OConnor Book - Essay Example

O’Connor in this book tries to describe the results of a significant historic change, the integration in the 1960s, for blacks and whites alike.

Setting: the author carefully chooses a period in which her ideas will thrive. The time is around 1950-1960, during the commencement of the integration. Set in public areas, for instance, the bus where segregation was outright during the slave years before the integration.

Themes: the theme she employs is one many authors before and after she used to describe racism that is social classes and social conflict. The main characters, Julian and his mother live as described by the author, in a “run-down neighborhood”. The integration is not the result of their poverty, but it makes their poor situation even more uncomfortable. By use of the penny symbolism, the author shows that whites in that period prefer that blacks depended on them. The hat symbolism, however, does not have defined positive implications on the author's attempt to make it look that whites and blacks were now equal. In my view, it has a more profound reflection on the African's reaction to the integration as described below.

Morality: this theme tries to justify the reactions of the characters in the event of change which is the driving force behind the author’s ideas. Julian’s mother is condescending, as most white people with a conscience were during the days of slavery. However, she has no prejudices towards any child even black ones. She maintains this stand even in the face of conflict.

Characters in this text represent the past, present, and future in regard to the social changes the author tries to address.

Caroline, Julian’s mother’s nanny, is a true representation of the ideal black woman before the integration. When Julian’s mother calls out to Caroline, it is perhaps the author’s way of portraying the security and comfort whites derived from the past state of blacks. This reflects on the types of whites the author chose; she picked poor whites to represent her ideas. On another level, it can be the author’s way of portraying whites as the victims. In retrospect, the author tries to point out the impact of wealth on social class.

Julian represents the present American; he is hiding, behind the façade of education, to justify his support for change. The black woman is a representation of black people in recent times. Her aggression against condescending whites is a reflection of black people’s feelings towards slavery and segregation. Back to the hat symbolism, it reflects the black's need to be not equal to but like the whites.

Style: third person narration is a style that stands out in this text as much as racial integration. This technique in my view gives the text a futuristic tag. Though debatable, this writing is still relevant in describing the social situation in the 21st century. Even sociologists allude to the ideas in this book, in a bid, to describe American society. Merton, the renowned sociologist, will describe Julian as a fair-weather liberal with fair-weather illiberal tendencies. This is because; he is truly not prejudiced or prone to discrimination by way of action and speech. He is, on the other hand, a fair-weather illiberal because he exhibits signs of a conformist of the creed to avoid sanctions that accompany behavior that undermines the creed. The creed in this context is Julian’s loyalty to his “educated self”. His mother is an all-weather illiberal that is an outrightly prejudiced individual who is not afraid to show it.