Flannery O Connor Revelation Summary

In her short story, Revelation, author Flannery O'Connor explores the human mind along with the naivety that sometimes comes with it. She develops this by writing from a point of view that not only shows what the protagonist says and does, but what she restrains herself from saying every time she speaks. O'Connor's purpose is to invite the readers to take a look at themselves to see if they are truly who they think they are. The author is able to use several different devices in order to illustrate the several themes that protrude throughout the story. She appeals to the emotions of the audience by making the protagonist begin to seem like an enemy to an ordinary reader. O'Connor is able to extend her own credibility by mastering the jargon

She is able to take the protagonist, Mrs. Turpin, and make her someone that is not very likeable. O'Connor shows the very slanted views that Turpin has toward her counter parts, and reveals the superiority that she feels. This causes the audience to gravitate toward the acne-faced girl, who seems to be able to sense the superiority that Mrs. Turpin feels. To cause this, the author writes, " If Jesus had said to her before he made her, "There's only two places available for you. You can either be a nigger or white trash," what would she have said? "Please, Jesus, please," she would have said, "Just let me wait until there's another place available," and he would have said, "No, you have to go right now", and I have only those two places so make up your mind." She would have wiggled and squirmed and begged and pleaded but it would have been no use and finally she would have said, "All right, make me a nigger then-but that don't mean a trashy one." And he would have made her a near clean respectable Negro woman, herself but black." This is a great example of the phrases used by the author to show the irony of the situation. A woman who claims to be an innocent, church going woman is really a narcissistic person who thinks terribly of anyone who does things different than she does. The behavior that is shown, such as judging people by their stereotypical shows,

The logical appeals include all of the quotes and conversations that the characters had were made logical in order for the story to flow. However, the author didn’t use any facts in the story nor statistics, so the reader was not as exposed to logical appeals as they sometimes are with non-fiction novels. Racism is something that is very evident in this story and was very real at the time the story was written. The author uses this to strengthen the irony in the story. It is very interesting that the protagonist sees no flaws in any of her personality, however she is constantly making racist remarks and exclaiming that people are below her socially. To any reader this is very illogical because it would seem as though someone who has nothing wrong with their personality would never judge someone based on their social class. When the protagonist does this the author writes, "Sometimes Mrs. Turpin occupied herself at night naming the classes of people. On the bottom of the heap were most colored people, not the kind she would have been if she had been one, but most of them; then next to them -- not above, just away from -- were the white-trash..," this proves that she was not the woman that she wanted people to think that she was. Mrs. Turpin was a truly judgmental racist