Flannery O Connor Character Analysis
Titles Relation To Plot What is the purpose of a title in this story? Does is even have a purpose? The answer is yes the title does serve a purpose. More often than not a title will directly relate to the story in some way or another. In most cases a title would be a form of telling the reader what to expect from the story before even reading it. In the case of “"Everything that rises must converge"” by Flannery O’Connor the title does directly relate to the story. In order to understand the relation between both title and story, it would be beneficial to break the title down first. Then explain how the relation and how it was based mostly on the plot of the story. This is where Freytag’s Pyramid comes into play. According to Freytag, a drama
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In “Covert Progression behind Plot Development: Katherine Mansfield’s “The Fly”” Dan Shen states
In many fictional narratives, especially shorter ones, the plot exists in tension with a very different and powerful dynamic that runs at a deeper and hidden level throughout the text. I designate this undercurrent as “covert progression” and investigate how the implied author creates it for thematic purposes. Being characteristically ironic in nature, covert progression is first distinguished from known types of irony, then from other types of covert meaning.
While the plot of everything that rises is not covert in the least it does derive most of its interest from irony. Dan Shen states “Irony is usually classified into two basic categories: verbal and situational. The former involves a discrepancy between the literal/ostensible meaning and the intended/implied meaning of a statement, while the latter typically concerns an incongruity between the expected outcome of an action and its actual (unexpected or undesirable) outcome.” A prime example of this would be the ending of the story where Julian after trying to make his mother uncomfortable with race issues decided to stop her from doing something foolish, actually looking out for her, when she attempt to give the little Carver a nickel. His attempt is useless and his mother does anyways. The irony is that the entire story him being a “bad” son grasps his mother's attentions , but when he tries to be a “good” son his mother ignores it.
In “Covert Progression behind Plot Development: Katherine Mansfield’s “The Fly”” Dan Shen states
In many fictional narratives, especially shorter ones, the plot exists in tension with a very different and powerful dynamic that runs at a deeper and hidden level throughout the text. I designate this undercurrent as “covert progression” and investigate how the implied author creates it for thematic purposes. Being characteristically ironic in nature, covert progression is first distinguished from known types of irony, then from other types of covert meaning.
While the plot of everything that rises is not covert in the least it does derive most of its interest from irony. Dan Shen states “Irony is usually classified into two basic categories: verbal and situational. The former involves a discrepancy between the literal/ostensible meaning and the intended/implied meaning of a statement, while the latter typically concerns an incongruity between the expected outcome of an action and its actual (unexpected or undesirable) outcome.” A prime example of this would be the ending of the story where Julian after trying to make his mother uncomfortable with race issues decided to stop her from doing something foolish, actually looking out for her, when she attempt to give the little Carver a nickel. His attempt is useless and his mother does anyways. The irony is that the entire story him being a “bad” son grasps his mother's attentions , but when he tries to be a “good” son his mother ignores it.