Revelation by Flannery O'Connor - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Through her interactions with other characters in the room, the real character of Mrs. Turpin is well brought out, and consequently, the central theme of the story is advanced. Mrs. Turpin is a self-opinionated woman who believes to be superior and of a higher social class. The experiences of life cause her to reflect on her life, and correct the errors of the past, and finally realize that she isn’t as righteous as initially thought.
While at the doctor’s office, the attitudes and characteristics of Mrs. Turpin are clearly brought out. First, Turpin is portrayed to be a judgmental individual with a negative perception of others. For example, while at the waiting room, she looked at the boy and the old woman and “could tell by the way they sat- kind of vacant and white-trashy, as if they would sit there until Doomsday”. Through such thoughts, it is clear that Turpin never thought positively of those around them but instead was quick to pick out the real or perceived negativities about them. Her hate for others is further illustrated by her choice of either being white or black. If she had been given a choice by Jesus of either being a nigger or a white trash, she would have chosen “a nigger then-but that don't mean a trashy one”. Here, one can clearly see that she disliked white people to the extreme. She is intolerable and looks down upon everyone around her. Second, the story further reveals Turpin to be an egoistic woman with an extreme worldview. She perceives herself to be a very important person, belonging to an elite class of only a few. For instance, she spent most of her time at night putting people into various categories. The colored and the white-trash people were ranked lowly. She felt that she wouldn’t want to be in this category. However, for her and the husband, they belonged to a higher class of “the home-and-land owners”. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More