Revelation Flannery O’Connor

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In the short story “Revelation”, Flannery O’Connor shows that self-discovery can be a painful but ultimately rewarding process to go through. The story is written in third-person and feels like it has no rising action and then out of the blue a climax comes. The characters in this story are not very likable, especially the protagonist Mrs. Turpin. She is an egotistical, self-praising woman whom O’Connor describes as a big. Her image of herself is of a person who is blessed by God above all others. She uses the pastime of “naming classes” to reassure herself of her place in the world and that none is above her in God’s eyes. The story begins with Mrs Turpin and her husband, Claud, walking into a doctor’s office waiting room. While looking for a seat, Mrs Turpin begins to look around at the other people waiting in the room and starts immediately categorizing them into her classes. She uses classes such as “white trash” and middle class (which she considers herself to be). While categorizing the people, she picks out a “pleasant-looking” woman, one that she deems of her own class,...

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