Revelation by Flannery O'Connor

631 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Literary arguments for revelation by flannery o'connor

Revelation by Flannery O'Connor

The story opens with Ruby Turpin entering a doctor's waiting room with her husband

Claud who has been kicked by a cow. As she and Claud wait, she takes hard stock of the

other people in the room. There was some white-trash, a "red- headed youngish woman"

who was not white-trash, just common, a well-dressed, pleasant looking lady, and her

daughter, an ill-mannered ugly girl in Girl Scout shoes with heavy socks who was reading

a book titled Human Development. Listening to the Gospel song playing on the radio in the

background, Mrs. Turpin's "heart rose. [Jesus] had not made her a nigger or white-trash or

ugly! He had made her herself and given her a little of everything. Jesus, thank you! she

said. Thank you thank you thank you!"

A few moments later, agreeing with the pleasant lady in regard to her ugly tempered

daughter that "'It never hurt anyone to smile,'" Mrs. Turpin notes,

"If it's one thing I am, . . .it's grateful. When I think who all I could have been

beside myself and what all I got, a little of everything, and a good disposition

besides, I just feel like shouting, 'Thank you, Jesus, for making everything the

way it is!' . . .'Oh thank you, Jesus, Jesus, thank you!' she cried aloud."

Suddenly the book Human Development "struck her directly over her left eye." Nurse,

doctor, and mother scramble to subdue the ugly girl. Transfixed by the girl's eyes focused

on her, Mrs. Turpin asks "'What you got to say to me?'" waiting, as O'Connor says "as for a

revelation." "Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog" [the girl] whispered."

Haunted by this command, Ruby Turpin spends the rest of the day in puzzlement and

co...

... middle of paper ...

...velation" can help

students understand the nature of Original Sin and the inscrutable nature of God's wisdom,

the "A Good Man is Hard to Find" can certainly help them see both the frailty of human will

and the kindred nature of human existence. Like Ruby Turpin, the grandmother of "A Good

Man Is Hard to Find" considers herself a lady. Dressing for her road trip to Florida with her

son Bailey, his wife, and their three children, she carries her white cotton gloves and pins

"a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet to her neckline"; as her interior

monologue tells us, "In case of an accident anyone seeing her dead on the highway would

know at once that she was a lady." And the thought is grimly prophetic. Badgered into

traveling down a rutted dirt road that the grandmother mistakenly thinks will lead to an

old plantation, they do have an accident.

Show More
Related

  • A Good Man Is Hard To Find Analysis Essay

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    Literary Analysis of “A Good Man is Hard to Find”- Worry about yourself instead of others!!!

    Read More

  • Intended Conversion to Christianity in Flannery O'Conner's "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    I think that Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is written partially in order to convert people who have not yet fully accepted the Christian faith. O’Conner, having a strong upbringing and solid Christian background, wrote this story believing it would help people who do not have a strong moral base and Christian convictions to seriously making the necessary changes. Flannery O'Connor showed deep concern towards the value system of the youth at the time. She firmly believed in helping to guide the youth in a positive direction. Her belief that Christ was no longer a major priority to the people of her generation was a driving motivation. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" shows Flannery O'Connor's concern for the priorities and values of her time.

    Read More

  • Our Secret by Susan Griffin

    440 Words  | 1 Pages

    In "Our Secret" by Susan Griffin, the essay uses fragments throughout the essay to symbolize all the topics and people that are involved. The fragments in the essay tie together insides and outsides, human nature, everything affected by past, secrets, cause and effect, and development with the content. These subjects and the fragments are also similar with her life stories and her interviewees that all go together. The author also uses her own memories mixed in with what she heard from the interviewees. Her recollection of her memory is not fully told, but with missing parts and added feelings. Her interviewee's words are told to her and brought to the paper with added information. She tells throughout the book about these recollections.

    Read More

  • The Grandmother in Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find

    448 Words  | 1 Pages

    Flannery O’Connor is a master of the ironic, the twisted, and the real. Life is filled with tragic irony, and she perfectly orchestrates situations which demonstrate this to the fullest extent. A Good Man is Hard to Find is an excellent example of the mangled viewpoint which makes her work as compelling and striking as it is.

    Read More

  • The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Flannery O'Connor

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion and nature are both thought to bring beauty to life. Religion gives some a purpose to live while for others, nature provides a natural escape from the problems of modern day life. However, author Flannery O’ Connor uses both of these elements in her short story, The Life You Save May Be Your Own, for a different purpose. Religion and nature provide the reader with insight into the main character, Tom Shiflet, a troubled drifter with one arm who comes into the lives of the Crater women and leaves them abruptly. Shiflet’s moral corruption is represented in the story’s weather change and the numerous Christian symbols that surround the various characters.

    Read More

  • Armond Boudreaux's 'A Good Man Is Hard To Find'

    425 Words  | 1 Pages

    “There Are No Good Men to Find”, makes the perspective of an “A Good Man is Hard to Find” very different view. By comparing what author: Armond Boudreaux stated in his article about how we felt pity for the grandmother, when all along we knew she was not a good human being; makes me question my judgment while digesting many reads now. Doing a reverse perspective helped both authors bring their stories

    Read More

  • Wise Blood, by Flannery O’Connor

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wise Blood showcases the flaws of organized religion as seen by the author, Flannery O’Connor, via the story of the anti-religious protagonist and representative of society, Hazel Motes, and his road to redemption. The author makes sharp commentary on the concept of atheism by setting up the idea that christ is a matter of life or death. The novel is used as a proclamation of faith as well as an analysis of american society.. The novel reflects the society, both religious and nonreligious, of the time that it is set in; this reflection allows O’Connor to emphasize both her own and her faith’s opinions of the world that surrounded her post World War II.

    Read More

  • Wild Thinking in Shakespeare's Macbeth

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    Messenger: Bless you, fair dame! I am not to you known, though in your state of honour I am perfect. I doubt some danger does approach you nearly: if you will take a homely man’s advice, be not found here; hence, with your little ones to fright you thus, methinks, I am too savage; to do worse to you were fell cruelty, which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you! I dare abide no longer.

    Read More

  • Our Secret by Susan Griffin

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Perhaps no other event in modern history has left us so perplexed and dumbfounded than the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, an entire population was simply robbed of their existence. In “Our Secret,” Susan Griffin tries to explain what could possibly lead an individual to execute such inhumane acts to a large group of people. She delves into Heinrich Himmler’s life and investigates all the events leading up to him joining the Nazi party. In“Panopticism,” Michel Foucault argues that modern society has been shaped by disciplinary mechanisms deriving from the plague as well as Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a structure with a tower in the middle meant for surveillance. Susan Griffin tries to explain what happened in Germany through Himmler’s childhood while Foucault better explains these events by describing how society as a whole operates.

    Read More

  • Irony and Foreshadowing in Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find

    1618 Words  | 4 Pages

    As I read Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, I find myself being completely consumed by the rich tale that the author weaves; a tragic and ironic tale that concisely and precisely utilizes irony and foreshadowing with expert skill. As the story progresses, it is readily apparent that the story will end in a tragic and predictable state due to the devices which O’Connor expertly employs and thusly, I find that I cannot stop reading it; the plot grows thicker with every sentence and by doing so, the characters within the story are infinitely real in my mind’s eye. As I consider these factors, the story focuses on two main characters; that of the grandmother, who comes across as self-centered and self-serving and The Misfit, a man, who quite ingeniously, also appears to be self-centered and self-serving. It is the story behind the grandmother, however, that evidence appears to demonstrate the extreme differences between her superficial self and the true character of her persona; as the story unfolds, and proof of my thought process becomes apparently clear.

    Read More

  • Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    becomes aware of the difficulty of being a lady, particularly when under dressed; and she

    Read More

  • Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bailey; is the son of the grandmother. He and his wife ignores her, does not care much of her.

    Read More

  • Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Revelation

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    Southern gothic is a type of literature that focuses on the harsh conflicts of violence and racism, which is observed in the perspective of black and white individuals. Some of the most familiar southern authors are William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Cormac McCarthy. One author in particular, Flannery O’Connor, is a remarkable author, who directly reflects upon southern grotesque within her two short stories, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” These two short stories are very similar to each other, which is why I believe that O’Connor often writes with violent characters to expose real violence in the world while tying them in with a particular spiritual insight.

    Read More

  • Where Are You Going?

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    she was pretty and that was everything” (225). This captivation with herself along with the constant looking in the mirrors and thinking her mother was only pestering her all the time because her mother’s own good looks were long gone by now (225) shows a sign of immaturity because she believes everything revolves around whether or not someo...

    Read More

  • The Treatment of Marriage in Two Literary Works

    2244 Words  | 5 Pages

    Lydia is here the portrait of an independent, clever and rational woman. She seems to be a stronger...

    Read More

More about Revelation by Flannery O'Connor

Open Document