Comment Paper On Everything That Rises Must

Converge Essay, Research Paper

Everything That Rises Must Converge

In the story, Everything That Rises Must Converge ; Flannery O Conner uses a number of devices to make an organized plot. Causality, repetition, and structure all contribute in making the plot interesting.

The exposition consumes the beginning of the story. This is important because it gives the reader a better understanding of the characters, and sets tones for causality. Being introduced first is Julian s mother. Her attitude and actions are best described on page 207. It states, She sat forward and looked up and down the bus. It was half filled. Everybody was white. I see we have the bus to ourselves. This allows the reader to assume that Julian s mother is prejudice, and was most likely raised in that time era. A good example O Conner uses to explain Julian is found on page 208. It states, Most miraculous of all, instead of being blinded by love for her as she was for him, he had cut himself emotionally free of her and could see her with complete objectivity. He was not dominated by his mother. It is safe to assume Julian is a depressed son, who is perturbed with his mother and her old ways of life.

Complications begin to arise after the reader has a good feel on who the characters are, which then leads to the climax of the story. Tension first arrives between Julian and his mother when Julian moves from sitting next to his mother, to a Negro man on the bus. O Conner uses a good example on page 208, He stared at her, making his eyes the eyes of a stranger. He felt his tension suddenly lift as if he had openly declared war on her. The reader feels the anger building in Julian s mother beginning on page 209. It reads, Her eyes retained their battered look. Her face seemed to be unnaturally red, as if her blood pressure had risen. Complications continue when are third and fourth characters are introduced; a Negro woman and her little son. On page 210 proves this evident, suddenly she had sickened at some awful confrontation the woman, in a sense, swapped sons his mother would not realize the symbolic significance of this, she would feel it amusement showed plainly on his face. Continuing on, Julian s mother decides to give the little boy some money, which leads the climax of the story. On page 212 Julian s mother, the Negro woman, and her son have confrontation. Oh little boy here is a bright penny for you the huge woman turned her face frozen with frustration and rage, and stared at Julian s mother a black fist swung with the red pocketbook.

The events of the story take another path as the reader heads towards the resolution. The falling actions are short but effective. Julian tries to explain to his mother why she was just decked. In a smart voice he states on page 212, Don t think that was a uppity Negro woman, that was the whole colored race that will no longer take your condescending pennies. He continues on by trying to prove his point, but unaware that his mother is experiencing something completely different. On page 212 Julian s mother thinks, trying to determine his identity found nothing familiar about him, she started in the opposite direction. On page 213 it states, she plowed ahead her hair coming undone on one side she dropped her pocketbook and took no notice. The reader can assume that something with Julian s mother is not right and the last words that she says are, Tell Grandpa to come and get me Tell Caroline to come and get me .

Here it is evident that Julian s mother is dying. The resolution is now final, and Julian is felt feeling guilty at the end of the story. O Conner ends the story with a strong sentence, The tide of darkness seemed to sweep him back to her, postponing from moment to moment his entry into the world of guilt and sorrow. O Conner leaves the reader understanding the main point to the story, and reveals the biggest irony of the whole story.

Another element of plot in this story is causality. Causality if important because it shows how one thing effects another. Since Julian s mother was caught up in her old world, this causes Julian to feel angry towards her, which leads him to want to teach her a lesson. Which then lead to his mother s death. Repetition is also very prominent throughout this story. An example is the hat that Julian s mother owns. Not only does the hat have great significance but also it appears continuously throughout the story.

It can be assumed that Flannery O Conner had an important message that he wanted his readers to pick up on. O Conner used a mother/son relationship so that readers could relate to the story better. But the main point that is intended is simply; don t judge others until you have judged yourself.