness that contrasts with Julian’s own view of his self image. The reader learns about Julian mostly through his thoughts. His thoughts are brought to the reader through a third person narrator. The narrator acts as a mirror that reflects Julian's self perceptions of himself. One notable reflection is the claim that Julian “was free of prejudice and unafraid to face facts” (5). It is clear that this is Julian’s own opinion even though the narrator say it. When measured against reality this claim seems to fall short. Julian is in fact prejudice towards his mother in a way. He prefers to think of himself as superior to her because she is racist. Throught the short story Julian talks to his mother in a condescending tone. O’Connor implies that Julian is not racist out of compassion but for his own benefit. This is noticeable in the awkward conversation between Julian and the black man on the bus. Julian asks him for a light and only talks to him for the sole interest of irritating his mother. Julian doesn’t truly care who the man is and he doesn't even need a light. This allows Julian to feel good about himself because he thinks that by talking to this black man it illustrates how he is free from prejudice. However, it reveals that his feelings towards African Americans are only superficially righteous in his own mind. Moreover, O’Connor makes his callous attitude towards African Americans even more noticeable when he thinks to himself about all the ways that he can teach his mom a lesson. Julian contemplates bringing home a “beautiful suspicious Negroid woman” (7). It is clear that he is only concerned with himself in this situation. Julian demonstrates, with his thoughts, how he would take advantage of someone just to prove a point. Julian by this measure seems to have no regard for the individual. He ironically still continues to believe that his mother is the one who needs a lesson for this same reason. Towards the end when his mother gets smacked in the face, Julian says, “You got exactly what you deserved. Now get up” (9). Julian thinks his mom finally got the lesson he hoped for. O’Connor characterizes him once again as callous and also haughty as he was too blinded by his arrogance to exhibit any kind of compassion. O’Connor finally serves justice to Julian himself in the end to make her theme concrete. By allowing his mother to die in the end it implies that his sorrow and regret will lead to a lesson learned through the reflection of his faults. Through these thoughts and words it reveals how O’Conner utilizes the development of Julian to heed caution on being virtuous in one’s own eyes. Julian’s character is also formed through the eyes of others in the story who tend build false notions around his personality.
O’Connor allows these false notions to be put into place to empower the reader to make an informative decision that sees through the misconceptions. Most of what the reader knows about Julian coming from other characters revolves around his mother. It is easy to see that Julian’s mother is quite gullible and her ignorance stretches beyond racism and into her view of Julian. She tells Julian, “I think you’re doing fine. You’ve only been out of school a year. Rome wasn’t built in a day” (2). this quote shows how Julian for some reason doesn’t have initiative to get away from his mother. He tells her that he is selling typewriters until he gets started writing. Why he doesn’t he just simply start writing and go through with his career? One possible reason is that he is taking advantage of his mother. He relies on her to take care of him and he mutually repays her by accompanying her on the bus.. O’Connor ironically states, “he was not dominated by his mother” (5). Perhaps this serves as Julian's own belief which is used by O’Connor to further characterize him as a hypocrite who couldn’t recognize reality. This would make the most sense because the narrator also states that “he had, on his own initiative, come out with a first rate education” (5). The narrator paints him as some driven individual ready to conquer the world. It is through Julian’s mother …show more content…
that the reader finds out the true circumstances of his nature. This reinforces O’Connors main characterization of Julian that illustrates how his personality and identity are shrouded by an egotistical perception of himself. One other instance in the story in which the reader learns through another character about Julian’s personality is when Julian gives a woman the death stare on the bus. When the woman and Julian’s mom are talking the woman leans forwards to look at Julian. Julian responds by “throwing her such a malevolent look that she subsided against the seat” (4). The reader sees Julian’s bitterness through this quote. This bitterness perhaps reveals a deeper dissatisfaction with his own life and circumstances. This snobby attitude also reveals his narcissism which contrasts from his mother’s friendly attitude towards others except adult African Americans. It is interesting that Julian views himself as morally superior to his mother believing he holds a higher regard for others, but in reality he comes across as ribald and bitter. Through the other characters in the story O’Connor is able to spotlight Julian's negative traits to contrast starkly with his own positive outlook on his identity. Illustrating how Julian reacts to situations is one final method that O’Connor employs to characterize.
Through Julian’s reactions O’Connor presents Julian as weak and inadequate in the face of distress. Julian responds to stressful situations at first by lashing out. O’Connor shows that Julian is very choleric when the story states that “he caught her arm in a vicious grip” (2). this happens when his mother is discussing returning the hat. Julian lashes out and gets very angry. The reader sees that Julian is harsh on his mother and treats her with disrespect. This inconsiderate nature of Julian is largely highlighted throughout the story. O’Connor later punishes this pitfall of Julian in the end. When Julian is again faced with distress he resorts to his mental bubble. This mental bubble was a place “where he could see out and judge but in it he was safe from any kind of penetration from without” (5). The reader learns that O’Connor characterizes him as judgmental. This goes along with the conceited and superior attitude that is prevalent throughout Julian's character. Julian prefers to sit back and see what is wrong with others but never takes the time to do a thorough examination of his own errors. Viewing the world through a window and never looking into a mirror is exactly what O’Connor warns about. When one becomes so fixated on the errors of others and society they fail to recognize their own blunders, and this can ultimately lead to one’s downfall. this is what
happens to Julian and why O’Connor feels the need to teach the lesson of the story to him. When Julian’s mother dies, he responds differently to distress then he previously did. the story ends suggesting his “entry into the world of guilt and sorrow” (10). Guilt implies that he came to the realization that some of his own mistakes could have caused his mother’s death. This is the first time that Julian reflects on himself in a way other than arrogance. The reader can assume that Julian learns a lesson and that this lesson is the same one that O’Connor wants the reader to learn. Through Julian's reactions the reader sees how he was blinded by his own self righteousness until the very end. This is a common technique in gothic literature where the characters do not learn the lesson until it is too late and disaster strikes them. The tragic ending of Julian’s situation echos O'Connor's warning not to ever let one’s own view blind them from reality. O’Connor’s theme discouraging being high minded and pure only in one’s sight is made evident through Julian and his eventual regret. Julian’s own mindset is revealed through the narrator comments that seem to glorify him. O’Connor builds him up to tear his ego down. When one is driven by an attitude that wants glorification for its beliefs and acts they will many times get the exact opposite. However, the beliefs that he claimed to have were not even legitimate in the first place. His reactions reveal his quick to judge nature. A trait that he shared with his mother. It is through his mother that the reader learns the reality of his hypocritical claims. He was not so isolated and independent from his mother as he liked to believe. It is ultimately this hypocritical mindset that O’Connor highlights with great resentment. One must take caution in pointing fingers and focus more on fixing their own mistakes firsts. Pride in something that seems great and noble can blind one’s own eyes if they profess it to others without following it themselves.
“All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self- contradictory. I was naive. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself.” (Page 180, Paragraph 1, ll 2- 7).
...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.
In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Ellison uses description of decorations such as mirrors, portraits and signs to reflect and foreshadow Invisible Man’s struggle in defining himself, especially during the stages of rebirth and perception.
Daisy lacks self confidence which made it harder to raise her fifteen year-old son Donny. There were many instances where Daisy pondered on what she can do better to help Donny in school, but as she put forth an effort, she always resisted. “She remembered when Amanda was born. Donny had acted lost and bewildered. Daisy had been alert to that of course, but still, a new baby keeps you busy of course….”(570) When Daisy saw this happening, she never stopped to reassure Donny that even though he had a sister, it was not going to change their relationship. Daisy should have reassured her son by correcting the problem as soon as it surfaced, then Donny should have understood. When Donny started to have problems in school, Daisy gave up without trying, and let a tutor dictate her son’s activities especially when the teacher questions Daisy about Donny’s actions, Daisy replied, “Oh I’m sorry, Miss Evans, but Donny’s tutor handles these things now…” (572) In school Donny’s behavior changed soo drastically that he started to stay out late and Daisy just sat back and let this happen. “The tutor had sat down so many rules![She] were not allowed any questions at all about school, nor were to speak with his teachers…,Only one teacher disobeyed…”(572) Because Daisy didn’t believe in herself or her word, she let others control and therefore his behavior worsened.
...h century or today, is human and subject to failings, as well. Gawain learned his lesson from the Green Knight and communicated it to Arthur's court. I believe that the author hopes that his audience will take the message to heart, as well.
Within The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Sun Also Rises, Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway respectively illustrate characters that hold a fascination for their own beauty. Through this essay I will compare and contrast those characters, Dorian Gray and Brett Ashley, and their obsession with their said beauty. Within The Picture of Dorian Gray both Dorian Gray and Lord Henry value youth to extreme extents, and Dorian is able to grasp a sense of eternal youth only to drive himself to his own demise. Brett Ashely on the other hand, uses her beauty to find a powerful identity within a patriarchal society, and at the end of the novel she finds herself cycling back to who she was in the beginning of the novel. While both characters use their beauty to gain power, Ashely is able to avoid the downward spiral that Dorian suffers due to her dependent relationship with Jake Barnes. Within The Picture of Dorian Gray, Basil is incapable of forming any reciprocal relations with Dorian, thus allowing Lord Henry to mold him. Henry plants the seeds for Dorian’s development, but Dorian breaks away from Henry and begins to develop an overzealous form of masculinity that excludes all external relationships. It is due to this disconnect that Dorian is unable to reach the same fruition of his goals as Ashely is. Through their tales both Dorian and Ashely developed into strong idealized figures of beauty, but only Brett is capable of maintaining her mentality.
Since Bernard is receiving immense respect, he has forgotten all his rebellious beliefs about the society or his “order”, he starts to enjoy a lifestyle that everyone else in the World State enjoys. Sadly, Bernard loses his reputation shortly after as John would not meet the guests at Bernard’s party. Bernard, saddened by his reputation in society, becomes his old self again. As Bernard lost his reputation, “The reputation of success had evaporated; he was sobering his old self again. ”(163).
Plot Structure – I felt that most of the exposition took place in the beginning of the first page. For the rest of the story there was mostly rising action. Then, I felt that the climax came when Julian sees his mother crumple to the ground. The falling action and resolution are packaged together in the last couple paragraphs.
With the progression of time we find Frederick Douglas begin to shift the tone to a focus within himself. The story begins to c...
Self is one’s own identity and social position. However, Morrie dislikes society and media’s influence on a person’s sense of self. The digital age has changed life course and patterns of interaction. There are more miscommunications and media has corrupted and dictated the definition of pop-culture. Media and pop-culture have taken over and have fabricated an image of what a perfect life is, which everyone has begun to believe is true. For example, Mitch dropped his ambition and passion of becoming a musician because he did not want to be viewed as a failure. He became a well-paid journalist so society will respect him. Becoming a well-paid journalist, however, took away from his family life and caused him to change from who he was before, a person Morrie misses. Morrie suggests that you should create your own “self”. Morrie teaches Mitch to “forget what culture says” (116) and forget the concept of looking glass self, which emphasizes the degree to which our own self-understanding depends on how others view us. This concept can be seen within Mitch. He works hard day and night to write a column that is up to his boss and society’s standards, but to find that it will not be published because the union he is under is on strike. Morrie notices Mitch’s lack of compassion for his job and wants Mitch to pursue an independent way of thinking. Looking glass self is a prime example of “SI” perspective because it shows how society has a huge hand in shaping someone. Morrie’s ideology is similar to Oscar Wilde’s idea of “be yourselves; everyone else is taken.” During, the O.J. Simpson trial Mitch understands the venomous part of media during the and realizes he is stuck between cultural norms. He decides that society does not define and that it is not necessary to follow the “ideal path does not need to follow the “ideal” path. Furthermore, this ideal
Time and time again our stories feature a twist where it turns out the image that the characters experience is either blatantly false, or has been distorted, that their perceptions turned out to be an imitation of something that was never real; whether it be the realization that the Matrix is a computer simulation, that Madeline from Vertigo never existed, or that Dorian Gray’s face masks his corrupt personality. In these stories the revelation of the false image provides the characters with a massive, life changing shock. Plato claimed that this shock, dragging someone from the dark of a false image, to the light of truth would be painful, but would leave them enlightened, however in The Picture of Dorian Gray those who idolized the image of Dorian Gray, the false imitation, will be devastated upon realization of the truth of how he acts.
... is not at all that he imagined. It is dismal and dark and thrives on the profit motive and the eternal lure its name evokes in men. The boy realizes that he has placed all his love and hope in a world that does not exist except in his imagination. He feels angry and betrayed and realizes his self-deception. He feels he is “a creature driven and derided by vanity” and the vanity is his own (Sample Essays).
Both respondents claimed that Sonny, as the father figure of Julian, was negatively depicted in the movie. He was portrayed as a permissive “single parent” struggling to raise his “child.” Furthermore, though he was able to learn how to be a good father, his way of parenting is not at par with how parental authority is (Lim, 2015). As mentioned, Julian was given the liberty to do whatever that makes him happy. According to Chris V. (2015), there is nothing wrong with giving a child freedom to choose and decide, but too much freedom and not having proper guidance is
Without the inner monologues Julian ponders throughout the story, it would be difficult to claim he was ever in a wrong mindset or that he ever truly would wish harm upon his mother. However, since readers do have access to these realities, Julian’s character seems much more interesting to them, whether good or bad.
The poem “Mirror” gives the perspective of a mirror and how it views itself and the world, and in turn, how the world views it. Sylvia Plath conveys her interpretation of a mirror primarily through personification and metaphorical parallels. To further her explanation, she contrasts the mirror’s own perception of itself against its perception of a woman who often visits it.