Everything Rises Must Converge By Flannery O Connor Analysis

Flannery O’Connor is well known for her Southern Gothic literature, and this story is no exception, as it uses many aspects of the genre. The elements of literature in the story are well balanced. There are two main figures: Julian and his Mother, both developing characters. The narrator is substantially involved, often getting into the characters’ thoughts and feelings through dialogue and action. As Julian’s mother refuses to “...ride the buses by herself at night since [colored people] had been integrated,” it can be inferred that this story takes place in the South (O’Connor 495). The conflict between the recent college graduate, prideful of his cultural sophistication and racial deregulation, and his bigot mother tells of a dysfunctioning, parasitic mother-son connection and the consequences that it brings; a reasoning that shows why the themes of “Everything Rises Must Converge” is the concept of relationship and suffering. The extent of the relationship starts off at the beginning of the story, where
First, he removes his necktie to mock her class etiquette, prompting her to say that he looks “like a—thug,” (O’Connor 498). Next, he imagines making friends with colored professors or lawyers, even going as far as bringing home a colored woman just to spite his mother. Then, he sits next to a colored man and attempts to speak with him to taunt her prejudiced views, predictably annoying her, but also unpredictably annoying the man as well. Last, Julian becomes delighted and surprised that “Fate had thrust upon his mother such a lesson” when a colored woman (with the same hat as Julian’s mother) and a child, Carver, boards (O’Connor 503). This brings up an inquiry of parallelism; as the colored mother, like Julian’s mother, along with their appearance, are both concerned for their son’s welfare and are callous towards each other (Harbour