A Critical Analysis of "Revelation" by Flannery O'Connor
A Critical Analysis of "Revelation" by Flannery O'Connor
Flannery O'Connor's background influenced her to write the short story "
Revelation." One important influence on the story is her Southern upbringing.
During her lifetime, Southerners were very prejudiced towards people of other races and lifestyles. They believed that people who were less fortunate were inferior to them; therefore, people were labeled as different things and placed into different social classes. The South provided O'Connor with the images she needed for her characters. Similarly, this can easily be identified in her short story "Revelation." The characters in the story are identified by physical characteristics and some are even identified with racial terms. The main character in the story is actually prejudiced and makes many statements using racial jargon. For example, Mrs. Turpin, the main character, refers to the higher class woman as "well-dressed and pleasant". She also labels the teenage girl as "ugly" and the poor woman as "white-trashy". When Mrs. Turpin converse with her black workers, she often uses the word "nigger" in her thoughts. These characteristics she gives her characters definitely reveals the
Southern lifestyle which the author, Flannery O'Connor, was a part of. In addition to her Southern upbringing, another influence on the story is Flannery
O'Connor's illness. She battled with the lupus disease which has caused her to use a degree of violence and anger to make her stories somewhat unhappy. The illness caused a sadness inside of Flannery O'Connor, and that inner sadness flowed from her body to her paper through her pen. Although she was sick,
O'Connor still felt proud to be who she was. By comparison, Mrs. Turpin in "
Revelation" has a good disposition about herself. She is far from perfect, yet she is happy to be who she is. Perhaps the most important influence on the story is religion. In the words of Robert McCown, O'Connor's writing was mainly
Flannery O'Connor's background influenced her to write the short story "
Revelation." One important influence on the story is her Southern upbringing.
During her lifetime, Southerners were very prejudiced towards people of other races and lifestyles. They believed that people who were less fortunate were inferior to them; therefore, people were labeled as different things and placed into different social classes. The South provided O'Connor with the images she needed for her characters. Similarly, this can easily be identified in her short story "Revelation." The characters in the story are identified by physical characteristics and some are even identified with racial terms. The main character in the story is actually prejudiced and makes many statements using racial jargon. For example, Mrs. Turpin, the main character, refers to the higher class woman as "well-dressed and pleasant". She also labels the teenage girl as "ugly" and the poor woman as "white-trashy". When Mrs. Turpin converse with her black workers, she often uses the word "nigger" in her thoughts. These characteristics she gives her characters definitely reveals the
Southern lifestyle which the author, Flannery O'Connor, was a part of. In addition to her Southern upbringing, another influence on the story is Flannery
O'Connor's illness. She battled with the lupus disease which has caused her to use a degree of violence and anger to make her stories somewhat unhappy. The illness caused a sadness inside of Flannery O'Connor, and that inner sadness flowed from her body to her paper through her pen. Although she was sick,
O'Connor still felt proud to be who she was. By comparison, Mrs. Turpin in "
Revelation" has a good disposition about herself. She is far from perfect, yet she is happy to be who she is. Perhaps the most important influence on the story is religion. In the words of Robert McCown, O'Connor's writing was mainly