A Critical Analysis Of

‘Revelation’ By Flannery O’Connor Essay, Research Paper

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 generated by a most powerful

Christianity which was fed by her Catholic background (McCown, 256).

O.Connor was not only influenced by her own Catholic heritage but by others

as well. Like the other writers from France and England, she is curious about

the actuality of sin and the effect that it has on the presence of mankind. Her

stories and every characteristic about them was Flannery O.Connor.s way of

showing reality and qualities that are determiners of fate and destiny. No

matter which path her stories took her readers, they mostly ended up finding

social truth. This background, together with a believable plot, convincing

characterization, and important literary devices enables Flannery O.Connor in

.Revelation. to develop the theme that sometimes people must look farther

than the surface in order to understand the actions of others.

To develop this theme, O.Connor creates a believable plot by using a

social conflict, the element of surprise, and an unhappy ending. The main

social conflict that appears in this story is not determined until a good portion

of the story has passed. There are, however, incidents that build up to the

actual conflict. The story .Revelation. has a major and a minor social

conflict. The minor conflict is between Mrs. Turpin and a white-trash

woman. This conflict is born because Mrs. Turpin believes she is in a higher

class than the white-trash woman. The white-trash woman is unintelligent

and uneducated, and Mrs. Turpin is repulsed when she speaks and interrupts

her conversation with someone else. The major social conflict is between

Mrs. Turpin and a teenage girl across from her. This conflict is built up over

the course of the story through rude gestures and facial expressions given by

the teenage girl. For instance, Mrs. Turpin makes a comment about a clock.

The girl looks at the clock and smirks which was followed by another smirk

toward Mrs. Turpin. Mrs. Turpin also acknowledges a look the girl gives her

as the .ugliest face she has ever seen anyone make. (O.Connor, 394). It was

like the girl has known and disliked Mrs. Turpin all her life. Another element

of plot which reinforces the theme of .Revelation., is the element of surprise

which actually brings the main conflict out in the open. O.Connor brings the

conflict out well because the incidents that built up to the actual conflict do

not give away what is going to happen. The action around the conflict is

completely surprising and unpredictable. We are aware the girl dislikes Mrs.

Turpin because of her previous actions. The girl never does anything other

than give dirty looks; therefore, we are not expecting any type of physical

violence between them. When the girl hits Mrs. Turpin in the face with the

book, Mrs. Turpin is conversing with another character and is not talking t

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