In the two short stories, “The Free Radio” and “Everything Rises Must
Converge,” the main characters of each story have to make many important
decisions/choices. The choices that are made change how other characters see the main
character as well as how they react to them.
In the short story, ”The Free Radio,” by Salman Rushdie, Ram has many choices
to make throughout the story. Ram who could have had anything in the world he wanted
made many poor choices. Ram was the cutest guy in the town; he had everything going
for him. Then he met the widow and her five children, and he also started hanging with
the youth armbands, these people lead to the downfall of Ram. The radio represented a
way for Ram to escape reality and when Ram didn’t get it he had to deal with all the
negative choices he made. This is what hurt Ram because he had made so many negative
choices in throughout the story. The theme of this story is to be happy in whatever you do
and if your not you can always move to a new town and start over like Ram did.
In the short story, “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” by Flanery O’Connor,
Julian learns there are more people in this world other than himself. The way he learns
this is by taking his over weight mother every Wednesday night to the Y so she could
exercise. Julian’s mother is scared to go by herself because her town has become
segregated. In the story there is an expensive hat that is wore by Julian’s mother. The
mother was skeptical to wear it because she thought it was funny looking, but she wore it
anyway. While on the bus to the Y a colored lady came on with a similar hat as Julian’s
mothers. When Julian saw this he began to make fun of his mother because she had the
same hat as a colored person.
...on about his life is blamed on his mother. His hatered for her "gives" him a reason to be a crtical, self-loathing person. Having the ability to tell right from wrong does not assist him in anyway. He is always looking for approval and satisfaction from the one person he accused of being in a "fantasy world". The fantasy world she has lived in for so long is now and were he will spend the rest of his life. Julian is left to fend for himself in a cold world where he is no more prepared to handle than he is a job. Finally we are left to guess whether or not Julian can make it without the one person who annoyed him so much, but stood by his side all of his life.
his mother and sister. This family scene was placed in the film to gain pathos by manipulating the
himself 90% of the day until he was and adult. He had to work twice as hard as most
One of the symbols used in this short story is the hat that Julian’s mother and the black woman on the bus wear. Ironically, these hats represent both women sharing the same rights and equalities; both races ride the same bus, sitting in the same seats; and both like the same fashions. Another symbol is the penny that Julian’s mother gives to the little black boy, representing th...
Julian is from a rich slave owning family who used to live in a rich mansion, even though now she lives in a poor neighborhood and struggles with money ;She makes this apparent when she mentions selling her new purple hat for she could pay their gas bill. She was extremely prideful of her heritage and who her family once was and the fact they owned slaves; she made sure she reminded Julian that his great-grandfather had “a plantation and two hundred slaves” (436) . This comes into play and reveals some of the reasons that his mother is so racist and struggles to show any decency to the African-American people near her, making remarks such as “I see we have the bus to ourselves” (439) in reference to there only being white people on the bus. She also takes pride that her son graduated college and she mentions it every chance that she gets to other people.
To begin with, one of the lessons the story shows is that the situation one wishes and hopes to be
...involving the confrontation between the mother and her son, Julian seizes the opportunity to berate his mother so she can see how ignorant she is and how he has elevated himself to a status higher than hers. Tragically, this incident leads to his mother’s stroke. It is only at this moment of his mother’s helplessness that all three worlds collide together. Julian’s world of self-righteousness and his mother’s world of self-importance are shattered by the world of reality. Only then is truth apparent to all of the characters in the story.
made him into someone who felt he had no control upon his destiny, because it
...to take it anymore. Julian's mother didn't realize this, she thought she was being "gracious." The stroke Julian's mother receives at the end is a direct result of her failure to adapt to her current setting.
bad decisions. In trying to please everyone, he pleased no one. “They stumble who run
... by running into actions instead of thinking things through, he ended up learning that there is always a consequence to the choices you making in
house with her. He was a man without his sanity. When ever a male would come to the
what he was going to get, and he is not responsible for his fate, he
This story takes place in the south during the civil rights movement when people were trying to eliminate poverty and racism from the society that they lived in. There are four important characters in this story, and the two main ones are Julian and his mother. Julian is a recent college graduate who lives with his mother but knows “some day [he’ll] start making money” (Mays 448). Julian sees the world as ever changing during the civil rights movement and does not like or condone racism. Although this is true he subconsciously is small minded and petty just like his mother. His mother often makes racist remarks and will not find herself sitting next to a black African American adult. She often would bring up the topic of race to Julian “every few days like a train on an open track” (Mays 449). She also makes her son ride the bus with her to the YMCA because of the new changes due to the civil rights movement and in some ways this makes Julian mad. As they begin to board the bus Julian and his mother argue but quickly board. Shortly later a black woman and her son named Carver board. Carver sits next to Julian’s mother, she does not mind, and Carver’s mother sits next to Julian. Carver’s mother is an impatient woman who ironically wears the same hat as Julian’s mother. The hat in many ways is a symbol of the ever changing south during the civil rights movement. It symbolizes the social equality between
Setting – The setting definitely played a role in this story. It is referenced to a few times throughout the story when the mother is telling Julian how fortunate he is to live in the neighborhood they do. We can also tell that this is an area where racial tension is still high among some of the people. The time that the story takes place is also very important because it is around the time of desegregation.